 Section 26 of the Inheritance by Susan Edmundstuhn-Fairyer. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 1, Chapter 26. The following day brought Colonel Delmore and Gertrude watched with some solicitude her relations would produce upon him. But he was upon his guard and none but a nice observer could have detected supercilious contempt in the lofty ease of his manner. But there is an ease which causes only constraint in the minds of others, and such was Colonel Delmore's. He was much too elegant and hybrid to have anything of the familiar ease, so often a concomitant of the vulgar, but he had as little of that open simplicity of manner, which is the characteristic of a noble ingenuous mind. It was that sort of ease which implies conscious superiority in its possessor, and consequently produces the opposite feeling in those less gifted mortals with whom it comes in contact. Such was the sort of undefinable sensation it created in the Black family from the eldest to the youngest. Simple Mrs. Black's profound and earnest inquiries after Lord Rostel, her hopes that he had not been the worse of his ride, that he had got home before the hearty shower, etc., etc., etc., were all answered in a general way, and with an air of indifference, which, as Mrs. Black afterwards declared, said very little for his natural affection. Even Miss Bell had an instinctive feeling that her heirs would be all thrown away upon him, and though she did drop her carbuncle brooch, a present from the major upon the carpet, Colonel Delmore never so much as moved his chair or assisted in looking for it. While Miss Lily turned over her album in vain, and in answer to her usual question of whether he was found a poetry, he returned so brief and decided a negative as put a complete stop to all proceedings on that subject. The only one who made no attempts at display was the third daughter, and a sensible, mild-looking girl who, from her quiet, unobtrusive manners, was generally overlooked, and who now pursued her work in her usual calm way, careless, a like of notice, or neglect. Colonel Delmore certainly was at no pains to gain the good graces of the family. He thought once they were not the sort of people likely to acquire any influence over Miss St. Clair, consequently he had no motive to make him wish to ingratiate himself with them. And to have been at the trouble of making the agreeable to such a set of plebeians would have required some very strong stimulus to one whose ruling principle was selfishness, and who never cared to please, unless to serve his own purpose. He stayed long in hopes Mrs. Black and her daughters would have had the tack to discover that they were great boars in their own house, but no such discovery was made. On the contrary, Mrs. Black redoubled her efforts to entertain her visitor. She made many apologies for Mr. Black being from home, and asked Bell what had come over the major, just as the major entered. The case was now desperate, scarcely able to conceal his ill-humour. He merely noticed the introduction of Major Oarel by a slight and somewhat haughty bow and took his lead. Well, cousin cried Miss Bell as he drove off. I really cannot say a great deal for your Colonel. I think I never saw so ill-bred a man. I can't just say that, Bell, said her mother. I'm sure he was no wise and discreet, and we must make allowance for him, for you know we were all strangers to him, and I dare say he was just a little shy and strange at first, but that'll wear off. It's the oddest thing that he should not like poetry, said Miss Lily, for he is so handsome. I don't think much of his looks, said Miss Bell. He is a great deal too tall. I'm the major who was the Apollo Belvedere in her opinion, and who was at least a head shorter. I think our Bob must be as tall by this time, said Mrs. Black, but I wish he may have taken the breath with him, poor fellow. I don't think he has the manners of a man who has seen much of the world. Resumed Miss Bell again, looking at her lover. No general conversation. Has he ever been abroad? I wonder. Come now, said the major, turning up his bronzed visage, gilded with a strong yellow beam of delight. Are you not rather too severe? Colonel Delmore is surely a fine-looking man, and much admired I understand by the ladies. I beg you, we'll make some exceptions, major, but perhaps I have a very bad taste, with a conscious smile. I'm afraid you have indeed returned the major with a laugh of perfect ecstasy. I'm very much afraid of it indeed. What do you say to that, Mrs. Black? Miss St. Clair, don't you think your cousin discovers a very bad taste, in her choice of some things? Gertrude felt too much disgusted with the vulgarity and ill-breeding of her relations to be able to reply. Indeed, the only one she could with truth have made must have been a cordial ascent, and she recoiled from their familiarity with a haught tour for and to her nature. Mrs. Black observed her displeasure, but mistook the cause. You must excuse our freedom, my dear, said she, but you see, we make no stranger of you. We just look upon you as one of ourselves, and forget sometimes that your friends and relations are not ours. But there's one thing I can tell you, continued she, with a significant smile and a half whisper, that though the Colonel's not just so taking as his brother, we all think a great deal of him, and are all much pleased to think that, you know, and Mrs. Black smiled still more significantly, I assure you, Mr. Black, thinks a great deal of him. He says he's really a pleasant, sensible, gentlemanly, well-informed young man. Still, Gertrude's countenance did not clear up to Mrs. Black's great surprise for, like many other excellent wives, she thought her husband's opinion carried the greatest possible weight with it, and that, Ms. St. Clair must needs be much flattered to hear that her intended was so much approved of by Mr. Black. For the Earl to advance his favorite political schemes had dropped some ambiguous mysterious hints of the projected alliance between his nephew and niece, which Mrs. Black had easily manufactured into an approaching marriage. Rather at a loss what to make of Ms. St. Clair and the coolness with which she listened to the praises of her supposed lover, Mrs. Black now proposed that the young people should take a walk and show their cousins something of Bellevue. There was the burn, and the hawk hill, and the new plantation, and there was the poultry yard. If Ms. Gertrude was fond of poultry, the Bellevue poultry were reckoned the finest in the country's side, and loaded with Mrs. Black's directions and suggestions, the party set forth. No party perhaps ever set out upon a walk without some difference of opinion as to the road to be taken, but on the present occasion the matter was soon settled by Ms. Bellevue, who remarked to the major that it was so long since she had seen his sister, Mrs. Fairbearn, that if her cousin had no objection she should like much to walk as far as the home. I've not seen your sweet little namesake major since he has had the measles, and I quite long to see him, dear little fellow, and although it is an understood thing, addressing Gertrude, that in my situation I go nowhere, yet the major's sister, you know, is an exception, and she is such a sweet domestic woman, she scarcely ever stirs from home. It is quite a treat to see Mr. and Mrs. Fairbearn in their own family. It is really a beautiful sight. The major was, of course, all joy and gratitude for this proposal, and highly flattered by the interest expressed for his little named son in particular, and the eulogy bestowed on the family in general. As for Gertrude, she cared little where she went. When people are uncomfortable, they flatter themselves. Any change must be for the better, and there is relief even in variety of wretchedness. Forward, then, they set for the home. The road was not of the most picturesque description, but indeed it would not have been easy to have found any such in the environs of Bellevue, but it lengthed after strutting many out well-dressed field, covered with flourishing crops of oats, peas, beans, potatoes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. They entered upon the sheep farm, which, although it had nothing of the romantic or beautiful, to charm the eye, yet, like all spots of unsophisticated nature, was not without attractions to those who loved nature even in her simplest scenes. The ground was hilly, covered with a carpet of close, short, sweet herbage, except here and there, where still remained patches of heath and broon, or a wind, bush, and a wild rose, centered the breeze, there prickly stems decked with small woolly tufts, spoils of the vagrant lamb. The air was pure and fresh, nimble and sweet, and Gertrude stood inhaling it with delight, as she felt her spirits rise under its exhilarating influence. The major Miss Belle had walked on before, Miss Lily had left the party for higher ground, which commanded a view of the county town, where Lieutenant O'Brien was quartered, and Gertrude, to her great relief, was left alone with her cousin Anne. If there were but deer bounding instead of sheep, bleeding here, said she, I could fancy myself upon the very braze of Belle Quither, which you were singing about last night, and she hummed the air, no I can't make it out, pray sing it to me again, and Anne sung some verses of that sweet, simple ditty. Will you go, lassie, go to the braze of Belle Quither, where the bladeberries grow, mang the bonnie bloom in heather, where the deer in the row, lightly bound in together, sport the lying summer day among the braze of Belle Quither. I will twine the bower by the clear silver fountain, and I'll cover it, or with the flowers of the mountain. I will range through the walls and let deep lands so dreary, and return with their spoils to the bower of my dearie. Now the summer is in prime with the flowers richly blooming, and the wild mountain time of the moorlands perfuming. Will you go, et cetera, et cetera? Who would not be a hunter's love, said Gertrude, to realize so sweet a picture. Ah, said a companion in a mournful tone, if poverty were there represented, as it is in reality this world would be a paradise, and we might all be happy. So then you think poverty, the only evil in life, asked Miss St. Clair? No, I spoke idly, not the only one, but she blushed and the tears stood in her eyes, as in a low voice she added, but the only one I have ever known, then as if ashamed of having said so much, she turned away her head. For a moment Gertrude was at a loss to understand her cousin's meaning, but it presently struck her that she must have formed some attachment where poverty was the obstacle, and she would have continued the conversation in hopes of gaining her confidence, but at that moment the major Miss Bell, having retraced their steps in search of their companions, interposed. We thought we had lost, you exclaimed the lady. Major, will you give my cousin your other arm? The descent is very steep now. Gertrude declined the proffered aid, which she thought more likely to encumber than accelerate her movements, and besides she wished to renew their conversation with Anne, but in vain, the lovers having exhausted their silly talk for the present, were now glad of a little variety, and they kept all close together till they reached the home. End of section 26, section 27 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmundstone Ferrier. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 1, Chapter 27 The great use of delineating absurdities is that we may know how far human folly can go. The account therefore ought of absolute necessity to be faithful. Johnson. The first appearance of the home was highly prepossessing. It was a large, handsome-looking house situated in a well-wooded part by the side of a broad, placid river, and an air of seclusion and stillness rained all round, which impressed the mind with images of peace and repose. The interior of the house was no less promising. There was a spacious hall and a handsome staircase with all appliances to boot. But as they approached the drawing room, all the luxurious indolence of thought, inspired by the tranquility of the scenery, was quickly dispelled by the discordant sounds, which just shooed from dance, and when the door was thrown open, the footmen in vain attempted to announce the visitors. In the middle of the room, all the chairs were collected to form a coach and horses for the masters and mrs. Fairbairn. One unruly-looking urchin sat in front, cracking a long whip with all his might. Another acted as guard behind and blew a shrill trumpet with all his strength, while a third in a nightcap and flannel lapid, who had somewhat the air of having quarreled with the rest of the party, paraded up and down in solitary majesty, beating a drum. On a sofa sat mrs. Fairbairn, a soft, fair, gentile-looking woman with a crying child of about three years old at her side, tearing paper into shreds, seemingly for the delight of littering the carpet, which was already strewed with headless dolls, tailless horses, wheel-less carts, etc. As she rose to receive her visitors, it began to scream, I'm not going away, Charlotte, love, don't be frightened, said the fond mother, with a look of ineffable pleasure. You know, get up, you shan't get up, screamed Charlotte, seizing her mother's gown fiercely to detain her. My darling, you'll surely let me go to speak to uncle, good uncle, who brings you pretty things, you know, but during this colloquy uncle and the ladies had made their way to the embroiled mother, and the bustle of a meeting and introduction was got over. Jairs were obtained by the footmen with some difficulty and placed as close to the mistress of the house as possible, aware that otherwise it would not be easy to carry on, even question and answer amid the tumult that reigned. You find us rather noisy, I'm afraid, said Mrs. Fairbairn, with a smile, and in a manner which evidently meant the reverse, but this is Saturday, and the children are all in such spirits, and they won't stay away from me, and, my dear, don't crack your whip quite so loud. There's a good boy, that's a new whip, his papa brought him from London, and he's so proud of it. Will you, my darling, don't you think your drum must be tired now? If I were you, I would give it a rest. Alexander, your trumpet makes rather too much noise, one of these ladies has got a headache. Wait till you go out, there's my good boy, and then you'll blow it at the cows and the sheep, you know, and frighten them, oh, how you will frighten them with it. No, I'll not blow it at the cows, I'll blow it at the horses, because then they'll think it's the male coach, and he was running off when Henry jumped down from the coach box. No, but you shan't frighten them with your trumpet, for I shall frighten them with my whip. Mama, aren't horses best frighten with a whip, and a struggle ensued? Well, don't fight my dears, and you shall both frighten them, cried their mama. No, I'm determined he shan't frighten them, I shall do it, cried both together, as they rushed out of the room, and the drummer was preparing to follow. William, my darling, don't you go after these naughty boys, you know they're always very bad to you, you know they wouldn't let you into their coach with your drum. Here William began to cry, Well, never mind, you shall have a coach of your own, a much finer coach than theirs. I wouldn't go into their ugly dirty coach, and you shall have. Here something of a consolatory nature was whispered, William was comforted and even prevailed upon to relinquish his drum for his mama's ivory work box, the contents of which were soon scattered on the floor. These boys are gone without their hats, cried Mrs. Fairbairn in a tone of distress. Eliza, my dear, pull the bell for Sally to get the boys' hats, Sally being dispatched with the hats, something like a calm ensuit in the absence of he, of the whip and the trumpet, but as it will be of short duration, it is necessary to take advantage of it in improving the introduction into an acquaintance with the Fairbairn family. Mrs. Fairbairn was one of those ladies who from the time she became a mother, ceased to be anything else, all the duties, pleasures, charities and decencies of life were henceforth concentrated in that one grand characteristic. Every object in life was henceforth viewed through that single medium. Her own mother was no longer her mother, she was the grand mama of her dear infants, her brothers and sisters were mere uncles and aunts, and even her husband ceased to be thought of as her husband from the time he became a father. He was no longer the being who had claims on her time, her thoughts, her talents or affections, he was simply Mr. Fairbairn, the noun masculine of Mrs. Fairbairn and the father of her children. Happily for Mr. Fairbairn he was not a person of very nice feelings or refined taste, and although at first he did feel a little unpleasant when he saw how much his children were preferred to himself, yet in time he became accustomed to it, then came to look upon Mrs. Fairbairn as the most exemplary of mothers, and finally resolved himself into the father of a very fine family of which Mrs. Fairbairn was the mother. In all this there was more of selfish egotism and animal instinct than of rational affection or Christian principle, but both parents peaked themselves upon their fondness for their offspring as if it were a feeling peculiar to themselves, and not one they shared in common with the lowest and weakest of their species, like them too it was upon the bodies of their children that they lavish their chief care and tenderness for as to the immortal interests of their souls or the cultivation of their minds or the improvement of their tempers, these were but little attended to, at least in comparison of their health and personal appearance. Alas, if there be not a gem so precious as the human soul, how often do these gems seem as pearls cast before a swine? For how seldom is it that a parent's greatest care is for the immortal happiness of that being whose precarious and at best transient existence engrosses their every thought and desire? But perhaps Mrs. Fairbairn, like many a foolish ignorant mother, did her best, and had she been satisfied with spoiling her children herself for her own private amusement, and not have drawn in her visitors an acquaintance as to share in it the evil might have passed on century. But Mrs. Fairbairn, instead of shutting herself up in her nursery, chose to bring her nursery down to her drawing room instead of modestly denying her friends an entrance into her purgatory, she had a foolish bride in showing herself in the midst of her angels. In short, as the best things, when corrupted always become the worst, so the purest and tenderest of human affections, when thus debased by selfishness and egotism, turned to the most arson and ridiculous of human weaknesses, a truth but too well exemplified by Mrs. Fairbairn. I have been much to blame, said she, addressing Miss Bell, in a soft, whining, sick child sort of voice, for not having been at Bell view long ago. But dear little Charlotte has been so plagued with her teeth, I could not think of leaving her, for she is so fond of me, she will go to nobody else, she screams when her maid offers to take her, and she won't even go to her papa. Is that possible, said the major? I assure you it's very true, she's a very naughty girl sometimes, bestowing a long and rapturous kiss on the child. Who was it that beat poor papa for taking her from mama last night? Well, don't cry, no, no, it wasn't my Charlotte, she knows every word that said to her, and did from the time she was only a year old. That is wonderful, said Miss Bell, but how is my little favorite, Andrew? He is not very stout yet, poor little fellow, and we must be very careful of him. Then turning to Miss St. Clair, our little Andrew has had the measles, and you know the drags of the measles are a serious thing, much worse than the measles themselves. Andrew, Andrew Waddell, my love, come here and speak to the ladies, and thereupon Andrew Waddell, in a nightcap, riding on a stick, drew near, being the major's namesake, Miss Bell, in the ardour of her attachment, thought proper to coax Andrew Waddell on her knee, and even to open her watch for his entertainment. Ah, I see who spoils Andrew Waddell, cried the delighted mother. The major chuckle, Miss Bell, disclaimed, and for the time Andrew Waddell became the hero of the peace. The blames of the measles were carefully pointed out, and all his sufferings and sayings duly recapitulated. At length Miss Charlotte, indignant at finding her selfie-clips, began to scream and cry, with all her strength. It's her teeth, darling little thing, said her mother, caressing her. I'm sure it's her teeth, sweet little deer, said Miss Bell. It undoubtedly must be her teeth, poor little girl, said the major. If you will feel her gum, said Mrs. Fairbairn, putting her own finger into the child's mouth, you will feel how hot it is. This was addressed in a sort of general way to the company, none of whom seemed eager to avail themselves of the privilege, till the major stepped forward, and having with his forefinger made the circuit of Miss Charlotte's mouth, gave it as his decided opinion that there was a tooth actually cutting the skin. Miss Bell followed the same course, and confirmed the interesting fact, adding that it appeared to her to be an uncommon large tooth. At that moment, Mr. Fairbairn entered bearing in his arms another of the family, a fat sour, new-waked looking creature, sucking its finger. Scarcely was the introduction over. There's a pair of legs, exclaimed he, holding out a pair of thick purple stumps with red worsted shoes at the end of them. I don't suppose Miss St. Clair ever saw legs like these in France. These are porridge and milk legs. Are they not, Bobby? But Bobby continued to chew the cut of his own thumb in solemn silence. Will you speak to me, Bobby? Said Miss Bell, bent upon being amiable and agreeable, but still Bobby was mute. We think this little fellow, rather long of speaking, said Mr. Fairbairn. We allege that his legs ran away with his tongue. How old is he, asked the Major. Is only nineteen months and ten days answered his mother, so he has not lost much time, but I would rather see a child fat and thriving than have it very forward. No comparison was here uttered in a breath by the Major and Miss Bell. There's a great difference in children in their time of speaking, said the Mama. Alexander didn't speak till he was two and a quarter, and Henry again had a great many little words before he was seventeen months. And Eliza and Charlotte both said Mama, as plain as I do, at a year. But girls always speak sooner than boys. As for William Pitt and Andrew Waddell, the twins, they both suffered so much from their teething that they were longer speaking than they would otherwise have been. Indeed, I never saw an infant suffer so much as Andrew Waddell did. He had greatly the heels of William Pitt at one time till the measles pulled him down. A movement was here made by the visitors to depart. Oh, you mustn't go without seeing the baby, cried Mrs. Fairbairn. Mr. Fairbairn, will you pull the bell twice for baby? The bell was twice rung, but no baby answered the summons. She must be asleep, said Mrs. Fairbairn, but I will take you up to the nursery, and you will see her in her cradle. And Mrs. Fairbairn led the way to the nursery and opened the shutter and uncovered the cradle and displayed the baby. Just five months on common fine child, the image of Mr. Fairbairn, fat little thing, neat little hands, sweet little mouth, pretty little nose, nice little toes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, or as usual, whispered over it. Miss St. Clair flattered herself. The exhibition was now over and was again taking leave when to her dismay, the squires of the whip and the trumpet rushed in, proclaiming that it was pouring of rain. To leave the house was impossible, and as it was getting late, there was nothing for it, but staying dinner. The children of this happy family always dined at table and their food and manners meeting were the only subjects of conversation. Alexander did not like mashed potatoes, and Andrew Waddell could not eat broth, and Eliza could live upon fish, and we in pit took too much small beer, and Henry ate as much meat as his papa, and all these peculiarities had descended to them from some one or other of their ancestors. The dinner was simple on account of the children, and there was no dessert, as Bobby did not agree with fruit. But to make amends, Eliza's sampler was shown, and Henry and Alexander's copy books were handed round the table, and Andrew Waddell stood up and repeated, my name is Norval, from beginning to end, and William Pitt was prevailed upon to sing the whole of God, Save the King, and a little squeaking mealy voice, and was ravowed and applauded as though he had been Rom himself. To paint a scene in itself so tiresom is doubtless, but a poor amusement to my reader, who must often have endured similar persecution, for who has not suffered from the obtrusive fondness of parents for their offspring, and who has not felt what it was to be called upon in the course of a morning visit, to enter into all the joys and the sorrows of the nursery, and to take a lively interest in all the feats and peculiarities of the family. Shakespeare's anathema against those who hated music is scarcely too strong to be applied to those who dislike children. There is much enjoyment sometimes in making acquaintance with the little beings, much delight in hearing their artless, unsophisticated prattle, and something not unpleasant, even in witnessing their little freaks and wayward humors, but when a tiresome mother, instead of allowing the company to notice her child, torments everyone to death, enforcing or coaxing her child to notice the company that charm is gone, and we experience only disgust or ennui. Mr. and Mrs. Fairbairn pursued to its utmost extent this fatal rock on which so many parents make shipwreck of their senses and so satisfied were they with themselves and their children, so impressed with the idea of the delights of their family scenes, that vain would have been any attempt to open the eyes of their understanding. Perhaps the only remedy would have been found in that blessed spirit, which vaunted not itself and seeketh not its own. The evening proved fine, and Gertrude rejoiced to return even to Bellevue. End of Section 27. Section 28 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmund Stone-Fairier. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 1, Chapter 28. What a sweet woman your sister is, said Miss Belle, who at present beheld every object connected with the major, tinged with love's proper hue. I'm very glad you like her, replied the delighted lover, and I flattered myself the longer you know her, the more you will be pleased with her. Oh, I have no doubt of that, said the lady. You will find her always the same, continued the major. That is delightful, said Miss Belle, and what a charming family she has. It is really quite a treat to see them. I assure you I don't know when. I have passed so pleasant a day. I trust you will pass many such return the major, brightening still more. I flattered myself. My sister and you will be sisters indeed. While this colloquy was carrying on between the lovers, Miss St. Clair tried to bring her cousin Anne back to the subject of their morning's conversation, but Anne seemed either afraid or ashamed of having said so much, and rather shunned any renewal of the subject. Gertrude did not think the worse of her upon that account, but rather gave her credit for that delicacy of mind, which made her shrink from making a confidant of one who, although a relation, was in fact almost a stranger to her. It would be folly in me, my dear cousin, said she, to make a parade of offering to assist you at present in any way. I am neither old nor wise enough to advise, and I am quite as poor and as powerless as you can possibly be. But if ever the time should come when I have either wisdom or power, both I can never hope to have together, said she with a smile, promised that you will then riddle me right and tell me why poverty is the greatest misfortune in the world. They were here interrupted by a band of young blacks who, having described them from the window, had rushed out to meet them, all breathless with haste to hear where they had been and to proclaim that Bob and Davy were arrived, and upon advancing a little farther, Bob and Davy presented themselves in properease, parasonies. Bob and Davy were two tall good-looking youths, dressed in all the extremes of the reigning fashions, small waists, brush heads, stiff collars, iron heels, and switches. Like many other youths, they were decidedly of opinion that dress makes the man and wanted it the fellow, and that the rest was mere leather and prunella, perhaps, after all, that is a species of humility, rather to be admired in those who feeling themselves destitute of mental qualifications, trust to the abilities of their tailor and hairdresser for gaining them the goodwill of the world. And who can tell whether there may not be more true lowliness of mind in a mop head and high heel boots than has been lodged in many pilgrims, scalloped hat, and sandaled sheen? Be that as it may, it was evident that Bob and Davy rested their claims to distinction solely on the outward man, and that the sentiment of Henry V was by no means theirs. It yearns me not that men, my garments wear, such outward things dwell not in my desire, etc. Introduced to their cousin, and the first ceremonials over, Bob and Davy each began to play his part. Bob, being a military man, talked to parades, reviews, mess dinners, and regulation epaulettes. While Davy, the writer's apprentice, was loud upon Edinburgh bells, playhouse rows, assembly rooms, and new quadrills. We are to be reviewed on the 27th, said Bob, addressing his cousin. Gunstown is only about 30 miles from this. I hope you will do us the honor to come and look at us. We shall give a ball and supper after it. My mother and the girls will, of course, be there. Belle, you will be at our turnout, won't you? I wonder how you can ask such a question, Bob, of a person in my situation, said Miss Belle with dignity. What a famous deal of fun! We had in Edinburgh last winter, said Davy. I was very often at three balls in a night. You dance, Cade drills, of course. Country dances are quite exploded now. In Edinburgh, they call them kitchen dances there. There's nothing goes down now, but waltz, sais, and quay drills. By the by, I daresay we could make out a quay drill here. Belle, do you dance, quay drills? I never heard of a person in my situation dancing, replied Miss Belle with an air of contempt. I, that's always the way, whenever you miss his gift husbands, you grow so confoundedly stupid. But I shall not suffer my wife to give herself such air, as I can tell you, I shall make a point of her dancing every night. The brothers have come on purpose to be present at the celebration of the nuptials, which they merely thought of as Belle's going on, a consummation to be devoutly wished for in a family of eleven, and an event in the solubility united in their minds with new coats, white gloves, wedding favors, bridesmaids, capital dinners, jovial suppers, dances, flirtations, and famous fun. Such being Balvin Davy, it may be inferred they were no great acquisitions to the family party, though they certainly were additions to it. Under the mistaken idea of being too genteel to do anything for themselves, there was a constant ringing of bells and calling for this, that, and tether. And if the hapless footboard could have cut himself into a thousand pieces, and endowed each particular piece with locomotive powers, all would scarcely have suffice to answer the demands made upon him. Then, without any bad temper, there was a constant jangling and jarring from mere vacancy of mind and want of proper pursuit. They were all warmly attached to each other in a disagreeable way, and upon the strength of that attachment, thought they might dispense with all the ordinary rules of politeness and contradict and dispute with each other upon the most trifling occasion. In short, it was not a pleasant dwelling place, it was neither the peace and tranquillity which the true spirit of Christianity diffuses amongst its votaries, nor the refined courtesies which spring from cultivated minds and elegant habits. Anne, indeed, was an exception, but she was so quiet and pensive that she was completely sunk in the commotion that prevailed. Miss St. Clair suffered particularly from the assiduities of the two beau, being both bent on engaging her in a flirtation, but their attentions were received with so much coldness at times, even amounting to hot turd, that at length they discovered that their old flames, Cece Swan and Clemi Dao, were much prettier girls, and to Cece Swan and Clemi Dao, they accordingly betook themselves. Hardly tired of Bellevue and its inhabitants, Gertrude longed impatiently for the marriage day that she might return to Rossville. She felt anxious too about her mother and the thoughts of the mystery in which she was involved disquieted her and rendered her situation doubly irksome. Unconsciously, she cherished the desire of penetrating that dread secret, although with the natural thoughtlessness and guillotine view, her mind was often diverted from the contemplation of it. Yet there were times when it gained an almost overwhelming ascendancy over her, and she thought she could easier have endured any known evil than have committed herself to this unknown fear. In Colonel Del Moore's company indeed every painful idea was suspended, and she gave herself up to the charms of his brilliant conversation and varied powers of pleasing, with a complete forgetfulness of everything, save the consciousness of loving and being beloved. But at the same time with all the delusion of passion, she yet closed her eyes against the light of conviction. His visits became so frequent and so long not to call forth some animad version in the family who had been led by Lord Rossville to look upon her as the affianced bride of the elder brother. But all were too busy with the substantial of marriage to have much time to bestow on the empty speculations of love. Mr. Black had settlements to read over and sign, etc. Mrs. Black had the innumerable departments of mother and housekeeper to fill, duties which are always troubled tenfold upon such momentous occasions. All the powers of Bob and Davies' minds were exerted to the decoration of their persons, but all the emanations of their genius had proved insufficient to enlighten the understanding of the Barnford Taylor. Bob's coat was sent home when too late for alterations, at least half an inch too long, while Davies' waistcoat was as much too short. The young lady's gowns, please better, and the children were charmed with their respective suits and sashes. As for Miss Bell, she was like some bright planet, the center of its own system round which all inferior orbs revolve. She it was to whom all must look for a bright cake and gloves and favors and all such minor consolations as fall to the lot of the single on such occasions. But no one's cup, however, it may froth and mantle, is ever full even to the overflowing. Miss Bell certainly seemed to foam to the very top, but it could still have held a little more. Many were the wedding presents she had received from kindred and friends according to their various means, till her chamber might have vied with the shrine of some patron saint. But amidst all the vote of offerings, there was none from Uncle Adam, although she had settled in her own mind that Uncle Adam could not possibly avoid presenting her with something very handsome, whether in plate, jewels, or a species, and her only doubt was which of the three she would prefer. However, time were on and Uncle Adam was only to be seen in his usual attitude with his hands in his pockets as if strictly guarding his money and with the face of the most hopeless sourness. Miss Bell notwithstanding still kept up under the expectation that Uncle Adam would surprise her in his own rough queer way someday when she was not thinking of it, when that day would be it would have been difficult to say as there was no day in which he was not fully prepared for the surprise. End of Section 28 Section 29 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmund Stoonfarrier This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Volume 1 Chapter 29 Bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner. Shakespeare The day previous to the marriage, the bustle that reigned in and around Bellevue was increased to that intense degree which attends all great events as they approach towards their consummation. Uncle Adam, Miss Black, and Mr. and Mrs. Fair Baron were expected at dinner and during the whole day the steam of the soups, pies, pastries, etc., etc., which issued from Mrs. Black's kitchen and penetrated to the very interior of the drawing room might, as someone has parodied it, have created a stomach beneath the ribs of death. To Gertrude the commotion caused by what is called giving a dinner was something new. The total boule des semants of all orders of the community where much was to be done without the proper means where a sumptuous banquet was to be prepared by the common drudges of the kitchen and where every servant had doubled their usual portion of work to perform besides being thrown out of their own natural sphere of action. Then there was the running backwards and forwards, the flying upstairs and the rushing downstairs, the opening and shutting of doors, or rather I should say the opening of doors as the shutting is an evil seldom to be complained of upon any occasion unless indeed when the call of shut the door is answered with a slam which shakes the house to its foundation. Added to all this was the losing of Mrs. Black's keys with the customary suspicions attached to every individual of having somehow or other got them about them. Suspicions only to be removed by repeated raisings and shakings of the party suspected and even then not completely faced till the keys were found as usual in some place where somebody must surely have put them and where nobody would ever have thought of looking for them. Then the nursery maid was transformed into the cook's assistant and the children were committed to a girl who could not manage them and they broke loose and overran the house and resisted all authority. But doubtless many of my readers must have witnessed similar scenes and endured similar persecutions pending the preparations for a dinner which like worthy Mrs. Black's was to be about three times as large and as elaborate as was necessary. But many are the paths to the temple of fame and heart it is to climb by any of them. Mrs. Black was chiefly amulets of a character for her dinners and probably labored infinitely harder to stuff a dozen dull bodies than the author of Waverly does to amuse the whole world. It was for this she thought by night and toil by day but strange to say she had an enjoyment in it too though when that was it would have been difficult to determine for the anticipation was care and fatigue. The reality was ceremony and anxiety. The retrospect was disappointment and provocation. Occult's Adam was the first of the guests who arrived and Miss St. Clair was the only one of the family ready to receive him. She was in the drawing room when he entered in the habitual vinegar expression of his long triangular visage relaxed into something like a smile at sight of her. He even seated himself by her side and entered into conversation with a degree of complacency very unusual with him. Emboldened by his good humor, Gertrude ventured to admire a very fine camellia japonica which together with a piece of his favorite southern wood decorated the breast of his coat. I can't nothing about the things Michelle said he hastily tearing it out of the buttonhole as if ashamed of wearing anything to be admired then stuffing it into her hand. Hey take it my dear it came for that place up by pointing in the direction of bloom park. I'm sure they need Nate. He's sent it to me what call ye it. Gertrude repeated the name it's a senseless like thing without any smell. Applying the southern word to his nose as he spoke but I dare say there's plenty of them and I've made use for them so you may gang up by when you like and take what you like. Gertrude thanked him and as she adjusted the japonica in her dress the old garnet brooch now her only ornament fell out and in his gallantry the old man stooped to pick it up but no sooner had he taken it in his hand than he uttered an exclamation of astonishment and turning it over examined it with the deepest interest. We saw this inquired he. It is mine replied Gertrude in some surprise. Yours repeated he yours and war did ye get it. Tell me the truth war did ye get it. I got it from my nurse. She gave it to me when she was dying and I've kept it for her sake. And did she know tell you are she had got it. I think she said she had got it from her mother. From her mother it was aunts my mother's it was mine and I get it to Lizzie with my own hands one last we parted and she promised to keep it till her dying day. There's our initials pointing to the back and the very year we parted then after a long pause. What was the name of your nurse and why did she come fray. Her own name was Marianne Lamotte her husband's Jacob Lewiston and she came from America. Her father was French but I believe her mother was Scotch for she used to sing me many an old Scotch song which she said she had learned from her. I kind of make it said Mr. Ramsey thoughtfully but it Disney signified though I could it wouldn't bring back life in time and with a sigh he tendered the brooch. Pray keep it said Gertrude it seems you have a better right to it than I have. I valued it merely for the sake of my nurse but it is a still dear memorial to you and therefore I willingly part with it. No no said he rejecting the hand that offered it. What would I do with at your age you may please yourself with the kind of dead toys but I'm more old new to have any unjoinment in sick things. The young may attack pleasure in day. Romantic Jew jaws you like to look back one ye hey nay far to cast your eye but at three school and tenets a drake sight to see the lang and weary road we hey wandered. No no there's nay pleasure to the age in sick mementos. They cannot bring back youth for days and youth for hearts and they are the only jewels of life. Gertrude could not urge it but from a feeling of delicacy towards her uncle's painful reminiscences she put aside the drinking and resolve never again to wear it in his presence. It is rarely that feelings raised above the ordinary pitch can be long indulged in this strange world where the most opposite emotions are constantly coming in contact and where the mind is forever in a state of ebb and flow. Mr. Ramsey's nature had been softened and all its best ingredients called forth at sight of the love token of his early days and the mournful associations which followed in its train but the gentler current of his soul was speedily checked by the entrance of the various members of the family as they came severly dropping in fresh from their toilets and last if not least uncle Adam's antipathy Miss Bell. Squeezing herself on the little sofa between Miss St. Clair and him she exclaimed what a beautiful flower that is cousin where did you get it. Mr. Ramsey was so good as to give it to me answered she. Indeed I suppose then it is from Bloom Park uncle you have charming greenhouses there I understand that is what I regret so much at Thornbank you know the major has taken that in the meantime but I don't think it will answer as there are no hot houses and the major has been accustomed to such charming fruits in India that I'm afraid he will miss his pines sadly. I suppose there will be plenty of good neeps so Mr. Ramsey neeps like sucker he can take in of them when he's dry. Miss Bell read but affecting not to hear return to the charge. Thornbank is no great distance from Bloom Park uncle quite an easy walk I should think. I never measured it was the iconic reply finding it was not by way of Bloom Park she was likely to arrive at Uncle Adam's pocket. Miss Bell now went more directly to the point. Do you know uncle I could be almost jealous of my cousins for having got that beautiful japonica from you while poor I have not so much as a single leaf from you by way of keepsake. Mr. Ramsey with a bow and a sardonic smile here presented her with the piece of southern wood he held in his hand. Well uncle I assure you I shall value this very much and lay it up with the rest of my wedding presents and by the by I have never showed you all the fine things my kind friends have presented to me. Good old Mrs. Waddell of Waddell mains has presented me with the most beautiful antique silver cup which it seems was the major's christening bowl. It will be ancient enough then they do observe Uncle Adam. My excellent aunts have sent me a very handsome teapot and a fool in his money soon parted they had very little to do to send only such thing. Why surely uncle you know it is the custom all the world over for persons in my situation to receive presents and Miss Bell Black I've seen something more of the world than you've done and I can tell you some of its customs that you may be didn't can yet in Russia for instance the present to persons in your situation is oh for heaven's sake interrupted Miss Bell with an instinctive dread of the not don't set up these bears as models for us the customs of our country surely ought to guide us on these occasions. It's a very senseless custom in my opinion said Mr. Ramsey it's like casting pearls before swine to be lavishing presents on a woman that's at the very pinnacle of human happiness in grandeur. It's you that should make presents to poor single folk that hey nay major Waddell's to set them up with ingy shawls and carbuncles and fans and who I can compare you to anything but goddess the new let me see which of them is it a june nay I'm thinking it'll rather be a vain ass. Here uncle Adam was too tickled with his own sure tomorrow that he laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks the insult was too broad even for Miss Bell who walked away in silent indignation then recovering himself he pointed after her to Gertrude and said that creatures follies just like dust drive it out a thing and it just flees to another. Miss Black was the next of the party who arrived and Gertrude attracted by her mildness and good sense would feign have exchanged the gall and vinegar of uncle Adam for her more pleasing converse but the estreperous mirth of the children and the noisy title of Bob and Davey if actually precluded any interchange of speech beyond the ordinary salutations of meeting. The Fairbairn family including the major were now waited for with outward impatience by Mr. Black with inward anxiety by Mrs. Black. Mr. Black openly about his hunger Mrs. Black vainly endeavored to disguise her apprehensions that the beef would be roasted to a cinder a thing Mr. Black could not endure and that the rice which the major was so particular about would be all in a lump instead of being as well boiled rice ought to be each and every particular grain separate by itself all this and much more poor Mrs. Black revolved in her own mind as she sat like a second Mrs. Bluebeard ever and a non-calling to the children to look out and see if they saw anybody coming. At length the Fairbairn coach was described and loudly proclaimed the bell was rung the dinner was ordered Bob and Davey were ordered out of two arm chairs they had taken possession of Mrs. Black smoothed their gown and put on a ceremonious face while Mr. Black hastened to the door to be ready to receive Mrs. Fairbairn with due respect but no Mrs. Fairbairn was there intersted however was Ms. Becky Dugan her cousin and the cause of Mrs. Fairbairn's absence was accounted for by reason of poor little Charlotte having been very cross all day and her mama thinking there was a tooth coming and she would not leave her mama and her mama could not leave her etc etc etc all this was duly set forth by Mr. Fairbairn on one hand while Ms. Becky was making her own personal apologies on the other she was really such a figure she was quite ashamed to appear but she had no idea of coming for it been all settled that she was to stay with Charlotte while Mrs. Fairbairn was away and at one time Charlotte had agreed to let her mama go and her mama had dressed herself and was all ready to set out and then she took her crying fit when the carriage was at the door and so her mama was obliged to give up the point and stay at home and then Mr. Fairbairn had insisted on her coming in Mrs. Fairbairn's place just as she was Ms. Becky's apologies were of course met with protestations that there was no occasion for any that she was perfectly well dressed that it was merely a family dinner an easy party numbered friends and so forth but to tell the truth Ms. Becky's dress did require an apology for the marks of children's fingers where upon her gown her cap looked as if it had been sat upon in her shawl even bore symptoms of having served to play at Bo Peep in short Ms. Becky had the tooth ensemble of a poor elderly maiden aunt and such indeed was her history and character as it is alas of many others but a slight sketch may serve to describe the genus and give a tolerably faithful picture of aunt Timony in section 29 section 30 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmunds-Dune-Farrier this Libra Vox recording is in the public domain volume one chapter 30 how happy is the blameless vestal's lot Pope Ms. Becky do good as a single woman had mainly expected to escape the cares and anxieties of the married state she had heard and seen much of the indifference or the ill humor of husbands of the troubles and vexations of children and she thought from these evils I am at least free I can go where I like do what I like and live as I like the poor miss Becky soon found her mistake brothers and sisters married nephews and nieces sprung up on all hands each and all expecting to be distinguished by Aunt Becky's bounty while every parent levied the most unconscionable taxes upon her time and capabilities Aunt Becky will give me this said one you know she has no use for money on Becky will do that said another for she is always plenty of time on Becky will go there quite a third she likes a long walk but even the labor is imposed upon her by her own relations where nothing compared to the constant demands made upon her by the world in general that is by the whole circle of her acquaintances all under the idea that as a single woman she could have nothing to do but oblige her friends when in town her life was devoted to executing commissions from that country inquiring the character of servants hiring governesses and grooms finding situations for wet nurses getting patterns of police clubs from every shop in town trying to get old silks matched with new gowns made gauzes died feathers clean fans mended etc etc etc the letters always beginning as I know you do not grudge your trouble and we'll be walking about at any rate I must beg the favor when you're quite at leisure and so and so and ending with as I find I'm really in want of the things and the carrier leaves town on Thursday I trust you will contrive to have everything ready by that time but one of the letters dropped by Miss Becky in the course of her perambulations will best illustrate this part of her personal narrative my dear Miss Becky I take this opportunity of letting you know we are all tolerably well at present and trust you continue to enjoy your usual good health I return the tea you sent last as we all think it very inferior to that you sent formally and as there has been rather a fall upon the price of teas there can be no reason for such a falling off in the quality and unless candy tuft can give something very superior at the same price I would just return it and try some other shop and have nothing more to do with candy tuft Eliza and Jane with their best love take this opportunity of sending in their old black velvet polices which they wish you to consult yellow leaves the dire about they have been told that black velvet can be dyed either grass green or bright crimson and if yellow leaves can warrant their standing they would prefer having them done a good rich crimson but if not they must just put up with a full green as much on the grass and off the bottle as possible I am sorry to tell you your protege Jenny Snodgrass has turned out very ill I find her lazy and idle dirty dislodging an incident not at all the person I was led to expect from your character of her I must therefore trouble you to be on the lookout for another you know it is not much I require of my servants but there are some things it is impossible to dispense with and which I must make up point out of course she must be perfectly sober honest conscientious and trustworthy and in every respect unexceptionable in her morals she must be stout active cleanly civil obliging quiet orderly good temper need handed and particularly tidy inner person all that I require of her is to be an excellent worker at her needle after a wash and ironer and a generally useful and accommodating servant Margaret sends her affectionate remembrance and when you are at leisure request you will order a pair of stays for her from Brisbane's as soon as possible as she is in great want she sends a pair of old ones for a pattern but they don't fit you must tell him they are both too tight and too short and the shoulder straps too narrow by a full straw breath the old bus she thinks may do or if it should be too short perhaps you may be able to get it exchanged for one longer as flint the gunsmith says no great distance from Brisbane's John would be much obliged to you when you were there if you would step to him and tell him that he is going to send his gun to have the lock mended and to be sure to have it done in the most complete manner and as soon as he possibly can as the shooting season is coming on and then he may send it to you with a couple of pounds of gunpowder and a bag of small shot number five as the holiday time is coming on we may look for the boys some of these days and if it is not putting you to any inconvenience as the coach stops you know at the blue boar perhaps you will have the goodness to have your nanny waiting at the office for them and if you can manage to keep them till Monday it will be adding to the favor but they will require constant watching as you know what romps they are and for any sake can try to keep them out of the way of the gunpowder I do not expect to be confined before the 29th that soon is so if you can manage to come to us the twix and the 20th it will be very agreeable to us all I assure you I was in hopes I should not have had any more to trouble you with that present but upon hearing that I was writing to you Tom begs me to say that he wishes very much to get some good fly hooks for trout fishing for red cocks hackle body for black green plovers tucked with a light starlings wing body and for brown wood cocks wing and hair's foot body I hope you will be able to read this as I assure you it has cost me some labor to write it from Tom's diction he desires me to add you will get them best at Finns fishing rod maker at the east end of the high street fifth door at the second stair on the left hand you will easily find it as there is a large pace for a trout hanging from the end of a fishing rod for a sign you also want that pern fishing line and a few good long shank bait hooks if you happen to see your friend Miss Akin you may tell her the turbine you ordered for me is the very same of one she made for me two years ago in which I never liked I've only worn it once or twice at most so perhaps she will have no objections to take it back and make me a neat fashionable cap instead I'm afraid you will think it's very troublesome but I know you do not grudge a little trouble to oblige your friends Mr Goodwillie and the young people unite with me in best wishes and I remain my dear Mr. Do Good yours most sincerely grace Goodwillie P.S. Eliza and Jane but you will send them some patterns of summer silks neither too light nor too dark both figured in plain with the different widths and prices and also that you would inquire what is the lowest price of the handsomest ostrich feathers that can be had and if you happen to see any very pretty reeds you might price them at the same time as they are divided between feathers and flowers those you sent from trash bags were quite sore then looked as if they had been worn Mr. Goodwillie takes this opportunity of sending in a couple of razors which he begs you will send to steal the cutlers at the back of the old Kirk style to be sharpened immediately as that is a thing he cannot want Margaret bids me tell you to desire Brisbane not to put magic laces to her stays and to be sure that the stitching is static from any day that you happen to be passing seat in the saddlers Mr. Goodwillie begs you will have the goodness to inquire what would be the lowest price of new stuffing the side saddles and new lock ring the carriage harness I think it is well to send in my turban that you may try miss achon and I shall thank her extremely disablaging if she refuses to take it back as it will be money thrown into the fire if she does not work shall never go upon my head yours with much regard gg ps I find it will be necessary to send jamima in the bane the dentist to get some of her teeth taken out as her mouth is getting very crowded I would take her myself I cannot stand these things so much beg the favor of you to go with her and see it done I fear it will be a sad business poor soul as there are at least three that must come out and great tusk they are of course it is not everyone I would trust her with for such an operation but I know I can rely upon your doing everything that can be done if miss achon agrees to exchange the turban for a cap as I have no doubt she will be so good as to tell her to keep it rather more on the forehead and not quite so much off the ears as the last one she made for me which I never liked will you ask that good for nothing creature he'll piece if the children's shoes are ever to be sent home yours in haste sometimes miss Becky but took herself to the country but though she often found retirement there was seldom rest whenever a gay husband was leaving home as Becky was in requisition to keep his dog sickly wife company in his absence or vice versa when a young wife wished you amuse yourself abroad that good creature Becky do good was sent for to play backgammon with her old ill-natured husband and when both men and wife were leaving home then Becky do good was called upon the nurse the children and managed the servants in their absence invitations abounded but all to disagreeable scenes or doll parties she was expected to attend our kuzma christings deaths chestings and burials but she was seldom asked to a marriage and never to any party of pleasure or miss Betty doesn't care for these things she would like better to come to us when we're in a quiet way by ourselves was always to come off I don't know what the cares of the married life are miss Becky would sometimes say and often I think but I'm sure I know what the troubles of the single state are to a stout healthy easy tempered woman like me what is it to be the wife of one crabbed old man to having to divert all the crabbed old men in the country and what is it to be the mother of one family of children to having to look after the children of all my relations and acquaintances but miss Becky's reflections like most people's reflections came too late to benefit herself she was completely involved in the torials of celibacy before she was at all aware of her danger and they now would have been the attempt to extricate herself such was miss Becky do good walking in the vein show of liberty but in reality bettered hand and foot by all the tender charities of life as such it may be guessed she formed a very brilliant addition to the Bellevue party indeed such as the force of habit she now felt quite out of her element when seated at her ease without any immediate call on her time and attention for even her little doings carried their sense of importance along with them and perhaps mrs fright never felt more inward satisfaction at the turning of a soul from darkness to light than did poor miss Becky when she had triumphantly dispatched a box full of well executed commissions dinner passed off uncommonly well everything was excellent uncle Adam behaved with tolerable civility the major's black servant did wonders the room was hot the party was large the dishes were savory the atmosphere was one ambrosial cloud of mingled steams the lady's complexions got high but at length toasts having gone round the signal was made and all was over into section 30 section 31 of the inheritance by susan edmund stewn farrier this lever box recording is in the public domain volume one chapter 31 busky busky my bonny bride busky busky my winsome marrow busky busky my bonny bride and led us to the braze of yarrow there will we sport and gather do dancing while love rocks sing in the morning there learn fray turtles to prove truth oh bell near bex me with eyes scorning alan ramsey bright shown the morning of miss bell's nuptials and all things looked auspicious the collations stood ready for mrs black like lady capulet on a similar though less happy occasion had been a stir from the second crowing of the cock the guests were assembled the clergyman had arrived the family were all in full dress the major and his cat's eye brooch and london coat the envy of bob and debi looked the gay bridegroom from top to toe nothing was wanting but the beauty is bride and at the proper moment ducked in india muslin a full dressed head done up with her profusion of beads and braids and bands and bows a pocket handkerchief at her face miss bell was led in the solemnity deepened the clergyman cleared his voice the children were admonished by a reproving look that it was time to put on their gray faces the clatter of bob and debi was hushed and all the little disjointed groups were broken up to let length the whole company was regularly formed into one large formal silent solemn circle miss bell was now on the verge of becoming mrs major waddell i met a more foes which could not be expected to take place without some commotion persons of fine feelings naturally shed tears upon these momentous occasions and persons of ordinary feelings think they ought to do so too in short the thing is always done or appears to be done and not to be outdone miss bell sobbed aloud and had even the vulgarity to blow her nose although as bob and debi afterwards declared that was all in the eye dr johnson has remarked of the episcopal marriage service that it is to refined that it is calculated only for the best kind of marriages whereas there ought to be a form for matches of an inferior description probably such as that which now took place between major andrew waddell and miss isabella black that objection certainly does not apply to the presbyterian form which depends entirely upon the officiating clergyman and accordingly is susceptible of all the varieties of which the mind and manners of man are capable from the holy meekness and simplicity of the evangelical pastor to the humdrum slip shot exhortations of the lukewarm minister or the dog dogmas of the worldly wise doctor it was a person of the latter description who now performed the ceremony in a manner which even dr johnson would scarcely have deemed too good for the parties miss is major waddell having received the congratulations of the company then withdrew according to etiquette to change her nuptial robe for a traveling habit and speedily re-entered a raid in a navy blue riding habit the major's favorite color allowed to sit uncommonly well a black beaver hat and feathers yellow boots gold watch and brooch containing the major's hair set round with pearls all together mrs major waddell looked remarkably well and bore her new honors with a happy mixture of dignity and affability the company were now conducted to the banquet which though neither breakfast dinner or supper was a happy combination of all there was of course much cutting and carving and helping and asking and refusing and even some pressing and will the foot boy broke to cancer and black caesars built a very elaborate trifle but upon the whole everything went on prosperously mrs st claire took care to seat herself by the major and aware that when people are very happy they are commonly very weak she seized her opportunity and easily cajoled him out of his vote and now the trampling of steeds and crush of wheels announced the bridal equipage and the major his lady and miss lily who was to accompany them prepared to depart the lady according to custom was hurried or appeared to be hurried into the smart carriage and four that awaited her miss lily followed but as she took leave of miss st claire she whispered i should like very much to correspond with you if but here lily was dragged away by her father with a reproof for keeping the young people waiting the happy party were now seated the door was shut the smiles and bows and kissing of hands was renewed the major's black servants skipped on the diki go on was pronounced the drivers cracked their whips the carriage set off with a bound and was soon rattling through the streets of barnford where many a gazing eye and outstretched neck hailed it as it passed a great philosopher has asserted that upon all such joyous occasions our satisfaction though not so durable is often as lively as that of the person's principally concerned but upon the present occasion there certainly was little sympathy in mrs. major waddell's feelings and those of her friends and acquaintances while she rolled on supremely blessed they solace themselves with commiserating her hapless fate quite a mercenary marriage poor thing a sad sacrifice a man old enough to be her grandfather has met with 17 refusals fortune come in of the telling liver like a plum pudding false teeth dreadful temper etc etc were buzzed from one end of the town to the other but happily none of their stings penetrated the ear of the bride who sat in all the bliss of pompous ignorance though births marriages and deaths occur every day still they continue to excite an interest beyond the ordinary events of life the former and the latter indeed though apparently more important occurrences certainly do not engage the attention or occupy the minds of the great mass of mankind or at least of womankind so much as the less solemn act of marriage whether these being performed without our own consent asked or obtained afford less scope for animadversion or that marriages estate in which all are inclined to sympathize the married from fellow feeling the single from feelings which the moralist or the metaphysician may declare but which it is no part of my business to investigate I shall therefore leave the point to be discussed by those who are more competent and return to the company it is no easy matter for a party in full dress to pass away the morning when the business for which they assembled is over and where there is nothing to gratify any one of the five senses it is then people feel in its fullest extent the pains and penalties of idleness as soon as their respective carriages drew up the guests therefore dropped off and as the last of them wheeled out of sight mrs black thanked her stars she had seen all their backs in the section 31 section 32 of the inheritance by susan edmund stune farrier this Lieberbach's recording is in the public domain volume one chapter 32 thou wilt be like a lover presently and tire the hearer with a book of words much ado about nothing it was with pleasure Gertrude hailed the stately turrets of Rossville as she beheld them rising above the rich masses of wood which surrounded them and again her heart bounded with delight as she thought all this will one day be mine mine to bestow she did not finish the sentence even to herself but the image of colonel delmore rose to her view and she felt that even the brilliant destiny that awaited her would be poor and joyless unless he were to partake of it on a lighting mrs st. claire hastened to lord rossville to report to him the success of her canvas and Gertrude soon found herself she knew not how strolling by the banks of the river with colonel delmore by her side it is universally allowed that though nothing can be more interesting in itself than the conversation of two lovers yet nothing can be more insipid in detail just as the heavenly fragrance of the rose becomes vapid and sickly under all the attempts made to retain and embody its exquisite odor colonel delmore certainly was in love as much so as it was in his nature to be but as has been truly said how many noxious ingredients enter into the composition of what is sometimes called love pride vanity ambition self-interest all these had their share in the admiration which colonel delmore accorded to the beauties and the graces of mrs st. claire in any situation in life his taste would have led him to admire her but it was only as the eras of rossville his pride would have permitted him to have loved her but he was aware of the obstacles that stood in the way of his wishes and deemed it most prudent not to oppose himself openly to them at present he was conscious of the odium he would incur where he to enter the lists as the rival of his brother knowing as he had all along done that that brother was the destined husband of the eras of rossville his aim therefore was to secure her affections in a clandestine manner leading it to his brother to make his proposals openly and when they had been rejected he would then come forward and prefer his suit this maneuver would to be sure expose gertrude to the whole weight of her uncle's displeasure and probably bring much persecution upon her but with a character such as hers that would only tend to strengthen her attachment and colonel delmore was too selfish to prize the happiness even of the woman he loved beyond his own or rather like many others of the same nature he wished that her happiness should be of a reflected nature emanating solely from himself having bewailed the necessity he was under of leaving rossville the following day he then gave way to the most vehement expressions of despair at the thoughts of leaving one a thousand times dearer to him than life and that too without the only solace that could soften the anguish of separation the belief that his feelings were understood the hope that they might one day be mutual gertrude remained silent but there was a deep struggle in her breast her mother's prejudice her uncle's plans made her feel the dangers and difficulties of their attachment while they at the same time served to heighten it colonel delmore saw what was passing in her mind and that he must now bring the matter to a decision with all the impassioned south the street of which he was master he contrived to draw from gertrude an indirect acknowledgement that he was not perfectly indifferent to her and he then urged the necessity there was for carefully concealing their attachment for the present can this be right thought gertrude and her conscience told her no but a verse as she was to every species of dissimulation and to see she was equally a stranger to the meanness of suspicion and to suspect the man she loved was not in her nature love and suspicion were the very antipodes of her mind she therefore quickly vanished the slight suggestion that had arisen though she could not so easily reconcile to herself the idea that she was acting a clandestine part in thus deceiving by not disclosing to her mother what had passed but colonel delmore besought her with so much earnestness to withhold the communication for the present and she dreaded so much to encounter her mother's violence and prejudice that perhaps on the whole she was not sorry for an excuse to indulge undisturbed yet a while in love's young dream had Mrs. Sinclair ever been the friend of her daughter gertrude would not have acted thus for nature was open and ingenuous and she would have disdained every species of concealment and duplicity but the whirlwind and the tempest are not more baleful in their effects on the material world than tyranny and violence are destructive of all the finer qualities of the mind with which they come in contact they must either irritate or deaden all those freeborn infections of the soul which like the first vernal shoots possess a charm in their freshness alone which art and culture would in vain seek to impart when the lovers reached the castle it was within a few minutes of the dinner hour and gertrude flew to her room where she found her mother waiting for her where have you been child cried she in no very complacent tone lord rossville has been asking for you at least a dozen times and no one could give any account of you i've been walking by the river mama replied her daughter in some confusion i wish you would leave off these idle rambles of yours i'm quite of the url's opinion that the less young ladies indulge in solitary rambles the better mama i was not alone gertrude would have added though in some little trepidation but mrs st claire interrupted her come come there's no time to waste in excuses you will be late as it is so make haste you ought to have remembered there is to be company here today to whom lord rossville wished to present you in due pomp perhaps to serve some little political purpose but no matter he is a generous noble minded man in spite of his little peculiarities he was anxious to have seen you today for two purposes which i am commissioned to fulfill the first is that you are to bestow your attention exclusively upon mr delmore the next is to decorate you with a splendid gift for the occasion luckily you are in looks to do credit to my work see here is what your kind generous uncle presents you with an opening a jewel case she displayed a set of costly pearls a pang shot through gertrude's heart as she thought would he have bestowed these upon me if he had known that i am acting in opposition to his wishes oh why am i compelled thus to play the hypocrite and she sighed and shrunk back as her mother would have decked her in oriental magnificence mrs st claire looked at her with astonishment what is the matter gertrude this is a strange time to sigh when adorning with gems which even the future of countess of rossville might be proud to wear gertrude passively extended her arm to have the costly bracelets clasped on it but mrs st claire knew not that to those who had just been plighting hearts even gulkanda's minds would have seemed poor and dim at that moment gertrude felt that wealth and honors were about as painted clay end of section 32 section 33 of the inheritance by susan edmund ferrier this leverbox recording is in the public domain volume 1 chapter 33 is their place to write above one lover's name with honor in her heart old play meanwhile the carriages were beginning to draw up in rapid succession and lord rossville though fretting inwardly at his niece's delay he had received the company with much outward serenity he felt that he was master of his own person and manners and all the dignity and urbanity for which he flattered himself he was so celebrated had now full scope in the absence of miss pratt his step was firmer his chest was broader his nose was higher his language was finer his sentences were longer his periods were rounder in short richard was himself again already had he uttered many sensible and even some witty sayings to such of his guests as had arrived while his mind was busy concocting upon to be applied to sir peter wellwood when he should appear but alas for the insecurity of the best laid schemes of human wisdom sir peter and lady wellwood were announced and horror of horrors who should enter with them but miss pratt who can paint the earl as he stood pierced with severe amazement not seledon when he beheld his amelia struck a blackened course gazed with more marvel aspect and did his lordship at sight of the breathing form of miss pratt the half formed pun died on his lips a faint and indistinct notion of it floated through his bewildered brain it was to have been something about a well and a wood or a wood in a well but the earl's wits were in a wood and he could certainly have wished miss pratt in a well in vain did he even attempt to say something of welcome the words clothe to the roof of his mouth and his looks did not make up for the deficiencies of his tongue but miss pratt had not been looked at for 50 years to be disconcerted at that time of life by the looks of any man living and she therefore accosted him in her usual manner well my lord you see i've been better than my word i dare say you didn't think of seeing me today and to tell you the truth i didn't think of it myself but sir peter and lady well would happen to call arm pass on that lady macaws and as they were so good as to offer me a seat in their carriage i thought i couldn't do better than just come and make out the rest of my visit to you lady betty lady malmay lady rest all et cetera et cetera et cetera and in a moment miss pratt was buzzing all around the room at sound of the gong missus st clare had hastily put the last finish to her daughter's dress and hurried her to the drawing room as they entered all eyes were turned towards them lord rossville was struck with his surpassing beauty of his niece and attributing it entirely to the effect of his pearls he advanced from the circle in which he was standing and taking her hand with an air of gratified pride led her towards the company he was in the act of presenting her to a dowager martianess for whom he entertained a high veneration when at that moment mr lindsay entered from the opposite side of the room their eyes met for the first time since that event for midnight seen in the wood a slight suffusion crossed his face but in instant the color mounted to her varied temples and in answer to the martianess's introductory remark she stammered out she knew not what the consciousness of her confusion only served to increase it she was aware that the eyes of the company were upon her but she felt only the influence of colonel delmores lord rossville attributing his niece's embarrassment solely to awe and respect for himself and his guests was beginning to reassure and encourage her in a manner which would have increased her confusion tenfold when fortunately dinner was announced amid the usual bustle of fixing the order of procession with all the accompanying ceremonies necessary to be observed in walking from one room to another crude treat was recovering her presence of mind when as miss pratt passed leaning on the arm of her ally sir peter she whispered i these are pearls of great price indeed so so somebody has come good speed love like light will not hide at ha and with an intolerable tap of her fan and a significant chuckle on she padded while again gertrude's cheeks were dyed with blushes at that moment colonel delmore who had heard miss pratt's remarks accidentally trod upon her gown in such a manner as almost to tear away the skirt from the body was there ever the like of this cried she reddening with anger my good plowman's gauze colonel delmore do you see what you've done but colonel delmore without daining to take the least notice of the injury he had inflicted passed on to offer his arm to one of the miss mild maze miss pratt's only solace therefore was the sympathy of sir peter to whom she detailed all the mischief colonel delmore had done her first and last concluding with the remark which though in an affected whisper was intended to reach his ear that indeed it was no wonder he came such bad speed at the courting she had need to be both a bold woman and a rich one who would choose such a rough wooer this disaster however had the effect of a quietess upon miss pratt for some time and lord rossville got leave to expand to his utmost dimensions unchecked by any interruptions from her none of the company now assembled seemed to have any particular part to play in the great drama of life they were all commonplace wellbred eating and drinking elderly lords and ladies or well-dressed talking smiling flirting masters and mrs. Gertrude was as usual appropriated by mr. delmore who paid her much attention and some very pretty compliments end up gentlemanly but somewhat business-like manner colonel delmore sat on the other hand silent thoughtful and displeased neglecting even the common attentions which politeness required mr. lindsey was on the opposite side of the table and upon his asking miss st. claire to drink wine with him colonel delmore turned his eye quickly upon her and again a deep blush mantled her cheeks something perhaps a wounded pride at the suspicion implied in his glance where may be of that shame natural to the ingenuous mind at the sense of mystery and concealment whatever its cause its effect was sufficiently visible on colonel delmore he turned pale with suppressed anger bit his lip nor addressed a single word to her during the whole of dinner there's only this difference betwixt the summer and a winter party that in winter the company formed into one large cluster around the fire and in summer they fall into little detached groups and are scattered all over the apartment upon entering the drawing room gertrude had unconsciously seated herself apart from everybody at an open window where she thought she was contemplating the beams of the setting sun as they glowed upon the hills and glittered through the rich green foliage of some intervening elms but in fact she was ruminating on the various occurrences of the day and the awkward predicament in which she found her self-placed with mr. lindsay she was roused from her reverie by someone putting their hands before her eyes and presently the dreaded accents of prat smote her ear as she struck up as pensive i thought of my love a then drawing in a chair she seated herself close by miss st. claire and taking her hand with an air friendly sympathy and perfect security she began i'm sure it must be a relief to you to have got away from the dinner table today i really felt for you for i know by experience what my gentleman is when he is in his tantrums did you see how he was like to tear me in pieces today for nothing but because i happened to see how the land lay between a certain person and you just look at my good plowman's cause turning round i assure you my dear i was very much afraid at one time that you would have been taken in by him for i saw that he made a dead set at you from the first and he can be very agreeable when he chooses but take my word for it he's a very impertinent ill-bred ill-tempered man for all that coloring with confusion and indignation gertrude had sat silently enduring the oba qui lavished on her lover from other inability to interrupt her but at this climax she made a movement to extricate herself which however was in vain this proud again sees the hand which had been withdrawn and with a significant squeeze resumed you needn't be afraid of me my dear your secret's safe with me and to tell you the truth i've suspected the thing for some time i only wish you had looked about you a little there's anthony white has never so much has seen you yet if he would but make up his mind to marry what a husband he would make very different from our friend the colonel to be sure many's the sore heart his wife will have and many a sore heart he is given already with his flirtations for he's never happy but when he's making love to somebody or other married or single it's all the same to him miss pratt cry gertrude in great emotion as she again tried to disengage herself from her i cannot listen to well my dear it's very good of you to stand up for him with a pat on the shoulder for it seldom ladies takes such a lift of their cast lovers but it says well you should know all you've escaped then lower her voice to a mysterious whisper just to give you one single trait of him which i know to be a fact what do you think of his owing edward lindsay seven thousand pound for his game debts that i can pledge myself for i was staying in the house with them both at the time i was upon a visit to lady august in london and i had good access to see what went on and i saw rather more too than what they thought of edward lindsay was just of age then and he was invited there to be presented and introduced by the delmores for you know there at the very top of the tree in london i suspect there was a scheme for getting edward to one of the misses but it wouldn't do well the colonel was to take charge of him and bring him into fashion by way of for he's a great deal older you know and was very soon old in the ways of the world he's no such chicken for as young as he looks he must now be a man between 30 and 40 miss bratt knew to an hour his age and that he was just 30 well the colonel was by way of introducing him into the fashionable circles in a fine set or else not he initiated him into even took him to the gaming table where he lost some money but what do you think of his having to pay seven thousand pound and upwards for the colonel seven thousand pound gambled away in one night not a shilling to pay it the consequence was he must have sold out and been ruined forever if edward lindsey had not advanced the money and to this day i'll be bound for it he has never touched one hey penny of principle or interest where was it to come from he lives far beyond his income anybody may see that with his coracle and his fine horses and his groom in his valet while there's the person that he owes all that money who keeps no carriage and rides all over the country without so much as a servant after him and my gentleman can't go to a neighbor's house without having a retinue like a prince after him but the provoking thing is there's lord rossville and many other people crying out upon edward for his extravagance and falling and having muddled away his money and not living as he should do and making no figure in the world when i know that he's just pinching and saving to make up the money and clear his estate from the debt he contracted upon it for his pretty cousin there i once gave lord rossville a hint of how matters to be he's so infatuated with these delmores i thought he would have worried me there's nothing they can do that's wrong not that he's very fond of the colonel or likes his company but he's proud of him because he's the fashion and has made a figure and so he goes on telling everybody what great characters the delmores are i assure you it's all i can do to keep my tongue within my teeth sometimes but colonel delmores a man i wouldn't like to provoke what do you think of his having the impertinence to tell me that if he found me meddling in his affair he would pull anthony whites nose for him i should like to see him offered to lay a finger on anthony white but that's just a specimen of him though he's an insolent extravagant selfish puppy but are you well enough my dear gertrude had made many ineffectual attempts to stop the torrent of miss pratt's invective but that lady was no more to be stopped in her career than a ship in full speed or a racer on the course at length uttering an exclamation she abruptly extricated herself from her grasp and quitted the room there was commonly a mixture of truth and falsehood in all miss pratt's narrations but it must be owned the present formed an exception perhaps a solitary one to her ordinary practice she had for once told her round unvarnished tale with merely a little exaggeration as to the sum and for once she's spoken from actual knowledge not from mere conjecture miss pratt had by some means her other best known to herself contrived to lay her hands upon a letter of colonel delmores which had led her into the secret of the money transaction and transaction which from honor and delicacy on the one side pride and shame on the other would otherwise have been forever confined to the parties themselves in vain did gertrude strive to steal the tumult of her mind in the silence of her own chamber in vain did she repeat a thousand times to herself why should I for an instant give ear to the paltry gossip of a person I despise how is it that I can be guilty of injuring the man I love by yielding the shadow of belief to the calamities of a miss pratt no no I do not I will not believe them shame to me for even listening to them false fickle mercenary a gangster impossible alas Gertrude believed it was impossible because she loved because all the affections of a warm generous confiding heart were leveraged on this idol of her imagination which she had decked in all the attributes of perfection and yet such is the delusion of passion that could she even have beheld in bereft of all those virtues and graces with which her young romantic heart had so liberally invested in even then she would not have ceased to love what will not the heart endure ere it will voluntarily surrender the hoarded treasure of its love through the cold dictates of reason or the stern voice of duty End of Section 33 Section 34 of The Inheritance by Susan Edmundsdune Ferrier This LibriVox recording is in the public domain Volume 1 Chapter 34 Oh how hast thou with jealousy infected the sweetness of Afiance Shakespeare It was so long ere Gertrude could compose herself sufficiently to return to the drawing room that when she did she found the gentlemen had already joined the party in some confusion she took the first seat that offered which happened to be part of a sofa on which one of the miss mill banks was lounging and on the back of which Mr. Lindsey was leaning but it was not till she had seated herself that she was aware of his vicinity to add to her embarrassment Miss Pratt crossed from the opposite side of the room and took her seat alongside of her I was just going to look for you my dear said she in one of her loud all-pervading whispers I was afraid you wasn't very well but upon saying that to Mrs. St. Clair she said she dare said you were just taking an evening ramble for that you're a great moonlight stroller like some other people with a significant smile at Mr. Lindsey and again Gertrude felt the color mount to her cheeks she raised her eyes but met his fixed on her with such an expression of deep and thoughtful inquiry as redoubled her confusion and scarcely knowing what she said she uttered an exclamation at the heat of the room are you too hot my dear cried her tormentor taking a fan out of her pocket and rising as she spoke then here's work for you Mr. Edward sit you down there and fan Miss St. Clair not that I want to make a coolness between you added she in a half whisper loud enough to reach Colonel Delmore loosed it by the fire sipping his coffee but I really don't think the room's hot it must just be coming in from the cold air that makes you feel the room warm you would do well Mr. Edward to give this fair lady a lecture on her moonlight rambles I it is insupportable cry Gertrude starting up unable longer to endure Miss Pratt's mal apropro observations it is very hot said Lindsey scarcely less embarrassed than herself shall we seek a little fresh air at the window and offering his arm he let her towards one and threw it open Gertrude's agitation rather increased than diminished oh what must you think of me at length she exclaimed in a low voice of repressed anguish where I to tell you replied Mr. Lindsey in some emotion I fear you would think me very presumptuous impossible so Gertrude with increasing agitation as she advanced on this perilous subject I feel that I must ever she stopped her mother's caution her own promises recurred to her and she felt that her impetuosity was herring her beyond the bounds prescribed both remained silent but Lindsey still held her hand and looked upon her with an expression of no common interest he was however recalled to other considerations by the approach of Mr. Delmore when blinquishing her hand he made some remark on the heat of the room having been too much for Miss St. Clair it is only in the sphere of my fair cousin herself said Mr. Delmore with the bow and a smile the fire of her eyes seldom fails to kindle a flame wherever their influence is filled Gertrude scarcely heard this flat hackney compliment but she felt the taunt implied when Colonel Delmore who was always hovering near her said with asperity such fires however are sometimes near ignis thatchewy which shine only to deceive a cruel aspersion upon glowworms and ladies eyes said Mr. Lindsey since both may and certainly do shine without any such wicked intention were it not that the thing must be said Mr. Delmore with about to miss St. Clair I should imagine it would be difficult to overheat this room it is large not less I take it than 40 by 30 lofty prodigious walls and a northwest exposure if it were well-lighted indeed that might have some effect but at present it is rather deficient there ought to be at least a dozen lamps instead of those pale ineffectual wax candles but in fact it is not everyone who knows how to light a room in a well-lit room there ought not to be a vestige of shade while here in many place for instances where we are standing it is absolute darkness visible yes it is a sort of a pandemonium light said Colonel Delmore scornfully the mind is its own place you know Delmore said Mr. Lindsey and in itself he stopped and smiled go on quite Colonel Delmore in a voice of suppressed anger pray don't be afraid to finish your quotation Mr. Lindsey repeated can make a heaven of hell a hell of heaven Colonel Delmore seemed on the point of giving way to his passion but he checked himself and affected to laugh while he said a flattering compliment implied no doubt but if I am the Lucifer you insinuate I can boast of possessing his best attributes also for I too bear a mind not to be changed by place or time and in my creed constancy still ranks as a virtue he looked at Gertrude as he pronounced these words in an emphatic manner what are you all doing in this dark corner asked Lady Betty as she advanced with floor under her arm we came here to be cool and said Mr. Lindsey and we are all getting very warm that is most extraordinary said her ladyship but did any of you lift the third volume of the midnight wedding we will thank you to pull down that window cried Miss Pratt I wonder what you're all made of for we are perfectly starving here sit a little more this way Sir Peter your moonlight days and mine are both over indeed as Anthony White says I never see anything but a swelled face and a flannel lapid in the moon then going to Mr. Lindsey she touched his elbow and beckoned him a little apart so I wish you joy the cats out of the bag but take care what you're about for a certain person pointing to Colonel Delmore will be ready to bite your nose off upon my word you quiet people always play your cards best after all and with a friendly pat on the back Miss Pratt whisked away and the next minute was bustling about a wrist party with Lord Rossville and Sir Peter the arrangement of their table was always a work of delicacy and difficulty the hero was fond of wrist and so was Miss Pratt and for upwards of 30 years they had been in the occasional habit of playing together in the most discordant manner imaginable Miss Pratt played like lightning the euro pondered every card as though life depended on the cast every card every spot of a card out or in was registered in Pratt's memory ready at a call the euro was a little confused and sometimes committed blunders which were invariably pointed out and and the madverted upon by Miss Pratt whether as his antagonist or his partner then she had the importance to shake her head and hem sigh and even groan at times and do some of the whole when they played together she had the assurance to insist upon taking the tricks which was an usurpation of power beyond all endurance while the seniors of the company were arranging themselves at their several card parties the younger part repaired to the music room where Gertrude was urged to sing by all present except Colonel Delmore who preserved our moody silence teased into compliance she had linked seated herself at the harp and began to prelude you accompany Miss St. Clair Frederick said Mr. Delmore to his brother in a tone of inquiry Miss St. Clair has found out that I am a bad accompaniment answered he in a manner which only Gertrude could understand to one who sings so true so perfectly free from all false setter it must be a severe penance to find herself clogged with me who am a perfect novice in that art as in every other I prefer singing alone said Gertrude vainly trying to conceal her agitation at this insulting speech it is extremely mortifying said Mr. Lindsay instantly attracting the attention to himself that I'm seldom or never asked to sing it is difficult to account for this insensibility on the part of my friends in particular of the world in general but I'm resolved to remain no longer silent under such contumely Miss St. Clair will take me under her patronage my wrong shall be heard in full bravura this very night where shall I find words vast enough to express my feelings and he turned over the music while he hummed warrenies bring me a hundred reeds of decent growth to form a pipe et cetera then selecting the beautiful arietta you tomorrow then she separate the flora who a bucky if flora a caressor il manti is all matter la rugia rosa rora ready multi still at the condor li peyante you tomorrow you tomorrow you tomorrow he placed it before miss St. Clair saying will the mistress allow her protégé to choose for herself and him Gertrude though in some degree restored to self-possession could only bow her acquiescence but the state of her feelings was such as prevented her doing justice either to herself or her accompaniment she was scarcely sensible of the beauty of his style of singing neither was it then she was struck with the singularity of having lived so long under the same roof without being aware that he possessed a skill and taste in music which with most people would have formed a prominent feature in their character in which they would long air then have found an opportunity of displaying but Lindsay did nothing for display and now his talents were merely brought out when they could be of service to another Gertrude however saw nothing of all this she saw nothing but that Bruno Delmore had disappeared upon Mr. Lindsay taking his station by her the song ended she hastily relinquished her seat to another lady and it was occupied in rotation till carriages were announced and that party broke up Gertrude availed herself of the bustle of departures to make her escape to her own chamber but as she passed through the suite of apartments she found Colonel Delmore in one of the most remote pacing up and down with every mark of disquiet she would have retreated but quickly advancing he seized her hand then in the same cold ironical manner he had hitherto practiced he requested that miss Sinclair would honor him so far as to endure his presence for a few moments I know nothing Colonel Delmore can have to say to me answer Gertrude roused to something like indignation unless indeed to apologize for his behavior apologize repeated he with vehemence no that certainly is not my purpose unless miss Sinclair will first deign to account for hers but the thing is impossible however I might distrust others I cannot disbelieve the evidence of my own senses I am ignorant of your meaning I cannot listen to such frantic expressions and she sought to withdraw her hand from him frantic yes I am frantic to seek that explanation from you which I have a right to demand and will demand from another quarter for mercy's sake tell me what is the meaning of this cried Gertrude in great emotion why am I subjected to hear such violent such insulting language and from you and the tears burst from her eyes Colonel Delmore gazed upon her for a few minutes in silence then in a somewhat calmer tone and heaving a deep sigh he proceeded but a few hours ago and tears from your eyes would have been as blood from my own heart and even yet deceived and injured as I am he stopped in much agitation then again giving way to his passion but you ask me why you are subjected to such language your armed heart might have spared you that question I have not deserved this I will not endure it and miss Sinclair again sought to leave the room then why have I deserved why must I endure to be mocked and deluded with hopes you never meant to realize yes that cold-blooded systematic Puritan Lindsay dares to love you and you but he shall answer for this to me for a moment Gertrude regarded him with a look of the most unthamed astonishment which only gave way to the deep blush that died her cheeks but it was not the blush of shame or confusion but the glow of indignation and with an air of offended dignity she said since you believe me capable after what passed today of loving another you might well treat me as you have done but what am I to think of one who could for a single instant suspect me of such base such monstrous duplicity Gertrude cried Colonel Delmore in great agitation Gertrude I am a wretch if you but why those blushes that confusion outside of him why that air of intelligence that attends your intercourse did I not hear you myself when you withdrew with him to the window ask with all that solicitude of the most heartfelt interest what he must think of you he said what would his thoughts signify to you if your affections were mine Gertrude felt almost despair as she thought of the impossibility of clearing herself from suspicions which she was aware there was but too much reason to attach to her and she remained silent while Colonel Delmore's eyes were fixed upon her with an expression of the most intense anxiety at length with a deep sigh she said that there exists a mutual cause of embarrassment betwixt Mr. Lindsey me I do not deny but it is one which involves the interest of a third person and I dare not divulge it even to you that and that only is the cause of the confusion you witnessed and of the words you overheard more I cannot dare not say I am pledged to silence by him demanded Colonel Delmore impetuously no by another but that other I may not name Colonel Delmore still looked doubtingly and how long is this mysterious connection to continue heaven only knows but do not do not ask me farther and as she bent her head dejectedly forward the string of pearls which hung from her neck attracted her lover's eye and again as wavering suspicions were roused as he remembered the conversation repeated by Miss Pratt and these precious bubbles karate pointing contemptuously to them do they form part of the mysterious chain which links your face so indissolubly with that of Mr. Lindsey I see I am doubted disbelieved it is degrading to be thus interrogated and with an air of displeasure foreign to her natural character she rose to quit the room Gertrude Clyde Colonel Delmore detaining her you know not you cannot conceive how my heart is wracked and tortured I will I must have my doubts ended one way or other air we part perhaps forever tell me then are not these the gifts of that of Edward Lindsey the gift of Edward Lindsey repeated Gertrude in the utmost amazement what an idea and she almost smiled and scorned the pearls are present I received not many hours since from Lord Rostel I thought little of them then added she with a simple tenderness which carried conviction even to Colonel Delmore Clyde just parted from you Gertrude dears Gertrude can you forgive me any port forth the most vehement repurchase on himself mingled with such expressions of love towards her as failed not to obtain pardon he related to her what had passed with Miss Pratt relative to the pearls and so doing served a double purpose by clearing himself from the charges that had been brought against him by that lady this trade of her served as Gertrude how little dependence ought to be placed on her report and she felt as though she too had been guilty of injustice towards her lover and even listening to her malicious insinuations though somewhat pained yet on the whole she was not displeased at what had passed like many others she cherished that fatal mistake that jealousy is the offspring of love rather than the infirmity of temper and as such its excesses were easily forgiven in short this was a lover's quarrel a first quarrel too and consequently it served rather to heighten them to diminish the mutual attachment Delmore was to set up early the following morning and Gertrude too much agitated to return to the company took farewell of him and hastened to her own apartment to hide her parting tears end of volume first end of section 34