Speaker 1: Chapter one. Lady Susan Vernon to mister.
Speaker 2: Vernon, Langford, December, My dear brother, I can no longer
Speaker 2: refuse myself the pleasure of profiting by your kind invitation
Speaker 2: when last we parted of spending some weeks with you
Speaker 2: at Churchill, And therefore, if quite convenient to you and
Speaker 2: missus Vernon to receive me at present, I shall hope
Speaker 2: within a few days to be introduced to a sister
Speaker 2: whom I have so long desired to be acquainted with.
Speaker 2: My kind friends here are most affectionately urgent with me
Speaker 2: to prolong my stay, but their hospitable and cheerful dispositions
Speaker 2: lead them too much into society for my present situation
Speaker 2: and state of mind, and I impatiently look forward to
Speaker 2: the hour when I shall be admitted into your delightful retirement.
Speaker 2: I long to be made known to your dear little children,
Speaker 2: in whose hearts I shall be very eager to secure,
Speaker 2: an interest I shall soon have need for all my fortitude.
Speaker 2: As I am on the point of separation from my
Speaker 2: own daughter. The long illness of her dear father prevented
Speaker 2: my paying her that attention which duty and affection equally dictated,
Speaker 2: and I have too much reason to fear that the
Speaker 2: governess to whose care I consign her was unequal to
Speaker 2: the charge. I have therefore resolved in placing her at
Speaker 2: one of the best private schools in town, where I
Speaker 2: shall have an opportunity of leaving her myself in my way.
Speaker 2: To you, I am determined, you see, not to be
Speaker 2: denied admittance at Churchill. It would indeed give me the
Speaker 2: most painful sensations to know that it were not in
Speaker 2: your power to receive me your most obliged.
Speaker 1: Chapter two, Lady Susan Vernon to missus.
Speaker 2: Johnson, Langford. You were mistaken, my dear Alicia, in supposing
Speaker 2: me fixed at this place for the rest of the winter.
Speaker 2: It grieves me to say how greatly you are mistaken,
Speaker 2: for I have seldom spent three months more agreeably than
Speaker 2: those which have just flown away. At present, nothing goes smoothly.
Speaker 2: The females of the family are united against me. You
Speaker 2: foretold how it would be when I first came to Langford,
Speaker 2: and manwaring is so uncommonly pleasing that I was not
Speaker 2: without apprehensions for myself. I remember saying to myself as
Speaker 2: I drove to the house I like this man, pray
Speaker 2: heaven no harm come of it. But I was determined
Speaker 2: to be discreet, to bear in mind my being only
Speaker 2: four months a widow, and to be as quiet as possible.
Speaker 2: And I have been so, my dear creature. I have
Speaker 2: admitted no one's attentions but man wearings. I have avoided
Speaker 2: all general flirtation whatever. I have distinguished no creature besides
Speaker 2: all of a number's resorting hither except Sir James Martin,
Speaker 2: on whom I bestowed a little noticed in order to
Speaker 2: detach him from Miss Manwaring. But if the world could
Speaker 2: know my motive there, they would honor me. I have
Speaker 2: been called an unkind mother, but it was the sacred
Speaker 2: impulse of maternal affection. It was the advantage of my
Speaker 2: daughter that led me on. And if that daughter were
Speaker 2: not the greatest simpleton on earth, I might have been
Speaker 2: rewarded for my exertions as I ought. Sir James did
Speaker 2: make proposals to me for Frederica, But Frederica, who was
Speaker 2: born to be the torment of my life, chose to
Speaker 2: set herself so violently against the match that I thought
Speaker 2: it better to lay aside the scheme for the present
Speaker 2: I have more than once repented that I did not
Speaker 2: marry him myself, and were he but one degree less
Speaker 2: contemptibly weak, I certainly should. But I must own myself
Speaker 2: rather romantic in that respect, and that riches only will
Speaker 2: not satisfy me. The event of all this is very provoking.
Speaker 2: Sir James is gone, Mariah highly incensed, and missus Manwaring
Speaker 2: insupportably jealous, so jealous in short, and so enraged against me,
Speaker 2: that in the fury of her temper, I should not
Speaker 2: be surprised at her appealing to her guardian if she
Speaker 2: had the liberty of addressing him. But there your husband stands,
Speaker 2: my friend, and the kindest, most amiable action of his
Speaker 2: life was his throwing her off forever on her marriage.
Speaker 2: Keep up his resentment. Therefore, I charge you, we are
Speaker 2: now in a sad state. No house was ever more altered,
Speaker 2: the whole party are at war, and Man Wearing scarcely
Speaker 2: dares speak to me me it is time for me
Speaker 2: to be gone. I have therefore determined on leaving them,
Speaker 2: and shall spend I hope a comfortable day with you
Speaker 2: in town within this week. If I am as little
Speaker 2: in favor with mister Johnson. As ever, you must come
Speaker 2: to me at ten Weegmore Street. But I hope this
Speaker 2: may not be the case. For as mister Johnson, with
Speaker 2: all his faults, is a man to whom that great
Speaker 2: word respectable is always given, and I am known to
Speaker 2: be so intimate with his wife, his slighting me has
Speaker 2: an awkward look. I take London in my way to
Speaker 2: that insupportable spot, a country village, for I really am
Speaker 2: going to Churchill. Forgive me, my dear friend, it is
Speaker 2: my last resource. Were there another place in England open
Speaker 2: to me, I would prefer it. Charles Vernon is my aversion,
Speaker 2: and I am afraid of his wife at Churchill. However,
Speaker 2: I must remain till I have something better in view.
Speaker 2: My young lady accompanies me to town, where I shall
Speaker 2: deposit her under the care of Miss Summers in Wigmore
Speaker 2: Street till she becomes a little more reasonable. She will
Speaker 2: make good connections there, as the girls are all of
Speaker 2: the best families. The price is immense and much beyond
Speaker 2: what I can ever attempt to pay. Adieu. I will
Speaker 2: send you a line as soon as I arrive in town. Yours, ever,
Speaker 2: s vern.
Speaker 1: Chapter three, Missus Vernon to Lady de Courcy.
Speaker 3: Church Hill, my dear mother, I am very sorry to
Speaker 3: tell you that it will not be within our power
Speaker 3: to keep our promise of spending our Christmas with you,
Speaker 3: and we are prevented that happiness by a circumstance which
Speaker 3: is not likely to make us any amends. Lady Susan,
Speaker 3: in a letter to her brother in law, has declared
Speaker 3: her intention of visiting us almost immediately, and as such
Speaker 3: a visit is, in all probability merely an affair of convenience,
Speaker 3: it is impossible to conjecture its length. I was by
Speaker 3: no means prepared for such event, nor can I now
Speaker 3: account for her ladyship's conduct. Langford appeared so exactly the
Speaker 3: place for her in every respect, as well from the
Speaker 3: elegant and expensive style of living there, as well as
Speaker 3: from her particular attachment to mister Mainwaring that I was
Speaker 3: very far from expecting so speedy a distinction, though I
Speaker 3: always imagined, from her increasing friendship for us since her
Speaker 3: husband's death, that we should, at some future period be
Speaker 3: obliged to receive her. Mister Vernon, I think was a
Speaker 3: great deal too kind to her when he was in Staffordshire.
Speaker 3: Her behavior to him, independent of her general character, has
Speaker 3: been so inexcusably artful and ungenerous since her marriage was
Speaker 3: first in agitation, that no one less amiable and mild
Speaker 3: than himself could overlook it all. And though as his
Speaker 3: brother's widow, and in narrow circumstances, and it was proper
Speaker 3: to render her pecuniary assistance, I cannot help thinking that
Speaker 3: his pressing invitation to her to visit us at church
Speaker 3: Hill perfectly unnecessary disposed. However, as he always is to
Speaker 3: think the best of every one, her displays of grief
Speaker 3: and professions of regret, and general resolutions of prudence were
Speaker 3: sufficient to soften his heart and make him really confide
Speaker 3: in her sincerity. But as for myself, I remain unconvinced,
Speaker 3: as her ladyship has now written, and I cannot make
Speaker 3: up my mind until I better understand her real meaning
Speaker 3: in coming to us, You may guess. Therefore, my dear mother,
Speaker 3: with what feelings I look forward to her arrival. She
Speaker 3: will have occasion for all those attractive powers for which
Speaker 3: she is celebrated, to gain any share of my regard,
Speaker 3: and I shall certainly endeavor to guard myself against her influence,
Speaker 3: if not accompanied by something more substantial. She expresses a
Speaker 3: most eager desire of becoming acquainted with me, and makes
Speaker 3: very gracious mention of my children, though I am not
Speaker 3: quite weak enough to suppose a woman who has behaved
Speaker 3: with inattention, if not unkindness, to her own child, should
Speaker 3: be attack to any of mine. Miss Vernon is to
Speaker 3: be placed in a school in London before her mother
Speaker 3: comes to us, which I am glad of. For her
Speaker 3: sake and my own. It must be to her advantage
Speaker 3: to be separated from her mother, and a girl of
Speaker 3: sixteen who has received so wretched an education could not
Speaker 3: be very desirable company here. Reginald has long wished, I know,
Speaker 3: to see the captivating lady Susan, and he will depend
Speaker 3: on joining our party soon. I am glad to hear
Speaker 3: that my father continues so well.
Speaker 1: Chapter four. Mister de Courcy to missus.
Speaker 4: Vernon Parklings, My dear sister, I congratulate you and mister
Speaker 4: Vernon on being about to receive into your family the
Speaker 4: most accomplished coquette in England. As a very distinguished flirt.
Speaker 4: I have always been taught to consider her, but it
Speaker 4: has lately fallen in my way to hear some particulars
Speaker 4: of her conduct at Langford, which prove that she does
Speaker 4: not confine herself to the sort of honest flirte which
Speaker 4: satisfies most people, but aspires to the more delicious gratification
Speaker 4: of making a whole family miserable. By her behavior to
Speaker 4: mister Mainwaring, she gave jealousy and wretchedness to his wife,
Speaker 4: and by her attentions to a young man previously attached
Speaker 4: to mister Maynwarring's sister, deprived an amiable girl of her lover.
Speaker 4: I learned all this from mister Smith, now in this neighborhood.
Speaker 4: I have dined with him at Hurst and Wilfrid, who
Speaker 4: has just come from Langford, where he was a fortnight
Speaker 4: ago with her Ladyship, and who is therefore well qualified
Speaker 4: to make the communication what a woman she must be.
Speaker 4: I long to see her, and shall certainly accept your
Speaker 4: kind invitation that I may form some idea of those
Speaker 4: bewitching powers which can do so much engaging at the
Speaker 4: same time, and in the same house, the affections of
Speaker 4: two men who were neither of them at liberty to
Speaker 4: bestow them, and all this without the charm of youth.
Speaker 4: I am glad to find Miss Vernon does not accompany
Speaker 4: her mother to Churchill, as she has not even manners
Speaker 4: to recommend her, and, according to mister Smith's account, is
Speaker 4: equally dull and proud. Where pride and stupidity unite, there
Speaker 4: can be no dissimulation worthy notice, and Miss Vernon shall
Speaker 4: be consigned to unrelenting contempt. But by all that I
Speaker 4: can gather, Lady Susan possesses a degree of captivating deceit,
Speaker 4: which it must be pleasing to witness and detect. I
Speaker 4: shall be with you very soon, and am ever your
Speaker 4: affectionate brother are Decourse.
Speaker 1: Chapter five, Lady Susan Vernon two, missus Johnson Churchhill.
Speaker 2: I received your note, my dear Alicia, just before I
Speaker 2: left town, and rejoiced to be assured that mister Johnson
Speaker 2: suspected nothing of your engagement the evening before. It is
Speaker 2: undoubtedly better to deceive him entirely, and since he will
Speaker 2: be stubborn, he must be tricked. I arrived here in
Speaker 2: safety and have no reason to complain of my reception
Speaker 2: from mister Vernon, but I confess myself not equally satisfied
Speaker 2: with the behavior of his lady. She is perfectly well bred, indeed,
Speaker 2: and has the air of a woman of fashion. But
Speaker 2: her manners are not such as can persuade me of
Speaker 2: her being prepossessed in my favor. I wanted her to
Speaker 2: be delighted at seeing me. I was as amiable as
Speaker 2: possible on the occasion, but all in vain. She does
Speaker 2: not like me, to be sure, when we consider that
Speaker 2: I did take some pains to prevent my brother in
Speaker 2: law's marrying her, this want of cordiality is not very surprising,
Speaker 2: and yet it shows an illiberal and vindictive spirit to
Speaker 2: resent a project which influenced me six years ago, and
Speaker 2: which never succeeded at last. I am sometimes disposed to
Speaker 2: repent that I did not let Charles buy Vernon Castle
Speaker 2: when we were obliged to sell it. But it was
Speaker 2: a trying circumstance, especially as the sale took place exactly
Speaker 2: at the time of his marriage, and everybody ought to
Speaker 2: respect the delicacy of those feelings, which could not endure
Speaker 2: that my husband's dignity should be lessened by his younger
Speaker 2: brother's having possession of the family estate. Could matters have
Speaker 2: been so arranged as to prevent the necessity of our
Speaker 2: leaving the castle. Could we have lived with Charles and
Speaker 2: kept him single, I should have been very far from
Speaker 2: persuading my husband to dispose of it elsewhere. But Charles
Speaker 2: was on the point of marrying Miss de Corsi, and
Speaker 2: the event has justified me. Here are children in abundance,
Speaker 2: and what benefit could have accrued to me from his
Speaker 2: purchasing vernon? My having prevented it. May perhaps have given
Speaker 2: his wife an unfavorable impression, But where there is a
Speaker 2: disposition to dislike, a motive will never be wanting. And
Speaker 2: as to money matters, it has not withheld him from
Speaker 2: being very useful to me. I really have a regard
Speaker 2: for him. He is so easily imposed upon. The house
Speaker 2: is a good one, the furniture fashionable, and everything announces
Speaker 2: plenty and elegance. Charles is very rich. I'm sure when
Speaker 2: a man has once got his name in a banking house,
Speaker 2: he rolls in money, but they do not know what
Speaker 2: to do with it, keeping very little company and never
Speaker 2: go to London. But on business we shall be as
Speaker 2: stupid as possible. I mean to win my sister in
Speaker 2: law's heart through the children. I know all their names already,
Speaker 2: and I am going to attach myself with the greatest
Speaker 2: sensibility to one in particular, a young Frederick, whom I
Speaker 2: take on my lap and sigh over for his dear
Speaker 2: uncle's sake, poor man wearing. I need not tell you
Speaker 2: how much I miss him, how perpetually he is in
Speaker 2: my thoughts. I found a dismal letter from him on
Speaker 2: my arrival here, full of complaints of his wife and sister,
Speaker 2: and lamentations on the cruelty of his fate. I passed
Speaker 2: off the letter as his wife's to the Vernons, and
Speaker 2: when I write to him, it must be under cover.
Speaker 2: To you, ever, yours s Vernon.
Speaker 1: Chapter six, Missus ver to mister de Courcy church Hill.
Speaker 3: Well, my dear Reginald, I have seen this dangerous creature
Speaker 3: and must give you some description of her, though I
Speaker 3: hope you will soon be able to form your own judgment.
Speaker 3: She is really excessively pretty. However you may choose to
Speaker 3: question the allurements of a lady no longer young. I must,
Speaker 3: for my own part, declare that I have seldom seen
Speaker 3: so lovely a woman as Lady Susan. She is delicately fair,
Speaker 3: with fine gray eyes and dark eyelashes, and from her
Speaker 3: appearance one would not suspect her more than five and twenty,
Speaker 3: though she must in fact be ten years older. I
Speaker 3: was certainly not disposed to admire her, though always hearing
Speaker 3: she was beautiful, But I cannot help feeling that she
Speaker 3: possesses an uncommon union of symmetry, brilliancy, and grace. Her
Speaker 3: address to me was so gentle, frank, and even affectionate,
Speaker 3: that if I had not known how much she always
Speaker 3: disliked me for marrying mister Vernon, and that we had
Speaker 3: never met before, I should have imagined her in attached friend.
Speaker 3: One is apt I believe to connect assurance of manner
Speaker 3: with coquetry, and to expect that an impudent address will
Speaker 3: naturally attend an impudent mind. At least I was myself
Speaker 3: prepared for an improper degree of confidence in Lady Susan.
Speaker 3: But her countenance is absolutely sweet, and her voice and
Speaker 3: manner winningly mild. I am sorry this is so, for
Speaker 3: what is this but deceit? Unfortunately, one knows her too well.
Speaker 3: She is clever and agreeable, has all the knowledge of
Speaker 3: the world which makes conversation easy, and talks well, with
Speaker 3: a happy command of language which is too often used.
Speaker 3: I believe to make black a pear white. She has
Speaker 3: already almost persuaded me of being warmly attached to her daughter,
Speaker 3: though I have been so long convinced to the contrary.
Speaker 3: She speaks of her with so much tenderness and anxiety,
Speaker 3: lamenting so bitterly the neglect of her education, which she represents, however,
Speaker 3: as wholly unavoidable. Though I am forced to recollect how
Speaker 3: many successive springs her ladyship spent in town while her
Speaker 3: daughter was left in Staffordshire to the care of servants
Speaker 3: or a governess, very little better to prevent my believing
Speaker 3: what she says. If her manners have so great an
Speaker 3: influence on my resentful heart, you may judge how much
Speaker 3: more strongly they operate on mister Vernon's generous temper. I
Speaker 3: wish I could be as well satisfied as he is
Speaker 3: that it was really her choice to leave Langford for
Speaker 3: church Hill, that if she had not stayed there for
Speaker 3: months before she discovered that her friend's manner of living
Speaker 3: did not suit her situation or feelings, I might have
Speaker 3: believed that concern for the loss of such a husband
Speaker 3: as mister Vernon, to whom her own behavior was far
Speaker 3: from unexceptionable might for a time make her wish for retirement.
Speaker 3: But I cannot forget the length of her visit to
Speaker 3: the Main Wearings. When I reflect on the different mode
Speaker 3: of life she led with them from that to which
Speaker 3: she must now submit, I can only suspect that the
Speaker 3: wish of establishing her reputation by following, though late, the
Speaker 3: path of propriety of occasioned her removal from a family
Speaker 3: where she must, in reality have been particularly happy. Your
Speaker 3: friend mister Smith's story, however, cannot be quite correct, as
Speaker 3: she corresponds regularly with Missus Mainwaring. At any rate, it
Speaker 3: must be exaggerated. It is scarcely possible that two men
Speaker 3: should be grossly described.
Speaker 1: Chapter seven. Lady Susan Vernon to Missus Johnson.
Speaker 2: Churchill, My dear Alicia, you are very good in taking
Speaker 2: notice of Frederica, and I am grateful for it as
Speaker 2: a mark of your friendship. But as I cannot have
Speaker 2: any doubt of the warmth of your affection, I am
Speaker 2: far from exacting so heavy a sacrifice. She is a
Speaker 2: stupid girl and has nothing to recommend her. I would not, therefore,
Speaker 2: on my account, have you encumber one moment of your
Speaker 2: precious time by sending for her to Edward Street, especially
Speaker 2: as every visit is so much to day from the
Speaker 2: grand affair of education, which I really wish to have
Speaker 2: attended to. While she remains at Miss Summers, I want
Speaker 2: her to play and sing with some portion of taste
Speaker 2: and a good deal of assurance, as she has my hand,
Speaker 2: an arm and a tolerable voice. I was so much
Speaker 2: indulged in my infant years that I was never obliged
Speaker 2: to attend to anything, and consequently, and without the accomplishments
Speaker 2: which are now necessary to finish a pretty woman. Not
Speaker 2: that I'm an advocate for the prevailing fashion of acquiring
Speaker 2: a perfect knowledge of all languages, arts and sciences. It
Speaker 2: is throwing time away to be mistress of French, Italian
Speaker 2: and German music. Singing and drawing, et cetera. Will gain
Speaker 2: a woman some applause, but it will not add one
Speaker 2: lover to her list. Grace and manner, after all, are
Speaker 2: of the greatest importance. I do not mean, therefore, that
Speaker 2: Frederica's acquirements should be more than superficial, and I flatter
Speaker 2: myself that she will not remain long enough at school
Speaker 2: to understand anything thoroughly. I hope to see her the
Speaker 2: wife of Sir James within a twelvemonth. You know on
Speaker 2: what I ground my hope, and it is certainly a
Speaker 2: good foundation for school. Must be very humiliating to a
Speaker 2: girl of Frederica's age, and by the bye, you had
Speaker 2: better not invite her any more on that account, as
Speaker 2: I wish her to find her situation as unpleasant as possible.
Speaker 2: I am sure of Sir James at any time, and
Speaker 2: could make him renew his application by a line I
Speaker 2: shall trouble you meanwhile, to prevent his forming any other
Speaker 2: attachment when he comes to town, ask him to your
Speaker 2: house occasionally and talk to him of Frederica, that he
Speaker 2: may not forget her. Upon the whole I commend my
Speaker 2: own conduct in this affair extremely and regard it as
Speaker 2: a very happy instance of circumspection and tenderness. Some would
Speaker 2: have insisted on their daughters accepting so good an offer
Speaker 2: on the first overture, but I could not reconcile it
Speaker 2: to myself to force Frederica into a marriage from which
Speaker 2: her heart revolted, and instead of adopting so harsh a measure,
Speaker 2: merely proposed to make it her own choice by rendering
Speaker 2: her thoroughly uncomfortable till she does accept him. But enough
Speaker 2: of this tiresome girl. You may well wonder how I
Speaker 2: contrive to pass my time here. And for the first
Speaker 2: week it was insufferably dull. Now, however, we begin to mend.
Speaker 2: Our party is enlarged by Missus Vernon's brother, a handsome
Speaker 2: young man who promises me some amusement. There is something
Speaker 2: about him which rather interests me, a sort of sauciness
Speaker 2: and familiarity which I shall teach him to correct. He
Speaker 2: is lively and seems clever, and when I have inspired
Speaker 2: him with greater respect for me than his sister's kind
Speaker 2: offices have implanted, he may be an agreeable flirt. There
Speaker 2: is an exquisite pleasure in subduing an insolent spirit, in
Speaker 2: making a person predetermined to dislike acknowledge one's superiority. I
Speaker 2: have disconcerted him already by my calm reserve, and it
Speaker 2: shall be my endeavor to humble the pride of these
Speaker 2: self important decorsi still lower. To convince Missus Vernon that
Speaker 2: her sisterly cautions have been bestowed in vain, and to
Speaker 2: persuade Reginald that she has scandalously belied me. This project
Speaker 2: will serve at least to amuse me and prevent my
Speaker 2: feelings so acutely this dreadful separation from you and all
Speaker 2: whom I love yours ever.
Speaker 1: Chapter eight, Missus Vernon to Lady de Corsi.
Speaker 3: Should you, my dear mother, you must not expect Reginald
Speaker 3: back again for some time. He desires me to tell
Speaker 3: you that the current open weather induces him to accept
Speaker 3: mister Vernon's invitation, that he proved long his stay in Sussex,
Speaker 3: that they may have some hunting together. He means to
Speaker 3: send for his horses immediately, and it is impossible to
Speaker 3: say when you may see him in Ghent. I will
Speaker 3: not disguise my sentiments on this change from you, my
Speaker 3: dear mother, though I think you had better not communicate
Speaker 3: them to my father, whose excessive anxiety about Reginald would
Speaker 3: subject him to an alarm which might seriously affect his
Speaker 3: health and spirits. Lady Susan has certainly contrived, in the
Speaker 3: space of a fortnight to make my brother like her.
Speaker 3: In short, I am persuaded that his continuing here beyond
Speaker 3: the time originally fixed for his visit is occasioned as
Speaker 3: much by a degree of fascination toward her, as by
Speaker 3: the wish of hunting with mister Vernon, And of course
Speaker 3: I cannot receive that pleasure from the length of his
Speaker 3: visit which my brother's company would otherwise give me. I
Speaker 3: am indeed provoked at the artifice of this unprincipled woman.
Speaker 3: What stronger proof of her dangerous abilities can be given
Speaker 3: than this perversion of Reginald's judgment, which, when he entered
Speaker 3: this house was so decidedly against her. In his last
Speaker 3: letter he actually gave me some particulars of her behavior
Speaker 3: at Langford, such as he received from a gentleman who
Speaker 3: knew her perfectly well, which if true, rays abhorrence against her,
Speaker 3: and which Reginald himself was entirely disposed to credit. His
Speaker 3: opinion of her, I am sure was as low as
Speaker 3: any woman in England, and when he first came it
Speaker 3: was evident that he considered her as one entitled neither
Speaker 3: to delicacy or respect, and that he felt she would
Speaker 3: be delighted with the attentions of any man inclined to
Speaker 3: flirt with her. Her behavior, I confess, has been calculated
Speaker 3: to do away with such an idea. I have not
Speaker 3: detected the slightest impropriety in her, nothing of vanity, of
Speaker 3: pretension of levity, And she is altogether so attractive that
Speaker 3: I should not wonder at his being delighted with her,
Speaker 3: had he known nothing of her previous to this personal acquaintance,
Speaker 3: and against reason, against conviction, to be so well pleased
Speaker 3: with her, as I am sure he is, does really
Speaker 3: astonish me. His admiration was at first very strong, but
Speaker 3: no more than was natural, and I did not wonder
Speaker 3: at his being much struck with the je and delicacy
Speaker 3: of her manners. But when he has mentioned her of late,
Speaker 3: it has been in terms of more extraordinary praise. Yesterday
Speaker 3: he actually said that he could not be surprised at
Speaker 3: any effect produced on the heart of man by such
Speaker 3: loveliness and such abilities. And when I lamented in reply
Speaker 3: the badness of her disposition, he observed that whatever might
Speaker 3: have been her errors, they were to be imputed to
Speaker 3: her neglected education and early marriage, and that she was
Speaker 3: altogether a wonderful woman. This tendency to excuse her conduct,
Speaker 3: or to forget it in the warmth of admiration, vexes me.
Speaker 3: And if I did not know that Reginald is too
Speaker 3: much at home at church Hill to need invitation for
Speaker 3: lengthening his visit. I should regret mister Vernon's giving him any.
Speaker 3: Lady Susan's intentions are, of course close to those of
Speaker 3: coquetry and a desire of universal admiration. I cannot for
Speaker 3: a moment imagine that she has anything more serious in view.
Speaker 3: But it mortifies me to see a young man of
Speaker 3: Reginald's sense duped by her at all.
Speaker 1: Chapter nine, Missus Johnson to Lady s Vernon Edward Street,
Speaker 1: my dearest friend, I congratulate you on mister de Corcey's arrival,
Speaker 1: and I advise you by all means to marry him.
Speaker 1: His father's estate is we know, considerable, and I believe
Speaker 1: certainly entailed. Sir Reginald is very infirm and not likely
Speaker 1: to stand in your way. Long I hear the young
Speaker 1: man well spoken of, And though no one can really
Speaker 1: deserve you, my dearest Susan, mister de Courcy may be
Speaker 1: worth having main wearing will storm, of course, but you
Speaker 1: easily pacify him. Besides, the most scrupulous point of honor
Speaker 1: could not require you to wait for his emancipation. I
Speaker 1: have seen Sir James He came to town for a
Speaker 1: few days last week and called several times in Edward Street.
Speaker 1: I talked to him about you and your daughter, and
Speaker 1: he is so far from having forgotten you that I
Speaker 1: am sure or he would marry either of you with pleasure.
Speaker 1: I gave him hopes of Frederica's relenting and told him
Speaker 1: a great deal of her improvements. I scolded him from
Speaker 1: making love to Maria Mainwaring. He protested that he had
Speaker 1: been only in joke, and we both laughed heartily at
Speaker 1: her disappointment, and in short were very agreeable. He is
Speaker 1: as silly as that.
Speaker 5: Ten lady Susan Vernon. To missus Johnson Churchill, I am
Speaker 5: much obliged to you, my dear friend, for your advice
Speaker 5: respecting mister de Courcy, which I know was given with
Speaker 5: the full conviction of its expediency, though I am not
Speaker 5: quite determined on following it. I cannot easily resolve on
Speaker 5: anything so serious as marriage, especially as I am not
Speaker 5: at present in want of money, and might, perhaps till
Speaker 5: the old Gentleman's death, be very little benefited by the match.
Speaker 5: It is true that I am vain enough to believe
Speaker 5: it within my reach. I have made him sensible of
Speaker 5: my power, and can now enjoy the pleasure of triumphing
Speaker 5: over a mind prepared to dislike me and prejudiced against
Speaker 5: all my past actions. His sister, too, is, I hope,
Speaker 5: convinced how little the ungenerous representations of any one to
Speaker 5: the disadvantage of another will avail when opposed by the
Speaker 5: immediate influence of intellect and manner. I see plainly that
Speaker 5: she is uneasy at my progress in the good opinion
Speaker 5: of her brother, and conclude that nothing will be wanted
Speaker 5: on her part to counterattack me. But having once made
Speaker 5: him doubt the justice of her opinion of me, I think.
Speaker 6: I may defy her.
Speaker 5: It has been delightful to me to watch his advances
Speaker 5: towards intimacy, especially to observe his altered manner, in consequence
Speaker 5: of my repressing by the cool dignity of my deportment,
Speaker 5: his insolent approach to direct familiarity. My conduct has been
Speaker 5: equally guarded from the first, and I never behaved less
Speaker 5: like a coquette in the whole course of my life.
Speaker 5: Though perhaps my desire of dominion was never more decided.
Speaker 5: I have subdued him entirely by sentiment and serious conversation,
Speaker 5: and made him I may venture to say at least
Speaker 5: half in love with me without the semblance of the
Speaker 5: most commonplace flirtation. Missus Vernon's consciousness of deserving every sort
Speaker 5: of revenge that it can be in my power to
Speaker 5: inflict for her ill offices could alone enable her to
Speaker 5: perceive that I am actuated by any design in behavior
Speaker 5: so gentle and unpretending. Let her think an act as
Speaker 5: she chooses. However, I have never yet found that the
Speaker 5: advice of a sister could prevent a young man's being
Speaker 5: in love if he chose. We are advancing now to
Speaker 5: some kind of confidence, and in short, are likely to
Speaker 5: be engaged in a sort of platonic friendship. On my side,
Speaker 5: you may be sure of its never being more. For
Speaker 5: if I were not attached to another person, as much
Speaker 5: as I can be to any one, I should make
Speaker 5: a point of not bestowing my affection on a man
Speaker 5: who had dared to think so meanly of me. Reginald
Speaker 5: has a good figure and is not unworthy the praise
Speaker 5: you have heard given him, but is still greatly inferior
Speaker 5: to our friend at Langford. He is less polished, less
Speaker 5: insinuating than mannering, and is comparatively deficient in the power
Speaker 5: of saying those delightful things which put one in good
Speaker 5: humor with oneself and all the world. He is quite
Speaker 5: agreeable enough, however, to afford me amusement, and to make
Speaker 5: many of those hours pass very pleasantly, which would otherwise
Speaker 5: be spent in endeavoring to overcome my sister in law's
Speaker 5: reserve and listening to the insipid talk of her husband.
Speaker 5: Your account of Sir James is most satisfactory. I mean
Speaker 5: to give Miss Frederica a hint of my intentions very soon, yours,
Speaker 5: et cetera.
Speaker 1: S Vernon, Chapter eleven, missus Vernon to Lady de Courcy Churchill.
Speaker 3: I really grow quite uneasy, my dear mother about Reginald,
Speaker 3: from witnessing the very rapid increase of Lady Susan's influence.
Speaker 3: They are now on terms of the most particular friendship,
Speaker 3: frequently engaged in long conversations together, and she has contrived,
Speaker 3: by the most artful coquetry, to subdue his judgment for
Speaker 3: her own purposes. It is impossible to see the intimacy
Speaker 3: between them so very soon established without some alarm, though
Speaker 3: I can hardly suppose Lady Susan's views extend to marriage.
Speaker 3: I wish you could get Reginald home again under any
Speaker 3: plausible pretense. He is not at all disposed to leave us,
Speaker 3: and I have given him as many hints of my
Speaker 3: father's precarious state of health as common decency will allow
Speaker 3: me to do in my own house. Her power over
Speaker 3: him must now be boundless, as she has affected all
Speaker 3: his former ill opinion and persuaded him, not entirely to forget,
Speaker 3: but to justify her conduct. Mister Smith's account of her
Speaker 3: proceedings at Langford, where he accused her of having made
Speaker 3: mister Mainwaring and a young man engaged to Miss Mainwaring
Speaker 3: distractedly in love with her, which Reginald firmly believed when
Speaker 3: he came to church Hill is now he is persuaded
Speaker 3: only a scandalous invention. He has told me so in
Speaker 3: a warmth of manner, which spoke his regret at having
Speaker 3: ever believed the contrary himself. How sincerely do I grieve
Speaker 3: that she ever entered this house? I had always looked
Speaker 3: forward to her coming with uneasiness, but very far it
Speaker 3: was from originating in anxiety for Reginald. I expected a
Speaker 3: most disagreeable companion for myself, but could not imagine that
Speaker 3: my brother would be in the smallest danger of being
Speaker 3: captivated by a woman with whose principles he was so
Speaker 3: well acquainted, and whose character he is so heartily despised.
Speaker 3: If you can get him away, it will be a
Speaker 3: good thing, Very affectionately, Catherine.
Speaker 1: Vernon, end of Chapter eleven, Chapter twelve.
Speaker 7: Park Lands. I know that young men in general do
Speaker 7: not admit of any inquiry, even from their nearest relations,
Speaker 7: into affairs of the heart. But I hope, my dear Reginald,
Speaker 7: that you will be superior to such as allowed nothing
Speaker 7: for a father's anxiety, and think themselves privileged to refuse
Speaker 7: him their confidence and slight his advice. You must be
Speaker 7: sensible that, as an only son and the representative of
Speaker 7: an ancient family, your conduct in life is most interesting
Speaker 7: to your connections, and in the very important concern of marriage, especially,
Speaker 7: there is everything at stake your own happiness, that of
Speaker 7: your parents, and the credit of your name. I do
Speaker 7: not suppose that you would deliberately form an absolute engagement
Speaker 7: of that nature without acquainting your mother and myself, or
Speaker 7: at least without being convinced that we should approve of
Speaker 7: your choice. But I cannot help fearing that you may
Speaker 7: be drawn in by the lady who has lately attached
Speaker 7: you to a marriage which the whole of your family
Speaker 7: far and near, must highly reprobate. Lady Susan's age is
Speaker 7: itself a material objection, but her want of character is
Speaker 7: one so much more serious that the difference of even
Speaker 7: twelve years becomes in comparison of small amount. Were you
Speaker 7: not blinded by a sort of fascination, it would be
Speaker 7: ridiculous in me to repeat the instances of great misconduct
Speaker 7: on her side, so very generally known. Her neglect of
Speaker 7: her husband, her encouragement of other men, her extravagance and
Speaker 7: dissipation were so gross and notorious that no one could
Speaker 7: be ignorant of them at the time, nor can now
Speaker 7: have forgotten them. To our family, she has always been
Speaker 7: represented in softened colors by the benevolence of mister Charles Vernon,
Speaker 7: and yet in spite of his generous endeavors to excuse her,
Speaker 7: we know that she did, from the most selfish motives,
Speaker 7: take all possible pains to prevent his marriage with Catherine.
Speaker 7: My years and increasing infirmities make me very desirous of
Speaker 7: seeing you settled in the world to the fortune of
Speaker 7: a wife. The goodness of my own will make me indifferent,
Speaker 7: but her family and character must be equally unexceptionable. When
Speaker 7: your choice is fixed so that no objection can be
Speaker 7: made to it, then I can promise you a ready
Speaker 7: and cheerful consent. But it is my duty to oppose
Speaker 7: a match which deep art only could render possible, and
Speaker 7: must in the end make wretched. It is possible her
Speaker 7: behavior may arise only from vanity or the wish of
Speaker 7: gaining the admiration of a man whom she must imagine
Speaker 7: to be particularly prejudiced against her. But it is more
Speaker 7: likely that she should aim at something further. She is
Speaker 7: poor and may naturally seek an alliance which must be
Speaker 7: advantageous to herself. You know your own rights, and that
Speaker 7: it is out of my power to prevent your inheriting
Speaker 7: the family estate. My ability of distressing you during my
Speaker 7: life would be a species of revenge to which I
Speaker 7: could hardly stoop under any circlcecumstances. I honestly tell you
Speaker 7: my sentiments and intentions. I do not wish to work
Speaker 7: on your fears, but on your sense and affection. It
Speaker 7: would destroy every comfort of my life to know that
Speaker 7: you were married to Lady Susan Vernon. It would be
Speaker 7: the death of that honest pride with which I have
Speaker 7: hitherto considered my son. I should blush to see him,
Speaker 7: to hear of him, to think of him. I may
Speaker 7: perhaps do no good but that of relieving my own
Speaker 7: mind by this letter. But I felt it my duty
Speaker 7: to tell you that your partiality for Lady Susan is
Speaker 7: no secret to your friends, and to warn you against her.
Speaker 7: I should be glad to hear of your reasons for
Speaker 7: disbelieving missus Smith's intelligence. You had no doubt of his
Speaker 7: authenticity a month ago. If you can give me your
Speaker 7: assurance of having no design beyond enjoying the conversation of
Speaker 7: a clever woman for a short period, and of yielding
Speaker 7: admiration only to her beauty and abilities, without being blinded
Speaker 7: by them to her faults, you will restore me to happiness.
Speaker 7: But if you cannot do this, explain to me at
Speaker 7: least what has occasioned so great an alteration in your
Speaker 7: opinion of her. I am et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1: Reginald de Courcy Chapter thirteen, Lady de Courcy to missus.
Speaker 8: Vernon Parkland's, my dear Catherine. Unluckily, I was confined to
Speaker 8: my room when your last letter came by a cold
Speaker 8: which affected my eyes so much as to prevent my
Speaker 8: reading it myself, so I could not refuse your father
Speaker 8: when he offered to read it to me, by which
Speaker 8: means he became acquainted, to my great vexation with all
Speaker 8: your fears about your brother. I had intended to write
Speaker 8: to Reginald myself as soon as my eyes would let me,
Speaker 8: to point out as well as I could the danger
Speaker 8: of an intimate acquaintance with so artful a woman as
Speaker 8: Lady Susan, to a young man of his age and
Speaker 8: high expectations. I meant moreover to have reminded him of
Speaker 8: our being quite alone now, and very much in need
Speaker 8: of him to keep up our spirits these long winter evenings.
Speaker 8: Whether it would have done any good can never be
Speaker 8: settled now. But I am excessively vexed that Sir Reginald
Speaker 8: should know anything of a matter which we foresaw would
Speaker 8: make him so uneasy. He caught all your fears the
Speaker 8: moment he had read your letter, and I am sure
Speaker 8: he has not had the business out of his head
Speaker 8: since he wrote, by the same poster Reginald, a long letter,
Speaker 8: full of it all, and particularly asking an explanation of
Speaker 8: what he may have heard from Lady Susan to contradict
Speaker 8: the late shocking reports. His answer came this morning, which
Speaker 8: I shall enclose to you, as I think you will
Speaker 8: like to see it. I wish it was more satisfactory,
Speaker 8: but it seems written with such a determination to think
Speaker 8: well of Lady Susan, that all his assurances as to marriage,
Speaker 8: et cetera, do not set my heart at ease. I
Speaker 8: day all I can, however, to satisfy your father, and
Speaker 8: he is certainly less uneasy since Reginald's letter. How provoking
Speaker 8: it is, my dear Catherine, that this unwelcome guest of
Speaker 8: yours should not only prevent our meeting this Christmas, but
Speaker 8: be the occasion of so much vexation and trouble. Kiss
Speaker 8: the dear children for me, your affectionate mother see De Corsi.
Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen, Lady de Courcy to missus.
Speaker 8: Vernon Parklands, My dear Catherine. Unluckily I was confined to
Speaker 8: my room when your last letter came by a cold
Speaker 8: which affected my eyes so much as to prevent my
Speaker 8: reading it myself, so I could not refuse your father
Speaker 8: when he offered to read it to me, by which
Speaker 8: means he became acquainted, to my great vexation with all
Speaker 8: your fears about your brother. I had intended to write
Speaker 8: to Reginald myself as soon as my eyes would let,
Speaker 8: to point out as well as I could the danger
Speaker 8: of an intimate acquaintance with so artful a woman as
Speaker 8: Lady Susan to a young man of his age and
Speaker 8: high expectations. I meant moreover to have reminded him of
Speaker 8: our being quite alone now and very much in need
Speaker 8: of him to keep up our spirits these long winter evenings.
Speaker 8: Whether it would have done any good can never be
Speaker 8: settled now.
Speaker 9: But I am.
Speaker 8: Excessively vexed that Sir Reginald should know anything of a
Speaker 8: matter which we foresaw would make him so uneasy. He
Speaker 8: caught all your fears the moment he had read your letter,
Speaker 8: and I am sure he has not had the business
Speaker 8: out of his head since he wrote, by the same
Speaker 8: poster Reginald, a long letter full of it all, and
Speaker 8: particularly asking an explanation of what he may have heard
Speaker 8: from Lady Susan to contradict the late shocking reports. His
Speaker 8: answer came this morning, which I shall enclose to you,
Speaker 8: as I think you will like to see it. I
Speaker 8: wish it was more satisfactory, but it seems written with
Speaker 8: such a determination to think well of Lady Susan, that
Speaker 8: all his assurances as to marriage, et cetera do not
Speaker 8: set my heart at ease. I say all I can, however,
Speaker 8: to satisfy your father, and he is certainly less uneasy
Speaker 8: since Reginald's letter. How provoking it is, my dear Catherine,
Speaker 8: that this unwelcome guest of yours should not only prevent
Speaker 8: our meeting this Christmas, but be the occasion of so
Speaker 8: much vexation and trouble. Kiss the dear children for me,
Speaker 8: your affectionate mother. See De Corsi, chapter fourteen.
Speaker 1: Mister de Corsi to Sir Reginald Churchhill.
Speaker 4: My dear Sir, I have this moment received a letter
Speaker 4: which has given me more astonishment than I ever felt before.
Speaker 4: I am to thank my sister, I suppose, for having
Speaker 4: represented me in such a lot as to injure me
Speaker 4: in your opinion and give you all this alarm. I
Speaker 4: know not why she should choose to make herself and
Speaker 4: her family uneasy by apprehending an event which no one
Speaker 4: but herself, I can affirm, would ever have thought possible.
Speaker 4: To impute such a design to Lady Susan would be
Speaker 4: taking from her every claim to that excellent understanding which
Speaker 4: her bitterest enemies have never denied her, and equally low
Speaker 4: must sink my pretensions to common sense. If I am
Speaker 4: suspected of matrimonial views in my behavior to her, our
Speaker 4: difference of age must be an insuperable objection, And I
Speaker 4: entreat you, my dear father, to quiet your mind and
Speaker 4: no longer harbor a suspicion which cannot be more injurious
Speaker 4: to your own peace than our understandings. I can have
Speaker 4: no other view in remaining with Lady Susan than to enjoy,
Speaker 4: for a short time, as you have yourself expressed it,
Speaker 4: the conversation of a woman of high intellectual powers, missus Vernon,
Speaker 4: would allow something to my affection for herself and her
Speaker 4: husband in the length of my visit. She would do
Speaker 4: more justice to us all, but my sister is unhappily
Speaker 4: prejudiced beyond the hope of conviction against Lady Susan from
Speaker 4: an attachment to her husband, which in itself does honor
Speaker 4: to both. She cannot forgive the endeavors at preventing their
Speaker 4: union which have been attributed to selfishness in Lady Susan.
Speaker 4: But in this case, as well as in many others,
Speaker 4: the world has most grossly injured that lady by supposing
Speaker 4: the worst. Where the motives in her conduct have been doubtful,
Speaker 4: Lady Susan had heard something so materially to the disadvantage
Speaker 4: of my sister as to persuade her that the happiness
Speaker 4: of mister Vernon, to whom she was always much attached,
Speaker 4: would be wholly destroyed by the marriage and the circumstance.
Speaker 4: While it explains the true motive of Lady Susan's conduct
Speaker 4: and removes all the blame which has been so lavished
Speaker 4: on her, may also convince us how little the general
Speaker 4: report of anyone ought to be credited, since no character,
Speaker 4: however upright, can escape the benevolent of slander. If my sister,
Speaker 4: in the security of retirement, with as little opportunity as
Speaker 4: inclination to do evil, could not avoid censure, we must
Speaker 4: not rashly condemn those who living in the world and
Speaker 4: surrounded with temptations, should be accused of errors which they
Speaker 4: are known to have the power of committing. I blame
Speaker 4: myself severely for having so eas easily believe the slanderous
Speaker 4: tales invented by Charles Smith to the prejudice of Lady Susan,
Speaker 4: as I am now convinced how greatly they have produced her.
Speaker 4: As to Missus Mainwaring's jealousy, it was totally his own invention,
Speaker 4: and his account of her attaching Miss Mainwaring's lover was
Speaker 4: scarcely better founded. Sir James Martin had been drawn in
Speaker 4: by that young lady to pay her some attention, and
Speaker 4: as he is a man of fortune, it is easy
Speaker 4: to see her views extended to marriage. It is well
Speaker 4: known that Miss m is absolutely on the catch for
Speaker 4: her husband, and no one can therefore pity her for losing,
Speaker 4: by the superior attractions of another woman, the chance of
Speaker 4: being able to make worthy man completely wretched. Lady Susan
Speaker 4: was far from intending such a conquest, and on finding
Speaker 4: how warmly Miss Mainwarings resented her lover's disaffection, determined in
Speaker 4: spite of mister and Missus Mainwaring's most urgent entreaties to
Speaker 4: leave the family. I have reason to imagine she did
Speaker 4: receive serious proposals from Sir James, But her removing to
Speaker 4: Langford immediately on the discovery of his attachment must acquit
Speaker 4: her on that article. With any mind of common candor,
Speaker 4: you will, I am sure, my dear Sir, feel the
Speaker 4: truth of this, and will hereby learn to do justice
Speaker 4: to the character of a very injured woman. I know
Speaker 4: that Lady Susan is coming to Churchill was governed only
Speaker 4: by the most honorable and amiable intentions. Her prudence and
Speaker 4: economy are exemplary, her regard for mister Vernon equal to
Speaker 4: his deserts, and her wish of obtaining my sister's good
Speaker 4: opinion merits a better return than it is received. As
Speaker 4: a mother, she is unexceptionable. Her solid affection for her
Speaker 4: child is shown by placing her in hands where her
Speaker 4: education will be properly attended to. But because she is
Speaker 4: not the blind and weak partiality of most mothers, she
Speaker 4: is accused of wanting maternal tenderness. Every person of sense, however,
Speaker 4: will know how to value and command her a well
Speaker 4: directed affection, and will join me in wishing that Frederica
Speaker 4: Vernon may prove more worthy than she has done of
Speaker 4: her mother's tender care. I have now my dear father
Speaker 4: written my real sentiments of Lady Susan. You will know
Speaker 4: from this letter how highly I admire her abilities and
Speaker 4: esteem her character. But if you are not equally convinced
Speaker 4: of my full and solemn assurance that your fears have
Speaker 4: been most idly created, you will deeply mortify and distress me.
Speaker 4: I am.
Speaker 1: Chapter six, Missus Vernon to Lady de Courcy.
Speaker 3: Churchill, my dear mother. I return you Reginald's letter and
Speaker 3: rejoice with all my heart that my father is made
Speaker 3: easy by it. Tell him so with my congratulations. But
Speaker 3: between ourselves I must own it has only convinced me
Speaker 3: of my brother's having no present intention of marrying Lady Susan,
Speaker 3: not that he is in no danger of doing so.
Speaker 3: Three months hands he gives a very plausible account of
Speaker 3: her behavior at Langford. I wish it may be true,
Speaker 3: but his intelligence must come from herself, and I am
Speaker 3: less disposed to believe it than to lament the degree
Speaker 3: of intimacy subsisting between them implied by the discussion of
Speaker 3: such a subject. I am also sorry to have incurred
Speaker 3: his displeasure, but can expect nothing better. While he is
Speaker 3: so very eager in Lady Susan's justification, he is very
Speaker 3: severe against me, indeed, and yet I hope I have
Speaker 3: not been hasty in my judgment of her. Poor woman.
Speaker 3: Though I have reasons enough for my dislike, I cannot
Speaker 3: help pitying her at present, as she is in real
Speaker 3: distress and with too much cause. She had this morning
Speaker 3: a letter from the lady with whom she has placed
Speaker 3: her daughter, to request that Miss Vernon might be immediately removed,
Speaker 3: as she had been detected in an attempt to run away.
Speaker 3: Why or whether she intended to go does not appear,
Speaker 3: but as her situation seems to have been unexceptionable, it
Speaker 3: is a sad thing, and of course highly afflicting to
Speaker 3: Lady Susan. Frederica must be as much as sixteen and
Speaker 3: ought to know better. But from what her mother insinuates,
Speaker 3: I am afraid she is a perverse girl. She has
Speaker 3: been sadly neglected, however, and her mother ought to remember it.
Speaker 3: Mister Vernon set off to town as soon as she
Speaker 3: had determined what should be done. He is, if possible
Speaker 3: to prevail upon Miss Somers to let Frederica continue with her, and,
Speaker 3: if he cannot succeed, to bring her to church Hill
Speaker 3: for the present till some other situation can be found
Speaker 3: for her. Her Ladyship is comforting herself meanwhile by strolling
Speaker 3: along the shrubbery with Reginald and calling forth all his
Speaker 3: tender feelings. I suppose on this distressing occasion she has
Speaker 3: been talking a great deal about it to me. She
Speaker 3: talks vastly well. I am afraid of being ungenerous, or
Speaker 3: I should say too well, to feel very deeply, but
Speaker 3: I will not look for faults. She may be Reginald's wife,
Speaker 3: Heaven forbid it, But why should I be quicker sighted
Speaker 3: than any one else? Mister Vernon declares that he never
Speaker 3: saw deeper distress than hers on receipt of the letter,
Speaker 3: and is his judgment inferior to mine. She was very
Speaker 3: unwilling that Frederica should be allowed to come to Church Hill,
Speaker 3: and justly enough, as it seems a sort of reward
Speaker 3: to behavior deserving very differently. It was impossible to take
Speaker 3: her anywhere else, and she is not to remain here long.
Speaker 3: It will be absolutely necessary, said she, as you my
Speaker 3: dear sister must be sensible to treat my daughter with
Speaker 3: some severity while she is here. A most painful necessity,
Speaker 3: but I will endeavor to submit to it. I am
Speaker 3: afraid I have often been too indulgent, but my poor
Speaker 3: Frederica's temper could never bear opposition. Well, you must support
Speaker 3: and encourage me. You must urge the necessity of reproof
Speaker 3: if you see me too lenient. All this sounds very reasonably.
Speaker 3: Reginald is incensed against the poor silly girl. Surely it
Speaker 3: is not to Lady Susan's credit that he be so
Speaker 3: bitter against her daughter. His idea of her must be
Speaker 3: drawn from the mother's description. Well, whatever may be his fate,
Speaker 3: we have the comfort of knowing we have done the
Speaker 3: utmost to save him.
Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen, Lady Susan Vernon to missus Johnson Churchill.
Speaker 2: Never, my dearest Alicia, was I so provoked in my
Speaker 2: life as by a letter this morning for Miss Summers,
Speaker 2: that horrid girl of mine has been trying to run away.
Speaker 2: I had not a notion of her being such a
Speaker 2: little devil. Before she seemed to have all the Vernon milkiness.
Speaker 2: But on receiving the letter in which I declared my
Speaker 2: intention about Sir James. She actually attempted to elope at
Speaker 2: least I cannot otherwise account for her doing it. She
Speaker 2: meant I suppose to go to the Clark's in Staffordshire,
Speaker 2: for she has no other acquaintances. But she shall be punished.
Speaker 2: She shall have him. I sent Charles to town to
Speaker 2: make matters up if he can, for I do not,
Speaker 2: by any means want her here. If Miss Summers will
Speaker 2: not keep her, you must find me out another school
Speaker 2: unless we can get her married immediately. Miss s writes
Speaker 2: word that she could not get the young lady to
Speaker 2: assign any cause for her extraordinary conduct, which confirms me
Speaker 2: in my own previous explanation of it. Frederica is too shy,
Speaker 2: I think, and too much in awe of me to
Speaker 2: tell tales. But if the mildness of her uncle should
Speaker 2: get anything out of her, I am not afraid. I
Speaker 2: trust I shall be able to make my story as
Speaker 2: good as hers. If I am vain of anything, it
Speaker 2: is of my eloquence, consideration, and esteem, as surely follow
Speaker 2: command of language, as admiration waits on beauty, And here
Speaker 2: I have opportunity enough for the exercise of my talent,
Speaker 2: as the chief of my time is spent in conversation.
Speaker 2: Reginald is never easy unless we are by ourselves, and
Speaker 2: when the weather is tolerable we pace the shrubbery for
Speaker 2: hours together. I like him on the whole very well.
Speaker 2: He is clever and has a good deal to say,
Speaker 2: but he is sometimes impertinent and troublesome. There is a
Speaker 2: sort of ridiculous delicacy about him which requires the fullest
Speaker 2: explanation of whatever he may have heard, to my disadvantage,
Speaker 2: and is never satisfied till he thinks he has ascertained
Speaker 2: the beginning and end of everything. This is one sort
Speaker 2: of love, but I confess it does not particularly recommend
Speaker 2: itself to me. I infinitely prefer of a tender and
Speaker 2: liberal spirit of man Wearing, which impressed with the deepest
Speaker 2: conviction of my merit is satisfied that whatever I do
Speaker 2: must be right, and look with a degree of contempt
Speaker 2: on the inquisitive and doubtful fancies of that heart which
Speaker 2: seems always debating on the reasonableness of its emotions. Man
Speaker 2: Wearing is indeed, beyond all compare, superior to Reginald, superior
Speaker 2: in everything but the power of being with me, poor fellow.
Speaker 2: He is much distracted by jealousy, which I am not
Speaker 2: sorry for, as I know no better support of love.
Speaker 2: He has been teasing me to allow of his coming
Speaker 2: into this country and lodging somewhere near in cog But
Speaker 2: I forbad anything of the kind. Those women are inexcusable,
Speaker 2: who forget what is due to themselves and the opinion
Speaker 2: of the world yours ever.
Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, missus Vernon to Lady de.
Speaker 3: Courcy Churchhill, my dear mother. Mister Vernon returned on Thursday night,
Speaker 3: bringing his niece with him. Lady Susan had received a
Speaker 3: letter from him by that day's post informing her that
Speaker 3: Miss Summers had absolutely refused to allow Miss Vernon's continuance
Speaker 3: in her academy. We were therefore prepared for her arrival
Speaker 3: and expected it impatiently the whole evening. They came while
Speaker 3: we were at tea, and I never saw any creature
Speaker 3: look so frightened as Frederica when she entered the room.
Speaker 3: Lady Susan, who had been shedding tears before and showing
Speaker 3: great agitation at the idea of the meeting, received her
Speaker 3: with perfect self command and without betraying the least tenderness
Speaker 3: of spirit. She hardly spoke to her, and on Frederica's
Speaker 3: bursting into tears as soon as we were seated, took
Speaker 3: her out of the room and did not return for
Speaker 3: some time. When she did, her eyes looked very red,
Speaker 3: and she was as much agitated as before. We saw
Speaker 3: no more of her daughter. Poor Reginald was beyond measure
Speaker 3: concerned to see his fair friend in such distress, and
Speaker 3: watched her with so much tender solicitude that I, who
Speaker 3: occasionally caught her observing his countenance with exultation, was quite
Speaker 3: out of patience. This pathetic representation lasted the whole evening,
Speaker 3: and so ostentatious and artful a display had entirely convinced
Speaker 3: me that she did, in fact feel nothing. I am
Speaker 3: more angry with her than ever since I have seen
Speaker 3: in her daughter. The poor girl looks so unhappy that
Speaker 3: my heart aches for her. Lady Susan is surely too severe,
Speaker 3: for Frederica does not seem to have the sort of
Speaker 3: temper to make severity necessary. She looks perfectly timid, dejected,
Speaker 3: and penitent. She is very pretty, though not so handsome
Speaker 3: as her mother, nor at all like her her complexion
Speaker 3: is delicate, but neither so fair nor blooming as Lady Susan's.
Speaker 3: And she has quite the vernon cast of countenance, the
Speaker 3: oval face and mild dark eyes. And there is a
Speaker 3: peculiar sweetness in her look when she speaks, either to
Speaker 3: her uncle or me. For as we behave kindly to her,
Speaker 3: we have of course engaged her gratitude. Her mother has
Speaker 3: insinuated that her temper is untractable. But I never saw
Speaker 3: a face less indicative of any evil disposition than hers.
Speaker 3: And from what I now see of the behavior each
Speaker 3: to the other, the invariable severity of Lady Susan and
Speaker 3: the silent dejection of Frederica, I am led to believe,
Speaker 3: as heretofore, that the former has no real love for
Speaker 3: her daughter, has never done her justice or treated her affectionately.
Speaker 9: I have not yet been.
Speaker 3: Able to have any conversation with my niece. She is shy,
Speaker 3: and I think I can see that some pains are
Speaker 3: taken to prevent her from being much with me. Nothing
Speaker 3: satisfactory transpires as to her reason for running away. Her
Speaker 3: kind hearted uncle, you may be sure, was too fearful
Speaker 3: of distressing her to ask many questions as they traveled.
Speaker 3: I wish it had been possible for me to fetch
Speaker 3: her instead of him. I think I should have discovered
Speaker 3: the truth in the course of a thirty mile journey.
Speaker 3: The small Pianoforte has been removed within these few days
Speaker 3: at Lady Susan's request, into her dressing room, and Frederica
Speaker 3: spends a great part of her day there practicing it
Speaker 3: is called. But I seldom hear any noise when I
Speaker 3: pass that way. What she does with herself there I
Speaker 3: do not know. There are plenty of books in the room,
Speaker 3: but it is not every girl that has been running
Speaker 3: wild for the first fifteen years of her life that
Speaker 3: can or will read poor creature. The prospect from her
Speaker 3: will window is not very instructive, for the room overlooks
Speaker 3: the lawn, you know, with the shrubbery to one side,
Speaker 3: where she can see her mother walking for an hour together.
Speaker 3: In earnest conversation with Reginald, a girl of Frederica's age
Speaker 3: must be childish. Indeed, if such things do not strike her,
Speaker 3: is it not inexcusable to give such an example to
Speaker 3: a daughter? Yet Reginald still thinks Lady Susan the best
Speaker 3: of mothers still condemns Frederica as a worthless girl. He
Speaker 3: is convinced that her attempt to run away proceeded from
Speaker 3: no profitable cause and had no provocation. I am sure
Speaker 3: I cannot say that it had. While Miss Summers declared
Speaker 3: that Miss Vernon showed no signs of obstinacy or perverseness
Speaker 3: during her whole stay in Wigmore Street until she was
Speaker 3: detected in the scheme, I cannot so readily credit what
Speaker 3: Lady Susan has made him and wants to make me
Speaker 3: believe that it was merely an impatience of restraint and
Speaker 3: a desire of escaping from the tuition of masters, which
Speaker 3: brought on the plan of elopement. Oh, Reginald, how is
Speaker 3: your judgment enslaved? He scarcely dared even allow her to
Speaker 3: be handsome, and when I speak of her beauty, replies
Speaker 3: only that her eyes have no brilliancy. Sometimes he is
Speaker 3: sure she is deficient in understanding, and other times that
Speaker 3: her temper is in fault. In short, when a person
Speaker 3: is always to deceive, it is impossible to be consistent.
Speaker 3: Lady Susan finds it necessary for Frederica should be to
Speaker 3: blame and probably has sometimes judged it expedient to accuse
Speaker 3: her of ill nature, and sometimes to lament her want
Speaker 3: of sense. Reginald is only repeating after her ladyship.
Speaker 1: I am Catherine, Chapter eighteen, Missus Vernon to Lady de Courcy.
Speaker 3: Churchhill, my dear mother. I am very glad to find
Speaker 3: that my description of Frederica Vernon has interested you, for
Speaker 3: I believe her truly deserving of your regard. And when
Speaker 3: I have communicated a notice which has recently struck me
Speaker 3: your kind impressions in her favor, will I am sure
Speaker 3: be heightened. I cannot help fancying that she is growing
Speaker 3: partial to my brother. I so very often see her
Speaker 3: eyes fixed on his face with a remarkable expression of
Speaker 3: pensive admiration. He is certainly very handsome, and yet more,
Speaker 3: there is an openness in his manner that must be
Speaker 3: highly prepossessing, and I am sure she feels it so
Speaker 3: thoughtful and pensive. In general, her countenance always brightens into
Speaker 3: a smile when Reginald says anything amusing. And let the
Speaker 3: subject be ever so serious that he may be conversing on.
Speaker 3: I am much mistaken if a syllable of his uttering
Speaker 3: escapes her. I want to make him sensible of all this,
Speaker 3: for the power of gratitude on such a heart as his.
Speaker 3: And could Frederica's artless affection detach him from her mother?
Speaker 3: We might bless the day which brought her to Church Hill.
Speaker 3: I think, my dear Madam, you would not disapprove of
Speaker 3: her as a daughter. She is extremely young, to be sure,
Speaker 3: has had a wretched education and a dreadful example of
Speaker 3: levity in her mother. But yet I can pronounce her
Speaker 3: disposition to be excellent, and her natural abilities very good.
Speaker 3: Though totally without accomplishments, she is by no means so
Speaker 3: ignorant as one might expect to find her, being fond
Speaker 3: of books and spending the chief of her time in reading.
Speaker 3: Her mother leaves her more to herself now than she did.
Speaker 3: And I have her with me as much as possible,
Speaker 3: and have taken great pains to overcome her timidity. We
Speaker 3: are very good friends. And though she never opens her
Speaker 3: lips before her mother, she talks enough when alone with
Speaker 3: me to make it clear that if properly treated by
Speaker 3: Lady Susan, she would always appear too much greater advantage.
Speaker 3: There cannot be a more gentle, affectionate heart or more
Speaker 3: obliging manners when acting without restraint. Her little cousins are
Speaker 3: all very fond of her. Yours affectionately, Catherine Vernon.
Speaker 1: End of Chapter eight, Chapter nineteen. Lady Susan Vernon to
Speaker 1: missus Johnson Churchill.
Speaker 2: You will be eager, I know, to hear something further
Speaker 2: of Frederica, and perhaps may think me negligent for not
Speaker 2: writing before she arrived with her uncle last Thursday fortnight, when,
Speaker 2: of course I lost no time in demanding a cause
Speaker 2: of her behavior, and soon found myself to have been
Speaker 2: perfectly right in attributing it to my own letter. The
Speaker 2: prospect of it frightened her so thoroughly that, with a
Speaker 2: mixture of true girlish perverseness and folly, she resolved on
Speaker 2: getting out of the house and proceeding directly by the
Speaker 2: stage to her friends the Clarks, and had really got
Speaker 2: as far as the length of two streets in her
Speaker 2: journey when she was fortunately missed, pursued, and overtaken. Such
Speaker 2: was the first distinguished exploit of Miss Frederica Vernon, And
Speaker 2: if we consider that it was achieved at the tender
Speaker 2: age of sixteen, we shall have room for the most
Speaker 2: flattering prognostics of her future renown. I am excessively provoked, however,
Speaker 2: at the parade of propriety which prevented Miss Summers from
Speaker 2: keeping the girl. And it seems means so extraordinary a
Speaker 2: piece of nicety, considering my daughter's family connections. But I
Speaker 2: can only suppose the lady to be governed by the
Speaker 2: fear of never getting her money. Be that as it may. However,
Speaker 2: Frederica is returned on my hands, and having nothing else
Speaker 2: to employ, her is busy in pursuing the plan of
Speaker 2: romance begun at Blangford. She is actually falling in love
Speaker 2: with Reginald de COURSI to disobey her mother by refusing
Speaker 2: an unexceptionable offer is not enough. Her affections must also
Speaker 2: be given without her mother's approbation. I never saw a
Speaker 2: girl of her age bid fairer to be the sport
Speaker 2: of mankind. Her feelings are tolerably acute, and she is
Speaker 2: so charmingly artless in their display as to afford the
Speaker 2: most reasonable hope of her being ridiculous and despise by
Speaker 2: every man who sees her artlessness will never do in
Speaker 2: love matters. And that girl is born a simpleton who
Speaker 2: has it either by nature or affectation. I am not
Speaker 2: yet certain that her Reginald sees what she is about,
Speaker 2: nor is it of much consequence. She is now an
Speaker 2: object of indifference to him, and she would be one
Speaker 2: of contempt were he to understand her emotions. Her beauty
Speaker 2: is much admired by the Vernons, but it has no
Speaker 2: effect on him. She is in high favor with her
Speaker 2: aunt altogether because she is so little like myself. Of course,
Speaker 2: she is exactly the companion from Missus Vernon, who dearly
Speaker 2: loves to be firm and to have all the sense
Speaker 2: and all the wit of the conversation to herself. Frederica
Speaker 2: will never eclipse her. When she first came, I was
Speaker 2: at some pains to prevent her seeing much of her aunt.
Speaker 2: But I have relaxed, as I believe I may depend
Speaker 2: on her observing the rules I have laid down for
Speaker 2: their discourse. But do not imagine that with all this lenienty,
Speaker 2: I have for a moment given up my plan of
Speaker 2: her marriage. No, I am unalterably fixed on this point,
Speaker 2: though I have not yet quite decided on the manner
Speaker 2: of bringing it about. I should not choose to have
Speaker 2: the business brought on here and canvassed by the wise
Speaker 2: heads of mister and Missus Vernon, and I cannot just
Speaker 2: now afford to go to town. Miss Frederica must therefore wait
Speaker 2: a little yours Ever.
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty, Missus Vernon to Lady de Courcy.
Speaker 3: Church Hill, we have a very unexpected guest with us
Speaker 3: at present, my dear mother. He arrived yesterday. I heard
Speaker 3: a carriage at the door as I was sitting with
Speaker 3: my children while they dined, and supposing I should be wanted,
Speaker 3: left the nursery soon afterwards and was half way downstairs
Speaker 3: when Frederica, as pale as ashes, came running up and
Speaker 3: rushed by me into her own room. I immediately followed
Speaker 3: and asked her what was the matter? Oh, cried she
Speaker 3: He is come, Sir James has come, and what am
Speaker 3: I to do? There was no explanation. I begged her
Speaker 3: to tell me what she meant. At that moment, we
Speaker 3: were interrupted by a knock at the door. It was Reginald,
Speaker 3: who came by Lady Susan's direction to call Frederica down.
Speaker 3: It is mister de Courcy, said she coloring violently. Mamma's
Speaker 3: sent for me, and I must go we all three
Speaker 3: went down together, and I saw my brother examining the
Speaker 3: terrified face of Frederica. In surprise, in the breakfast room,
Speaker 3: we found Lady Susan and a young man of gentle appearance,
Speaker 3: whom she introduced to me by the name of Sir
Speaker 3: James Martin, the very person, as you may remember, who
Speaker 3: it was said she had been at pains to detach
Speaker 3: from Miss Mainwaring, but the conquest, it seemed, was not
Speaker 3: designed for herself, or she has since transferred it to
Speaker 3: her daughter. For Sir James is now desperately in love
Speaker 3: with Frederica, and with full encouragement from Mamma. The poor girl,
Speaker 3: I am sure, however, dislikes him, and though his person
Speaker 3: and address are very well, he appears both to mister
Speaker 3: Vernon and me, a very weak young man. Frederica looked
Speaker 3: so shy, so confused when we entered the room that
Speaker 3: I felt for her exceedingly. Lady Susan behaved with great
Speaker 3: attention to her visitor, and yet I thought I could
Speaker 3: perceive that she had no particular pleasure in seeing him.
Speaker 3: Sir James talked a great deal and made many civil
Speaker 3: excuses to me for the liberty he had taken in
Speaker 3: coming to Church Hill, making more frequent laughter with his
Speaker 3: discourse than the subject required, said many things over and
Speaker 3: over again, and told Lady Susan three times that he
Speaker 3: had seen missus Johnson a few evenings before he now
Speaker 3: and then addressed Frederica, but more frequently her mother. The
Speaker 3: poor girl sat all this time without opening her lips,
Speaker 3: her eyes cast down, and her color varying every instant,
Speaker 3: while Reginald observed all that passed in perfect silence. At length,
Speaker 3: Lady Susan, weary I believe of her situation, proposed walking,
Speaker 3: and we left the two gentlemen together to put on
Speaker 3: our palaces. As we went upstairs, Lady Susan begged permission
Speaker 3: to attend me for a few moments in my dressing room,
Speaker 3: as she was anxious to speak with me in private.
Speaker 3: I led her thither accordingly, and as soon as the
Speaker 3: door was closed, she said, I never was more surprised
Speaker 3: in my life than by Sir James's arrival, and the
Speaker 3: suddenness of it requires some apology to you, my dear sister,
Speaker 3: though to me as a mother, it is highly flattering.
Speaker 3: He is so extremely attracted to my daughter that he
Speaker 3: could not exist longer without seeing her. Sir James is
Speaker 3: a young man of an amiable disposition and an excellent character.
Speaker 3: A little too much of the rattle, perhaps, but a
Speaker 3: year or two will rectify that. And he is, in
Speaker 3: other respects so very eligible a match for Frederica that
Speaker 3: I have always observed his attachment with the greatest pleasure,
Speaker 3: and am persuaded that you and my brother will give
Speaker 3: the alliance your hearty approbation. I have never before mentioned
Speaker 3: the likelihood of its taking place to any one, because
Speaker 3: I thought that while Frederica continued at school, it had
Speaker 3: better not be known to exist. But now I am
Speaker 3: convinced that Frederica is too old ever to submit to
Speaker 3: school confinement. I have therefore begun to consider her union
Speaker 3: with Sir James as not very distant. I had intended
Speaker 3: within a few days to acquaint yourself and mister Vernon
Speaker 3: with the whole business. I am sure, my dear sister,
Speaker 3: you will excuse my remaining silent so long, and agree
Speaker 3: with me that such circumstances, while they continue from any
Speaker 3: cause in suspense, cannot be too cautiously concealed. When you
Speaker 3: have the happiness of bestowing your sweet little Catherine some
Speaker 3: years hence on a man who in connection and character
Speaker 3: is alike unexceptionable. You will know what I feel now, though,
Speaker 3: thank Heaven, you cannot have all my reasons for rejoicing
Speaker 3: in such an event. Catherine will be amply provided for,
Speaker 3: and not like my Frederica, indebted to a fortunate establishment
Speaker 3: for the comfort of life. She concluded by demanding my congratulations.
Speaker 3: I gave them somewhat awkwardly. I believe, in fact, the
Speaker 3: sudden disclosure of so important a matter took me from
Speaker 3: the power of speaking with any clearness. She thanked me, however,
Speaker 3: most affectionately for my kind concern in the welfare of
Speaker 3: herself and daughter, and then said, I am not apt
Speaker 3: to deal in professions, my dear missus Vernon, and I
Speaker 3: never had the convenient talent of affecting sensations foreign to
Speaker 3: my heart, and therefore I trust you will believe me
Speaker 3: when I declare that, much as I had heard in
Speaker 3: your praise, before I knew you, I had no idea
Speaker 3: that I should ever love you as I now do.
Speaker 3: And I must further say that your friendship toward me
Speaker 3: is more particularly gratifying because I have reason to believe
Speaker 3: that some attempts were made to prejudice you against me.
Speaker 3: I only wish that they, whoever they are, to whom
Speaker 3: I am indebted for such kind intentions, could see the
Speaker 3: terms on which we are now together and understand the
Speaker 3: real affection we feel for each other. But I will
Speaker 3: not detain you any longer. God bless you for your
Speaker 3: goodness to me and my girl, and continue to you
Speaker 3: all your present happiness. What can one say to such
Speaker 3: a woman, my dear mother, such earnestness, such solemnity of expression,
Speaker 3: And yet I cannot help suspecting the truth of everything
Speaker 3: she said. As for Reginald, I believe he does not
Speaker 3: know what to make of the matter. When Sir James came,
Speaker 3: he appeared in astonishment and perplexity. The folly of the
Speaker 3: young man and the confusion of Frederica entirely engrossed him,
Speaker 3: And though a little private discourse with Lady Susan has
Speaker 3: since had its effect, he is still hurt. I am
Speaker 3: sure at her allowing of such a man's attentions to
Speaker 3: her daughter. Sir James invited himself, with great composure to
Speaker 3: remain here for a few days, hoped we would not
Speaker 3: think it odd was aware of its being very impertinent,
Speaker 3: but he took the liberty of a relation, and concluded
Speaker 3: by wishing with a laugh, that he might be really
Speaker 3: one soon. Even Lady Susan seemed a little disconcerted by
Speaker 3: this forwardness in her heart. I am persuaded she sincerely
Speaker 3: wishes him gone. But something must be done for this
Speaker 3: poor girl. If her feelings are such as both her
Speaker 3: uncle and I believe them to be, she must not
Speaker 3: be sacrificed to policy or ambition. She must not be
Speaker 3: left to suffer from the dread of it. The girl
Speaker 3: whose heart can distinguish Reginald de Courcy deserve, however he
Speaker 3: may slight her a better fate than to be Sir
Speaker 3: James Martin's wife.
Speaker 1: As soon as I.
Speaker 3: Can get her alone, I will discover the real truth.
Speaker 3: But she seems to wish to avoid me. I hope
Speaker 3: this does not proceed from anything wrong, and that I
Speaker 3: shall not find out I have thought too well of her.
Speaker 3: Her behavior to Sir James certainly speaks the greatest consciousness
Speaker 3: and embarrassment, But I see nothing in it more like encouragement. Adieu,
Speaker 3: my dear mother, yours.
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one, Miss Vernon to mister de Courcy.
Speaker 6: Sir, I hope you will excuse this liberty. I am
Speaker 6: forced upon it by the greatest distress, or I should
Speaker 6: be ashamed to trouble you. I am very miserable about
Speaker 6: Sir James Martin, and have no other way in the
Speaker 6: world of helping myself but by writing to you, for
Speaker 6: I am forbidden even speaking to my uncle and aunt
Speaker 6: on the subject. And this being the case, I am
Speaker 6: afraid my applying to you will appear no better than equivocation,
Speaker 6: and as if I intended to the letter and not
Speaker 6: the spirit of Mamma's commands. But if you do not
Speaker 6: take my part and persuade her to break it off,
Speaker 6: I shall be half distracted, for I cannot bear him
Speaker 6: no human being. But you could have any chance of
Speaker 6: prevailing with her. If you will therefore have the unspeakably
Speaker 6: great kindness of taking my part with her and persuading
Speaker 6: her to send Sir James away, I shall be more
Speaker 6: obliged to you than it is possible for me to express.
Speaker 6: I always disliked him from the first. It is not
Speaker 6: a sudden fancy, I assure you, Sir, I always thought
Speaker 6: him silly and impertinent and disagreeable, and now he has
Speaker 6: grown worse than ever. I would rather work for my
Speaker 6: bread than marry him. I do not know how to
Speaker 6: apologize for this letter. I know it is taking so
Speaker 6: great a liberty. I am aware how dreadfully angry it
Speaker 6: will make Mamma, but I remember the risk I am, Sir,
Speaker 6: your most humble servant.
Speaker 1: F Chapter twenty two, Lady Susan Vernon to Missus Johnson.
Speaker 2: This is insufferable, my dearest friend. I was never so
Speaker 2: enraged before, and must relieve myself by writing to you,
Speaker 2: who I know will enter into all my feelings. Who
Speaker 2: should come on Tuesday? But, Sir James Martin, guess my
Speaker 2: astonishment and vexation, For as you well know, I never
Speaker 2: wished him to be seen at Churchill. What a pity
Speaker 2: that you should not have known his intentions. Not content
Speaker 2: with coming, he actually invited himself to remain here a
Speaker 2: few days. I could have poisoned him. I made the
Speaker 2: best of it, however, and told my story with great
Speaker 2: success to Missus Vernon, who, whatever might be her real sentiments,
Speaker 2: said nothing in opposition to mine. I made a point
Speaker 2: also of Frederica's behaving civilly to Sir James, and gave
Speaker 2: her to understand that I was absolutely determined on her
Speaker 2: marrying him. She said something of her misery, but that
Speaker 2: was all. I have for some time been more particularly
Speaker 2: resolved on the match, from seeing the rapid increase of
Speaker 2: her affection for Reginald, and from not feeling secure that
Speaker 2: a knowledge of such affection might not, in the end
Speaker 2: awaken a return contemptible as a regard found it only
Speaker 2: on compassion must make them both in my eyes, I felt,
Speaker 2: by no means assured that such might not be the consequence.
Speaker 2: It is true that Reginald had not in any degree
Speaker 2: grown cool towards me, But yet he has lately mentioned
Speaker 2: Frederica spontaneously and unnecessarily, and once said something in praise
Speaker 2: of her person. He was all astonishment at the appearance
Speaker 2: of my visitor, and at first observed Sir James with
Speaker 2: an attention which I was pleased to see, not unmixed
Speaker 2: with jealousy. But unluckily it was impossible for me to
Speaker 2: really torment him, as Sir James, though extremely gallant to me,
Speaker 2: very soon made the whole party understand that his heart
Speaker 2: was devoted to my daughter. I had no great difficulty
Speaker 2: in convincing de Corsi when we were alone, that I
Speaker 2: was perfectly justified all things considered in desiring the match,
Speaker 2: and the whole business seemed most comfortably arranged. They could
Speaker 2: none of them help perceiving that Sir James was no Solomon.
Speaker 2: But I had positively forbidden Frederica complaining to Charles Vernon
Speaker 2: or his wife, and they had therefore no pretense for interference,
Speaker 2: though my impertinent sister, I believe, wanted only opportunity for
Speaker 2: doing so. Everything, however, was going on calmly and quietly,
Speaker 2: and though I counted the hours of Sir James's stay,
Speaker 2: my mind was entirely satisfied with the posture of affairs.
Speaker 2: Guess then, what I must feel at the sudden disturbance
Speaker 2: of all my schemes, and that too from a quarter
Speaker 2: where I had least reason to expect it. Reginald came
Speaker 2: this morning into my dressing room with a very unusual
Speaker 2: solemnity of countenance, and after some preface, informed me in
Speaker 2: so many words that he wished to reason with me
Speaker 2: on the impropriety and unkindness of allowing Sir James Martin
Speaker 2: to address my daughter contrary to her inclinations. I was
Speaker 2: all amazement when I found that he was not to
Speaker 2: be laughed out of his design. I calmly begged in explanation,
Speaker 2: and desired to know by what he was impelled and
Speaker 2: by whom commissioned to reprimand me. He then told me,
Speaker 2: mixing in his speech a few insolent compliments and ill
Speaker 2: timed expressions of tenderness, to which I listened with perfect indifference,
Speaker 2: that my daughter had acquainted him with some circumstances concerning herself,
Speaker 2: Sir James, and me, which had given him great uneasiness.
Speaker 2: In short, I found that she had, in the first place,
Speaker 2: actually written to him to request his interference, and that
Speaker 2: on receiving her letter, he had conversed with her on
Speaker 2: the subject of it, in order to understand the particulars
Speaker 2: and to assure himself of her real wishes. I have
Speaker 2: not a doubt but that the girl took this opportunity
Speaker 2: of making downright love to him. I am convinced of
Speaker 2: it by the manner in which he spoke of her.
Speaker 2: Much good may such love do him? I shall ever
Speaker 2: despise the man who can be gratified by the passion
Speaker 2: which he never wished to inspire, nor solicited the avowal
Speaker 2: of I shall always detest them both. He can have
Speaker 2: no true regard for me, or he would not have
Speaker 2: listened to her, and she, with her little rebellious heart
Speaker 2: and indelicate feelings, to throw herself into the protection of
Speaker 2: a young man with whom she has scarcely ever exchanged
Speaker 2: two words before. I am equally confounded at her impudence
Speaker 2: and his credulity. How dared he believe what she told
Speaker 2: him in my disfavor? Ought he not to have felt
Speaker 2: assured that I must have un air answerable motives for
Speaker 2: all that I had done. Where was his reliance on
Speaker 2: my sense and goodness?
Speaker 8: Then?
Speaker 2: Where the resentment which true love would have dictated against
Speaker 2: the person defaming me? That person too, a chit, a
Speaker 2: child without talent or education, whom he had always been.
Speaker 3: Taught to despise.
Speaker 2: I was calm for some time, But the greatest degree
Speaker 2: of forbearance may be overcome, and I hope I was
Speaker 2: afterwards sufficiently keen. He endeavored, long endeavored to soften my resentment.
Speaker 2: But that woman is a fool, indeed, who, while insulted
Speaker 2: by accusation, can be worked on by compliments. At length
Speaker 2: he left me as deeply provoked as myself, and he
Speaker 2: showed his anger more. I was quite cool, but he
Speaker 2: gave way to the most violent indignation. I may therefore
Speaker 2: expect it will the sooner subside, and perhaps his may
Speaker 2: be vanished forever, while mine will be found still fresh
Speaker 2: and implacable. He is now shut up in his apartment
Speaker 2: whither I heard him go on leaving mine. How unpleasant
Speaker 2: one would think must be his reflections. But some people's
Speaker 2: feelings are incomprehensible. I have not yet tranquilized myself enough
Speaker 2: to see Frederica. She shall not soon forget the occurrences
Speaker 2: of this day. She shall find that she has poured
Speaker 2: forth her tender tale of love in vain, and exposed
Speaker 2: herself forever to the contempt of the whole world and
Speaker 2: the severest resentment of her injured mother.
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three. Missus Vernon to Lady de.
Speaker 3: Courcy, church Hill. Let me congratulate you, my dear mother.
Speaker 3: The affair which has given us so much anxiety is
Speaker 3: drawing to a happy conclusion. Our prospect is most delightful,
Speaker 3: And since matters have now taken so favorable a turn.
Speaker 3: I am quite sorry that I ever imparted my apprehensions
Speaker 3: to you, how the pleasure of learning that the danger
Speaker 3: is over is perhaps dearly purchased by all that you
Speaker 3: have previously suffered. I am so agitated by delight that
Speaker 3: I can scarcely hold a pen. But am determined to
Speaker 3: send you a few short lines by James, that you
Speaker 3: may have some explanation of what must so greatly astonish you,
Speaker 3: as that Reginald should be returning to Parkland's. I was
Speaker 3: sitting about half an hour ago with Sir James in
Speaker 3: the breakfast parlor when my brother called me out of room.
Speaker 3: I instantly saw that something was the matter. His complexion
Speaker 3: was raised, and he spoke with great emotion. You know
Speaker 3: his eager manner, my dear Madam, when his mind is interested.
Speaker 3: Catherine said he, I am going home to day, and
Speaker 3: I am sorry to leave you, but I must go.
Speaker 3: It is a great while since I have seen my
Speaker 3: father and mother. I am going to send James forward
Speaker 3: with my hunters immediately. If you have any letters, therefore,
Speaker 3: he can take it. I shall not be home myself
Speaker 3: till Wednesday or Thursday, as I shall go through London
Speaker 3: where I have business. But before I leave you, he continued,
Speaker 3: speaking in a loud voice and with still greater energy,
Speaker 3: I must warn you of one thing. Do not let
Speaker 3: Frederick Vernon be made unhappy by that Martin. He wants
Speaker 3: to marry her. Her mother promotes the match, but she
Speaker 3: cannot endure the idea of it. Be assured that I
Speaker 3: speak from the fullest conviction of the truth of what
Speaker 3: I say. I know that Frederica is made wretched by
Speaker 3: Sir James, continuing here, she is a sweet girl and
Speaker 3: deserves a better fate. Send him away immediately. He is
Speaker 3: only a fool. But what her mother can mean, Heaven
Speaker 3: only knows. Good Bye, he added, shaking my hand with earnestness.
Speaker 3: I do not know when you will see me again.
Speaker 3: But remember what I tell you of Frederica. You must
Speaker 3: make it your business to see justice done her. She
Speaker 3: is an amiable girl and has a very superior mind,
Speaker 3: to which we have never given her credit for. He
Speaker 3: then left me and ran upstairs. I would not try
Speaker 3: to stop him, for I know what the feelings must
Speaker 3: be the nature of mine. As I listened to him,
Speaker 3: I need not attempt to describe. For a minute or two,
Speaker 3: I remain in the same spot, overpowered by wonder of
Speaker 3: a most agreeable sort. Indeed, yet it required some consideration
Speaker 3: to be tranquility happy. In about ten minutes after my
Speaker 3: return to the parlor, Lady Susan entered the room. I concluded,
Speaker 3: of course, that she and Reginald had been quarreling, and
Speaker 3: looked with anxious curiosity for a confirmation of my belief
Speaker 3: in her face, Mistress of deceit. However, she appeared perfectly unconcerned, and,
Speaker 3: after chatting on indifferent subjects for a short time, said
Speaker 3: to me, I find from Wilson that we are going
Speaker 3: to lose mister de Courcy. Is it true that he
Speaker 3: leaves Churchill this morning? I replied that it was. He
Speaker 3: told me nothing of this last night, said she, laughing,
Speaker 3: or even this morning at breakfast. But perhaps he did
Speaker 3: not know it himself. Young men are often hasty in
Speaker 3: their resolutions, and not more sudden informing their unsteady in
Speaker 3: keeping them. I should not be surprised if he should
Speaker 3: change his mind at last and not go. She soon
Speaker 3: after left the room. I trust, however, my dear mother,
Speaker 3: that we have no reason to fear the alteration of
Speaker 3: his present plans. Things have gone too far. They must
Speaker 3: have quarreled, and about Frederica too. What delight will be
Speaker 3: yours in seeing him again, in seeing him still worthy
Speaker 3: of your esteem, still capable of forming your happiness. When
Speaker 3: I next write, I shall be able to tell you
Speaker 3: that Sir James is gone, Lady Susan vanquished, and Frederica
Speaker 3: at peace. We have much to do, but it shall
Speaker 3: be done. I am all impatience to hear how the
Speaker 3: astonishing change was affected. I finish as I begin, with
Speaker 3: the warmest congratulations, yours ever, Catherine.
Speaker 1: Vernon, Chapter twenty four, Missus Vernon to Lady de Courcy
Speaker 1: church Hill.
Speaker 3: Little did I imagine, my dear mother, when I sent
Speaker 3: off my last letter, that the delightful perturbation of spirits
Speaker 3: I will then in would undergo so speedy, so melancholy
Speaker 3: a reverse. I never can sufficiently regret that I wrote
Speaker 3: to you at all. Yet who could have foreseen what
Speaker 3: has happened, my dear mother. Every hope which made me
Speaker 3: so happy only two hours ago, has vanished. The quarrel
Speaker 3: between Lady Susan and Reginald is made up, and we
Speaker 3: are all as we were before. One point only is
Speaker 3: gained Sir James Martin is dismissed. What are we now
Speaker 3: to look forward to? I am indeed disappointed. Reginald was
Speaker 3: all but gone, his horse was ordered, and all but
Speaker 3: brought to the door. Who would have not felt safe?
Speaker 3: For half an hour? I was in momentary expectation of
Speaker 3: his departure. After I had sent off my letter to you,
Speaker 3: I went to mister Vernon and sat with him in
Speaker 3: his room, talking over the whole matter, and then determined
Speaker 3: to look for Frederica, whom I had not seen since breakfast.
Speaker 3: I met her on the stairs and saw that she
Speaker 3: was crying. My dear aunt said she, he is gone,
Speaker 3: Mister de Courcy is gone, and it is all my fault.
Speaker 3: I am a you will be very angry with me,
Speaker 3: but indeed I had no idea it would end so,
Speaker 3: my love, I replied, do not think it necessary to
Speaker 3: apologize to me on that account. I shall feel myself
Speaker 3: under the obligation of any one who is the means
Speaker 3: of sending my brother home, because recollecting myself. I know
Speaker 3: my father wants very much to see him. But what
Speaker 3: is it you have done to occasion all this? She
Speaker 3: blushed deeply as she answered, I was so unhappy about
Speaker 3: Sir James that I could not help. I have done
Speaker 3: something very wrong, I know, But you have not an
Speaker 3: idea of the misery I have been in. And Mamma
Speaker 3: had ordered me never to speak to you or my
Speaker 3: uncle about it, And you therefore spoke to my brother
Speaker 3: to engage his interference, said I, to save her the explanation. No,
Speaker 3: but I wrote to him. I did. Indeed, I got
Speaker 3: up this morning before it was light and was two
Speaker 3: hours about it. And when my letter was done, I
Speaker 3: thought I should never have courage to give it after breakfast. However,
Speaker 3: as I was going to my room, I met him
Speaker 3: in the passage, and then, as I knew everything must
Speaker 3: depend on that moment, I forced myself to give it.
Speaker 3: He was so good as to take it immediately. I
Speaker 3: dared not look at him and ran away directly. I
Speaker 3: was in such affright I could hardly breathe. My dear aunt,
Speaker 3: you do not know how miserable I have been, Frederica
Speaker 3: said I. You ought to have told me all your distresses.
Speaker 3: You would have found in me a friend always ready
Speaker 3: to assist you. Do you think that your uncle or
Speaker 3: I should not have espoused your cause as warmly as
Speaker 3: my brother. Indeed, I do not doubt your kindness, said she,
Speaker 3: coloring again. But I thought mister de Courcy could do
Speaker 3: anything with my mother. But I was mistaken. They have
Speaker 3: had a dreadful quarrel about it, and he is going away.
Speaker 3: Mamma will never forgive me, and I shall be worse
Speaker 3: off than ever. No, you shall not, I replied. In
Speaker 3: such a point as this, your mother's prohibition should not
Speaker 3: have prevented your speaking to me on the subject. She
Speaker 3: has no right to make you unhappy, and she shall
Speaker 3: not do it. Your applying, however, to Reginald, can be
Speaker 3: productive only of good to all parties. I believe it
Speaker 3: is best, as it is, depend upon it that you
Speaker 3: shall not be made unhappy any longer. At that moment,
Speaker 3: how great was my astonishment at seeing Reginald come out
Speaker 3: of Lady Susan's dressing room. My heart misgave me instantly.
Speaker 3: His confusion on seeing me was very evident. Frederica immediately disappeared.
Speaker 3: Are you going, I said, you will find mister Vernon
Speaker 3: in his own room. No, Catherine, he replied, I am
Speaker 3: not going. Will you let me speak to you a
Speaker 3: moment we went into my room I find, He continued,
Speaker 3: his confusion increasing as he spoke, that I have been
Speaker 3: acting with my usual foolish impetuosity. I have entirely misunderstood
Speaker 3: Lady Susan and was on the point of leaving the
Speaker 3: house under a false impression of her conduct. There has
Speaker 3: been some very great mistake. We have been all mistaken.
Speaker 3: I fear Freyka does not know her mother. Lady Susan
Speaker 3: means nothing but her good, but she will not make
Speaker 3: a friend of her. Lady Susan does not always know, therefore,
Speaker 3: what will make her daughter happy. Besides, I could have
Speaker 3: no right to interfere. Miss Vernon was mistaken in applying
Speaker 3: to me. In short, Catherine, everything is gone wrong, but
Speaker 3: it is now all happily settled. Lady Susan, I believe
Speaker 3: wishes to speak to you about it, if you are
Speaker 3: at leisure. Certainly, I replied, deeply, sighing at the recital
Speaker 3: of so lame a story. I made no comment, however,
Speaker 3: for words would have been vain. Reginald was glad to
Speaker 3: get away, and I went to Lady Susan, curious, indeed
Speaker 3: to hear her account of it. Did I not tell you?
Speaker 3: Said she with a smile that your brother would not
Speaker 3: leave us after all you did. Indeed, replied I very gravely,
Speaker 3: But I have fettered myself. You would be mistaken. I
Speaker 3: should not have had as it did such an opinion,
Speaker 3: returned she, if it had not, at that moment occurred
Speaker 3: to me that his resolution of going might be occasioned
Speaker 3: by a conversation in which we had been this morning engaged,
Speaker 3: and which had ended very much to his dissatisfaction, by
Speaker 3: our not rightly understanding each other's meaning. This idea struck
Speaker 3: me at the moment, and I instantly determined that an
Speaker 3: accidental dispute in which I might probably be as much
Speaker 3: to blame as himself, should not deprive you of your brother.
Speaker 3: If you remember, I left the room almost immediately. I
Speaker 3: was resolved to lose no time in clearing those mistakes
Speaker 3: as far as I could. The case was this, Frederica
Speaker 3: had set herself violently against marrying Sir James. And can
Speaker 3: your ladyship wonder that she should cried I with some warmth.
Speaker 3: Frederica has an excellent understanding, and Sir James has none.
Speaker 3: I am at least very far from regretting it, dear sister,
Speaker 3: said she On the contrary, I am grateful for so
Speaker 3: favorable a sign of my daughter's sense. Sir James is
Speaker 3: certainly below par. His boyish manners make him appear worse.
Speaker 3: And had Frederica possessed the penetration and abilities I could
Speaker 3: have wished for my daughter, or had I even known
Speaker 3: her to possess as much as she does, I should
Speaker 3: not have been anxious for the match. It is odd
Speaker 3: that you should be alone ignorant of your daughter's sense.
Speaker 3: Frederica never does justice to herself. Her manners are shy
Speaker 3: and childish, and besides, she is afraid of me. During
Speaker 3: her poor father's life, she was a spoiled child. The
Speaker 3: severity which it has since been necessary for me to show,
Speaker 3: has alienated her affection. Neither has she any of that
Speaker 3: brilliancy of intellect, that genius or vigor of mind which
Speaker 3: will force itself forward. Say rather that she has been
Speaker 3: unfortunate in her education. Heaven knows, my dearest missus Vernon,
Speaker 3: how fully I am aware of that. But I would
Speaker 3: wish to forget every circumstance that might throw blame on
Speaker 3: the memory of one whose name is sacred.
Speaker 6: With me.
Speaker 3: Here she pretended to cry and I was out of
Speaker 3: patience with her. But what said I was your ladyship
Speaker 3: going to tell me about your disagreement with my brother?
Speaker 3: It originated in an action of my daughter, which equally
Speaker 3: marks her want of judgment and the unfortunate dread of
Speaker 3: me I have been mentioning, She wrote to mister de Courcy,
Speaker 3: I know she did. You had forbidden her speaking to
Speaker 3: mister Vernon or to me on the cause of her distress?
Speaker 3: What could she do there for but apply to my brother?
Speaker 3: Good God, she exclaimed, What an opinion you must have
Speaker 3: of me? Can you possibly suppose that I was aware
Speaker 3: of her unhappiness, that it was my object to make
Speaker 3: my own child miserable, and that I had forbidden her
Speaker 3: speaking to you on the subject from a fear of
Speaker 3: your interpreting the diabolical scheme? Do you think me destitute
Speaker 3: of every honest, every natural feeling, and capable of consigning
Speaker 3: her to everlasting misery whose welfare it is my first
Speaker 3: earthly duty to promote the idea? Is horrible? What then
Speaker 3: was your intention when you insisted on her silence? Of
Speaker 3: what use my dear sister could be any application to you?
Speaker 3: However the affair might stand. Why should I subject you
Speaker 3: to entreaties which I refuse to attend to myself, neither
Speaker 3: for your sake or for hers, nor for my own?
Speaker 3: Could such a thing be desirable? When my own resolution
Speaker 3: I was taken, I could not wish for the interference, however,
Speaker 3: friendly of another person. I was mistaken, it is true,
Speaker 3: but I believed myself right. But what was this mistake
Speaker 3: to which your ladyship so often alludes from where arose
Speaker 3: so astonishing a misconception of your daughter's feelings? Did you
Speaker 3: not know that she disliked Sir James. I knew that
Speaker 3: he was not absolutely the man she would have chosen,
Speaker 3: But I was persuaded that her objection to him was
Speaker 3: not from any perception of his deficiency. You must not
Speaker 3: question me, however, my dear sister too minutely on this point,
Speaker 3: continued she taking me affectionately by the hand. I honestly
Speaker 3: own that there is something to conceal Frederica makes me
Speaker 3: very unhappy. Her applying to mister de Courcy hurt me. Particularly.
Speaker 3: What is it you mean to infer, said I by
Speaker 3: this appearance of mystery? If you think your daughter at
Speaker 3: all attached to Reginald her objection to Sir James, could
Speaker 3: not less deserve to be attended to than if the
Speaker 3: cause of her objection had been a consciousness of his folly.
Speaker 3: And why should your ladyship at any rate quarrel with
Speaker 3: my brother for an interference which you must know it
Speaker 3: is not in his nature to refuse when urged in
Speaker 3: such a manner. His disposition, you know, is warm, and
Speaker 3: he came to expostulate with me his compassion all alive
Speaker 3: for this ill used girl, the heroine in distress. We
Speaker 3: misunderstood each other. He believed me more to blame than
Speaker 3: I really was. I considered his interference less excusable than
Speaker 3: I now find it. I have a real regard for him,
Speaker 3: and was beyond rsh mortified to find it. So, I
Speaker 3: thought so Ill bestowed. We were both warm, and of
Speaker 3: course both to blame. His resolution of leaving Churchill was
Speaker 3: consistent with his general eagerness. When I understood his intention, however,
Speaker 3: and at the same time began to think that we
Speaker 3: had both perhaps equally mistaken each other's meaning, I resolved
Speaker 3: to have an explanation before it was too late for
Speaker 3: any member of your family. I must always feel a
Speaker 3: degree of affection and I own it would have sensibly
Speaker 3: hurt me if my acquaintance with mister de Courcy had
Speaker 3: ended so gloomily. I have now only to say further that,
Speaker 3: as I am convinced of Frederica's having a reasonable dislike
Speaker 3: for Sir James, I shall instantly inform him that he
Speaker 3: must give up all hope of her. I reproach myself
Speaker 3: for having, even though innocently, made her unhappy. On that score,
Speaker 3: she shall have all the retribution in my power to
Speaker 3: make if she value her own happiness as much as
Speaker 3: I do, If she judge wisely and commend herself as
Speaker 3: she might, she may now be easy excuse me, my
Speaker 3: dear sister, for thus trespassing on your time. But I
Speaker 3: owe it to my own character. And after this explanation,
Speaker 3: I trust that I am no danger of sinking in
Speaker 3: your opinion. I could have said not much, indeed, but
Speaker 3: I left her almost in silence. It was the greatest
Speaker 3: stretch of forbearance I could practice. I could not have
Speaker 3: stopped myself had I begun her assurance her deceit. But
Speaker 3: I will not allow myself to dwell on them. They
Speaker 3: will strike you sufficiently. My heart sickens within me. As
Speaker 3: soon as I was tolerably composed, I returned to the parlor.
Speaker 3: Sir James's carriage was at the door, and he, merry
Speaker 3: as usual, soon afterward took his leave. How easy does
Speaker 3: her ladyship encourage or dismiss a lover. In spite of
Speaker 3: this release, Frederica still looks unhappy, still fearful perhaps of
Speaker 3: her mother's anger, and though dreading my brother's departure, jealous
Speaker 3: it may be, of his staying. I see how closely
Speaker 3: she observes him, and Lady Susan poor girl. I have
Speaker 3: no hope for her. There is not a chance of
Speaker 3: her affection being returned. He thinks very differently of her
Speaker 3: from what he used to do. He does her some justice,
Speaker 3: but his reconciliation with her mother precludes every dearer hope.
Speaker 3: Prepare my dear mother for the worst. The probability of
Speaker 3: their marrying is surely heightened. He is more securely hers
Speaker 3: than ever. When that wretched event takes place, Frederica must
Speaker 3: wholly belong to me. I am thankful that my last
Speaker 3: letter will precede this by so little as every moment
Speaker 3: that you can be saved from feeling a joy which
Speaker 3: leads only to disappointment.
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty five. Lady Susan Vernon to missus Johnson Churchill.
Speaker 2: I call on you, dear Alicia, for congratulations. I am
Speaker 2: my own self gay and triumphant. When I wrote you
Speaker 2: the other day, I was in truth, in high irritation,
Speaker 2: and with ample cause. Nay, I know not whether I
Speaker 2: ought to be quite tranquil now, for I have had
Speaker 2: more trouble in restoring peace than I ever intended to
Speaker 2: submit to a spirit too, resulting from a fancied sense
Speaker 2: of superior integrity which is peculiarly insolent. I shall not
Speaker 2: easily forgive him. I assure you he was actually on
Speaker 2: the point of leaving Churchhill. I had scarcely concluded my
Speaker 2: last when Wilson brought me word of it. I found
Speaker 2: therefore that something must be done, For I did not
Speaker 2: choose to leave my character at the mercy of a
Speaker 2: man whose passions are so violent and so revengeful. It
Speaker 2: would have been trifling with my reputation to allow of
Speaker 2: his departing with such an impression in my disfavor. In
Speaker 2: this light, condescension was necessary. I sent Wilson to say
Speaker 2: that I desired to speak with him before he went.
Speaker 2: He came immediately. The angry emotions which had marked every
Speaker 2: feature when we last parted, were partially subdued. He seemed
Speaker 2: astonished at the summons, and looked as if half wishing
Speaker 2: and half fearing to be softened by what I might
Speaker 2: say if my countenance expressed what I aimed at. It
Speaker 2: was composed and dignified, and yet with a degree of
Speaker 2: pensiveness which might convince him that I was not quite happy.
Speaker 2: I beg your pardon, sir, for the liberty I have
Speaker 2: taken in sending for you, said I. But as I
Speaker 2: have just learnt your intention of leaving this place to day,
Speaker 2: I feel it my duty to entreat that you will not,
Speaker 2: on my account, shorten your visit here even an hour.
Speaker 2: I am perfectly aware that after what has passed between us,
Speaker 2: it would ill suit the feelings of either to remain
Speaker 2: longer in the same house. So very great, so total
Speaker 2: a change from the intimacy of our friendship must render
Speaker 2: any future intercourse the severest punishment, and your resolution of
Speaker 2: quitting Churchill as undoubtedly in unison with our situation and
Speaker 2: with those lively feelings which I know you to possess.
Speaker 2: But at the same time it is not for me
Speaker 2: to suffer such a sacrifice as it must be to
Speaker 2: leave relations to whom you are so much attached and
Speaker 2: are so dear. My remaining here cannot give that pleasure
Speaker 2: to mister and missus vernon which your society must, And
Speaker 2: my visit has already perhaps been too long. My removal, therefore,
Speaker 2: which must at any rate take place soon, may with
Speaker 2: perfect convenience, be hastened. And I make it my particular
Speaker 2: request that I may not in any way be instrumental
Speaker 2: in separating a family so affectionately attached to each other.
Speaker 2: Where I go is of no consequence to any one,
Speaker 2: of very little to myself. But you are of importance
Speaker 2: to all your connections here, I concluded, and I hope
Speaker 2: you will be satisfied with my speech. Its effect on
Speaker 2: Reginald justifies some portion of vanity, for it was no
Speaker 2: less favorable than instantaneous. Oh how delightful it was to
Speaker 2: watch the variations of his countenance while I spoke, to
Speaker 2: see the struggle between returning tenderness and the remains of displeasure.
Speaker 2: There is something agreeable in feelings so easily worked on,
Speaker 2: Not that I envy him their possession, nor would for
Speaker 2: the world have such myself. But they are very convenient
Speaker 2: when one wishes to influence the passions of another. And
Speaker 2: yet this Reginald, whom a very few words from me
Speaker 2: softened at once into the utmost submission and rendered more tractable,
Speaker 2: more attached, more devoted than ever would have left me
Speaker 2: in the first angry swelling of his proud heart without
Speaker 2: designing to seek an explanation. Humbled as he now is,
Speaker 2: I cannot forgive him such an instance of pride, and
Speaker 2: am doubtful whether I ought not to punish him by
Speaker 2: dismissing him at once after his reconciliation, or by marrying
Speaker 2: and teasing him forever. But these measures are each too
Speaker 2: violent to be adopted without some deliberation. At present, my
Speaker 2: thoughts are fluctuating between various schemes. I have many things
Speaker 2: to compass. I must punish Frederica, and pretty severely too,
Speaker 2: for her application to Reginald. I must punish him for
Speaker 2: receiving it so favorably, and for the rest of his conduct.
Speaker 2: I must torment my sister in law for the insolent
Speaker 2: triumph of her look and manner, since Sir James had
Speaker 2: been dismissed for in reconciling Reginald. To me, I was
Speaker 2: not able to save that ill fated young man, and
Speaker 2: I must make myself amends for the humiliation to which
Speaker 2: I have stooped within these few days. To effect all this,
Speaker 2: I have various plans. I have also an idea of
Speaker 2: being soon in town, and whatever may be my determination
Speaker 2: as to the rest, I shall probably put that project
Speaker 2: in execution, for London will always be the fairest field
Speaker 2: of action, however my views may be directed, and at
Speaker 2: any rate I shall there be rewarded by your society
Speaker 2: and a little dissipation for ten weeks penance at Churchill.
Speaker 2: I believe I owe it to my character to complete
Speaker 2: the match between my daughter and Sir James, after having
Speaker 2: so long intended it. Let me know your opinion on
Speaker 2: this point. Flexibility of mind, a disposition easily biased by others,
Speaker 2: is an attribute which you know I am not very
Speaker 2: desirous of obtaining. Nor has Frederica any claim to the
Speaker 2: indulgence of her notions at the expense of her mother's inclinations,
Speaker 2: her idle love for Reginald two. It is surely my
Speaker 2: duty to discourage such romantic nonsense. All things considered, therefore,
Speaker 2: it seems incumbent on me to take her to town
Speaker 2: and marry her immediately. To Sir James, when my own
Speaker 2: will is effected contrary to his, I shall have I
Speaker 2: have some credit in being on good terms with Reginald,
Speaker 2: which at present in fact I have not, for though
Speaker 2: he is still in my power, I have given up
Speaker 2: the very article by which our quarrel was produced, and
Speaker 2: at best the honor of victory is doubtful. Send me
Speaker 2: your opinion on all these matters, my dear Alicia, and
Speaker 2: let me know whether you can get lodgings to suit
Speaker 2: me within a short distance of you, Your most attached
Speaker 2: s Vernon.
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty six, missus Johnson to Lady Susan Edward Street.
Speaker 1: I am gratified by your reference, and this is my
Speaker 1: advice that you come to town yourself without loss of time,
Speaker 1: but that you leave Frederica behind. It would surely be
Speaker 1: more to the purpose to get yourself well established by
Speaker 1: marrying mister de Courcy than to irritate him and the
Speaker 1: rest of his family by making her Mary. Sir James,
Speaker 1: you should think more of yourself and less of your daughter.
Speaker 1: She is not of a disposition to do you credit
Speaker 1: in the world, and seems precisely in her proper place
Speaker 1: at Churchill with the Vernons. But you are fitted for society,
Speaker 1: and it is shameful to have you exiled from it.
Speaker 1: Leave Frederica therefore, to punish herself for the plague she
Speaker 1: has given you by indulging that romantic tender heartedness which
Speaker 1: will always ensure her misery. Enough, and come to London
Speaker 1: as soon as you can. I have another reason for
Speaker 1: urging this. Mainwaring came to town last week and has contrived,
Speaker 1: in spite of mister Johnson, to make opportunities of seeing me.
Speaker 1: He is absolutely miserable about you, and jealous to such
Speaker 1: a degree of the COURSI that it would be highly
Speaker 1: unadvisable for them to meet at present. And yet if
Speaker 1: you do not allow him to see you here, I
Speaker 1: cannot answer for his not committing some great imprudence, such
Speaker 1: as going to Churchill, for instance, which would be dreadful. Besides,
Speaker 1: if you take my advice and resolve to marry de Corsi,
Speaker 1: it will be indispensably necessary to you to get Main
Speaker 1: Wearing out of the way, and you only can have
Speaker 1: influence enough to send him back to his wife. I
Speaker 1: have still another motive for your coming. Mister Johnson leaves
Speaker 1: London next Tuesday. He is going for his health to Bath, where,
Speaker 1: if the waters are favorable to his constitution and my wishes,
Speaker 1: he will be laid up with the gown many weeks
Speaker 1: during his absence. We shall be able to choose our
Speaker 1: own societnxiety, and to have true enjoyment. I would ask
Speaker 1: you to Edward Street, but that once he forced for
Speaker 1: me a kind of promise never to invite you to
Speaker 1: my house. Nothing but my being in the utmost distress
Speaker 1: for money, should have extorted it from me. I can
Speaker 1: get you, however, a nice drawing room apartment in upper
Speaker 1: Seymour Street, and we may be always together.
Speaker 8: There or here.
Speaker 1: For I consider my promise to mister Johnson as comprehending.
Speaker 1: Only at least in his absence you are not sleeping
Speaker 1: in the house. Poor Mainwaring gives me such histories of
Speaker 1: his wife's jealousy. Silly woman to expect constancy from so
Speaker 1: charming a man, But she always was silly, intolerably so
Speaker 1: in marrying him at all. She the heiress of a
Speaker 1: large fortune, and he without a shilling one title I
Speaker 1: know she might have had besides Baronet's. Her folly informing
Speaker 1: the connection was so great that though mister Johnson was
Speaker 1: her guardian, and I do not in general share his feelings,
Speaker 1: I can never forgive her Adieu yours ever, Alicia. Chapter
Speaker 1: twenty seven. Missus Vernon to Lady de.
Speaker 3: Courcy Churchill, this letter my dear mother will be brought
Speaker 3: you by Reginald. His long visit is about to be
Speaker 3: concluded at last, But I fear the separation takes place
Speaker 3: too late to do us any good. She is going
Speaker 3: to London to see her particular friend, Missus Johnson. It
Speaker 3: was first her intention that Frederica should accompany her for
Speaker 3: the benefit of masters, but we overruled her there. Frederica
Speaker 3: was wretched in the idea of going, and I could
Speaker 3: not bear to have her at the mercy of her mother.
Speaker 3: Not all the masters in London could compensate for the
Speaker 3: ruin of her comfort. I should have feared too, for
Speaker 3: her health and everything, but her principles there I believe
Speaker 3: she is not to be injured by her mother or
Speaker 3: her mother's friends. But with those friends she must have
Speaker 3: mixed very bad set, I doubt not, or have been
Speaker 3: left in total solitude, And I can hardly tell which
Speaker 3: would have been worse for her. If she is with
Speaker 3: her mother. Moreover, she must alas in all probability, be
Speaker 3: with Reginald, and that would be the greatest evil of all.
Speaker 3: Here we shall, in time be in peace, our regular employment,
Speaker 3: our books and conversations with exercise, the children, and every
Speaker 3: domestic pleasure in my power to produce her will I
Speaker 3: trust gradually overcome this youthful attachment. I should have no
Speaker 3: doubt of it were she slighted for any other woman
Speaker 3: in the world but her own mother. How long Lady
Speaker 3: Susan will be in town, or whether she returns here again,
Speaker 3: I know not. I could not be cordial in my invitation,
Speaker 3: But if she chooses to come, no want of cordiality on.
Speaker 4: My part will keep her away.
Speaker 3: I could not help asking Reginald if he intended being
Speaker 3: in town this winter, as soon as I found her,
Speaker 3: Ladyship's steps would be bent thither. And though he professed
Speaker 3: himself quite undetermined, there was something in his look and
Speaker 3: voice as he spoke that contradicted his words. I have
Speaker 3: done with lamentation. I look upon the event as so
Speaker 3: far decided that I resign myself to it in despair.
Speaker 3: If he leaves you soon for London, everything will be concluded.
Speaker 3: Yours affectionately, Catherine.
Speaker 1: Verne, Chapter twenty eight. Missus Johnson to Lady Susan Edward Street,
Speaker 1: My dearest friend, I write in the greatest distress. The
Speaker 1: most unfortunate event has just taken place. Mister Johnson has
Speaker 1: hit on the most effectual manner of plaguing us all
Speaker 1: he has heard, I imagine by some means or other
Speaker 1: that you were soon to be in London, and immediately
Speaker 1: contrived to have such an attack of the gout as
Speaker 1: must at least delay his journey to Bath, if not
Speaker 1: wholly prevented. I am persuaded the gout is brought on
Speaker 1: or kept off at pleasure. It was the same when
Speaker 1: I wanted to join the Hamiltons to the Lakes, and
Speaker 1: three years ago, when I had a fancy for Bath,
Speaker 1: nothing could induce him to have a gouty symptom. I
Speaker 1: am pleased to find that my letter hath so much
Speaker 1: effect on you, and that de Corsi is certainly your own.
Speaker 1: Let me hear from you as soon as you arrive
Speaker 1: and in particular, tell me what you mean to do
Speaker 1: with Main Wearing. It is impossible to say when I
Speaker 1: shall be able to come to you. My confinement must
Speaker 1: be great. It is such an abominable trick to be
Speaker 1: ill here instead of at bath, that I can scarcely
Speaker 1: command myself at all. At bath, his old aunts would
Speaker 1: have nursed him. But here it all falls upon me,
Speaker 1: and he bears pain with such patience that I have
Speaker 1: not the common excuse for losing my temper yours, Chapter
Speaker 1: twenty nine, Lady Susan Vernon to missus Johnson.
Speaker 2: Uper Seymour Street. My dear Alicia, there needed not this
Speaker 2: last fit of gout to make me detest mister Johnson.
Speaker 2: But now the extent of my aversion is not to
Speaker 2: be estimated to have you confined as a nurse in
Speaker 2: his apartment. My dear Alicia, of what a mistake were
Speaker 2: you guilty in marrying a man of his age just
Speaker 2: old enough to be formal, ungovernable, and a half a gout,
Speaker 2: too old to be agreeable, too young to die. I
Speaker 2: arrived last night about five, and had scarcely swallowed my
Speaker 2: dinner when Man Wearing made his appearance. I will not
Speaker 2: dissemble what real pleasure his sight afforded me, nor how
Speaker 2: strongly I felt the contrast between his person and manners
Speaker 2: and those of Reginald to the infinite disadvantage of the latter.
Speaker 2: For an hour or two I was even staggered in
Speaker 2: my resolution of marrying him. And though this was too
Speaker 2: idle and nonsensical an idea to remain long on my mind,
Speaker 2: I do not feel very eager for the conclusion of
Speaker 2: my marriage, nor look forward with much impatience to the
Speaker 2: time when Reginald, according to our agreement, is to be
Speaker 2: in town. I shall probably put off his arrival under
Speaker 2: some pretense or other. He must not come till Man
Speaker 2: Wearing is gone. I am still doubtful at times as
Speaker 2: to marrying. If the old man would die, I might
Speaker 2: not hesitate. But a state of dependence on the caprice
Speaker 2: of Sir Reginald will not suit the freedom of my spirit.
Speaker 2: And if I resolved to wait for that event, I
Speaker 2: shall have excuse enough. At present, in having been scarcely
Speaker 2: ten months a widow, I have not given Man Wearing
Speaker 2: any hint of my intention, or allowed him to consider
Speaker 2: my acquainted with Reginald as more than the commonest flirtation,
Speaker 2: and he is tolerably appeased, ads you till we meet.
Speaker 2: I am in shame.
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty Lady Susan two, Mister de COURSI.
Speaker 2: Upper Seymour Street. I have received your letter, and though
Speaker 2: I do not attempt to conceal that I am gratified
Speaker 2: by your impatience for the hour of our meeting, I
Speaker 2: yet feel myself under the necessity of delaying that hour
Speaker 2: beyond the time originally fixed. Do not think be unkind
Speaker 2: for such an exercise of my power, nor accuse me
Speaker 2: of instability without first hearing my reasons. In the course
Speaker 2: of my journey from Churchill, I had ample leisure for
Speaker 2: reflection on the present state of our affairs, and every
Speaker 2: review has served to convince me that they require a
Speaker 2: delicacy and cautiousness of conduct to which we have hitherto
Speaker 2: been too little attentive. We have been hurried on by
Speaker 2: our feelings to a degree of precipitation which ill accords
Speaker 2: with the claims of our friends or the opinion of
Speaker 2: the world. We have been unguarded in forming this hasty engagement.
Speaker 2: But we must not complete the imprudence by ratifying it
Speaker 2: while there is so much reason to fear the connection
Speaker 2: would be opposed by those friends on whom you depend.
Speaker 2: It is not for us to blame any expectations on
Speaker 2: your father's side of your marrying to advantage. Where possessions
Speaker 2: are so extensive as those of your family, the wish
Speaker 2: of increasing them, if not strictly reasonable, is too common
Speaker 2: to excite surprise or resentment. He has a right to
Speaker 2: require a woman of fortune in his daughter in law,
Speaker 2: and I am sometimes quarreling with myself for suffering you
Speaker 2: to form a connection so imprudent. But the influence of
Speaker 2: reason is often acknowledged too late by those who feel
Speaker 2: like me. I have now been but a few months
Speaker 2: a widow, and however little indebted to my husband's memory
Speaker 2: for any happiness derived from him during a union of
Speaker 2: some years. I cannot forget that the indelicacy of so
Speaker 2: early a second marriage must subject me to the censure
Speaker 2: of the world, and incur what would be still more insupportable,
Speaker 2: the displeasure of mister Vernon. I might perhaps harden myself
Speaker 2: in time against the injustice of general reproach, but the
Speaker 2: loss of his valued esteem I am, as you well know,
Speaker 2: ill fitted to endure, and when to this may be
Speaker 2: out of the consciousness of having injured you with your family,
Speaker 2: How am I to support myself with feelings so poignant
Speaker 2: as mine. The conviction of having divided the son from
Speaker 2: his parents would make me, even with you, the most
Speaker 2: miserable of beings. It will surely therefore be advisable to
Speaker 2: delay our union, to delay it till appearances are more promising,
Speaker 2: till affairs have taken a more favorable turn to assist
Speaker 2: us in such a resolution. I feel that absence will
Speaker 2: be necessary. We must not meet cruel as this sentence
Speaker 2: may appear. The necessity of pronouncing it, which can alone
Speaker 2: reconcile it to myself, will be evident to you. When
Speaker 2: you have considered our situation in the light in which
Speaker 2: I have found myself imperiously obliged to place it, You
Speaker 2: may be you must be well assured that nothing but
Speaker 2: the strongest conviction of duty could induce me to wound
Speaker 2: my own feelings by urging a lengthened separation, and of
Speaker 2: insensibility to yours, you will hardly suspect me.
Speaker 6: Again.
Speaker 2: Therefore, I say that we ought not, We must not
Speaker 2: yet meet by a removal for some months from each other,
Speaker 2: we shall tranquilize the sisterly fears of Missus Vernon, who
Speaker 2: accustomed herself to the enjoyment of riches, considers fortune as
Speaker 2: necessary everywhere, and whose sensibilities are not of a nature
Speaker 2: to comprehend ours. Let me hear from you soon, very soon.
Speaker 2: Tell me that you submit to my arguments, and do
Speaker 2: not reproach me for using such I cannot bear reproaches.
Speaker 2: My spirits are not so high as to need being repressed.
Speaker 2: I must endeavor to seek amusement. And fortunately many of
Speaker 2: my friends are in town. Amongst them the man wearings.
Speaker 2: You know how sincerely I regard both husband and wife.
Speaker 2: I am very faithfully yours, s Ernie.
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty one. Lady Susan Vernon to Missus Johnson.
Speaker 2: Upper Seymour Street, My dear friend, that tormenting creature, Reginald
Speaker 2: is here. My letter, which was intended to keep him
Speaker 2: longer in the country, has hastened him to town. Much
Speaker 2: as I wish him away. However, I cannot help being
Speaker 2: pleased with such a proof of attachment. He is devoted
Speaker 2: to me heart and soul. He will carry this note himself,
Speaker 2: which is to serve as an introduction to you, with
Speaker 2: whom he longs to be acquainted. Allow him to spend
Speaker 2: the evening with you, that I may be in no
Speaker 2: danger of his returning here. I have told him that
Speaker 2: I am not quite well and must be alone, and
Speaker 2: should he call again, there might be confusion, for it
Speaker 2: is impossible to be sure of servants keep him. Therefore
Speaker 2: I entreat you in Edward Street. You will not find
Speaker 2: him a heavy companion, and I allow you to flirt
Speaker 2: with him as much as you like. At the same time,
Speaker 2: do not forget my real interest. Say all that you
Speaker 2: can to convince him that I shall be quite wretched
Speaker 2: if he remains here. You know my reasons, propriety and
Speaker 2: so forth. I would urge them more myself, but that
Speaker 2: I am impatient to be rid of him, as man
Speaker 2: Wearing comes within half an hour at you asked vernon.
Speaker 1: Chapter twenty eight. Missus Johnson to Lady Susan Edward Street,
Speaker 1: My dear creature, I am in agonies and know not
Speaker 1: what to do. Mister de Courcy arrived just when he
Speaker 1: should not. Missus Mainwaring had that instant entered the house
Speaker 1: and forced herself into her guardian's presence. Though I did
Speaker 1: not know a syllable of it till afterwards, for I
Speaker 1: was out when both she and Reginald came, or I
Speaker 1: should have sent him away at all events, but she
Speaker 1: was shut up with mister Johnson while he waited in
Speaker 1: the drawing room for me. She arrived yesterday in pursuit
Speaker 1: of her husband. But perhaps you know this already from himself.
Speaker 1: She came to his house to entreat my husband's interference,
Speaker 1: and before I could be aware of it, everything that
Speaker 1: you could wish to be concealed was known to him,
Speaker 1: And unluckily she had wormed out of Mainwaring servant that
Speaker 1: he had visited you every day since you were being
Speaker 1: in town, and had just watched him to your door herself.
Speaker 6: What could I do?
Speaker 1: Facts are such horrid things. All is by this time
Speaker 1: known to de Corsi, who is now alone with mister Johnson.
Speaker 1: Do not accuse me. Indeed, it was impossible to prevent it.
Speaker 1: Mister Johnson has for some time suspected, de course you
Speaker 1: of intending to marry you, and would speak with him
Speaker 1: alone as soon as he knew him to be in
Speaker 1: the house. That detestable missus Mainwaring, who for your comfort
Speaker 1: has fretted herself. Thinner and a glare than ever is
Speaker 1: still here, and they have been all closeted together. What
Speaker 1: can be done at any rate? I hope he will
Speaker 1: plague his wife more than ever with anxious wishes. Yours faithfully, Alicia.
Speaker 1: This is a liprivox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, visit
Speaker 1: www dot liprivox dot org. Lady Susan a novel by
Speaker 1: Jane Austen, read for Liprivox by Brenda Dayne, Chapter thirty three,
Speaker 1: Lady Susan Vernon to missus Johnson.
Speaker 2: Upper Seymour Street. This eclerciusment is rather provoking. How unlucky
Speaker 2: that you should have been from home. I thought myself
Speaker 2: sure of you at seven. I am undismayed. However, do
Speaker 2: not torment yourself with fears. On my account, depend on it.
Speaker 2: I can make my story good. With Reginald man wearing
Speaker 2: is just gone. He brought me the news of his
Speaker 2: wife's arrival. Silly woman. What does she expect by such maneuvers?
Speaker 8: Yet?
Speaker 2: I wish she had stayed quietly at Langford. Reginald will
Speaker 2: be a little enraged at first.
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty four, Mister de Courci to Lady Susan.
Speaker 9: Blank Hotel, all right, only to bid you farewell. The
Speaker 9: spell is removed. I see you as you are since
Speaker 9: we parted yesterday. I've received from indisputable authorities such a
Speaker 9: history of you as must bring the most mortified conviction
Speaker 9: of the imposition I have been under, and the absolute
Speaker 9: necessity of an immediate and eternal separation from you. You
Speaker 9: cannot doubt to what I allude, Langford, Langford, that word
Speaker 9: will be sufficient. I received my information in mister Johnson's
Speaker 9: house from Missus main Warring herself. You know how I've
Speaker 9: loved you. You can intimately judge of my present feelings,
Speaker 9: But I am not so weak as to find indulgent
Speaker 9: in describing them to a woman who will glory in
Speaker 9: having excited their anguish, but whose affection they have never
Speaker 9: been able to gain.
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty five, Lady Susan to mister de.
Speaker 2: Courci, Upper Seymour Street. I will not attempt to describe
Speaker 2: my astonishment in reading the note this moment received from you.
Speaker 2: I am bewildered in my endeavors to form some rational
Speaker 2: conjecture of what Missus Manwarin can have told you to
Speaker 2: occasion so extraordinary a change in your sentiments? Have I
Speaker 2: not explained everything to you with respect to myself which
Speaker 2: could bear a doubtful meaning, and which the ill nature
Speaker 2: of the world had interpreted to my discredit? What can
Speaker 2: you now have heard to stagger your esteem from me?
Speaker 2: Have I ever had a concealment from you? Reginald? You
Speaker 2: agitate me beyond expression. I cannot suppose that the old
Speaker 2: story of missus Manwaring's jealousy can be revived again, or
Speaker 2: at least be listened to again. Come to me immediately
Speaker 2: and explain what is at present absolutely incomprehensible. Believe me,
Speaker 2: the single word of Langford is not such a potent
Speaker 2: intelligence as to supersede the necessity of more. If we
Speaker 2: are to part, it will at least be handsome to
Speaker 2: take your personal leave. But I have little heart to jest.
Speaker 2: In truth, I am serious enough for to be sunk, though,
Speaker 2: but for an hour in your esteem is a humiliation
Speaker 2: which I know not how to submit. I shall count
Speaker 2: every minute till you are arrived.
Speaker 1: Chapter thirty six. Mister de Courcy to Lady Susan.
Speaker 9: Why would you write to me? Why do you require particulars.
Speaker 9: But since it must be so, I am obliged to
Speaker 9: declare that all the accounts of your misconduct during the
Speaker 9: life and since the death of mister Vernon, which had
Speaker 9: reached me in common with the world in general, and
Speaker 9: gained my entire belief before I saw you be, which you,
Speaker 9: by the exertion of your perverted abilities, had made me
Speaker 9: resolve to disallow, have been unanswerably proved to me. Nay more,
Speaker 9: I am assured that a connection of which I had
Speaker 9: never before entertained a thought, has for some time existed,
Speaker 9: and still continues to exist between you and the man
Speaker 9: whose family you robbed of its peace in return for
Speaker 9: the hospitality with which you were received into It that
Speaker 9: you have corresponded with him ever since your leaving Langford,
Speaker 9: not with his wife, but with him, and that he
Speaker 9: now visits you every day? Can you Dare you deny it?
Speaker 9: And all this at the time when I was encouraged
Speaker 9: an accepted lover, from what have I not escaped? I
Speaker 9: have only to be grateful. Far from me be all complained,
Speaker 9: every sigh of regret my own folly had endangered me
Speaker 9: my preservation. I owed to the kindness the integrity of another.
Speaker 9: But the unfortunate Missus Mainwaring, whose agonies, while she related
Speaker 9: the past, seemed to threaten her reason, how is she
Speaker 9: to be consoled after such a discovery as this? You
Speaker 9: will scarcely affect further wonder at my meaning in bidding
Speaker 9: you a jew. My understanding is at length restored, and
Speaker 9: teaches no less to abhore the artifices which had subdued
Speaker 9: me than to despise myself for the weakness on which
Speaker 9: their strength is founded.
Speaker 1: R declared Chapter thirty seven, Lady Susan to mister de.
Speaker 2: Courci, Upper Seymour Street. I am satisfied and will trouble
Speaker 2: you no more when these few lines are dismissed. The
Speaker 2: engagement which you were so eager to form a fortnight
Speaker 2: ago is no long longer compatible with your views, and
Speaker 2: I rejoice to find that the prudent advice of your
Speaker 2: parents has not been given in vain. Your restoration to
Speaker 2: peace will I doubt not speedily follow this act of
Speaker 2: filial obedience, And I flatter myself with the hope of
Speaker 2: surviving my share.
Speaker 1: In chapter thirty eight, Missus Johnson to Lady Susan Vernon
Speaker 1: Edward Street, I am grieved, though I cannot be astonished
Speaker 1: at your rupture with mister de Courcy. He has just
Speaker 1: informed mister Johnson of it by letter he leaves London.
Speaker 1: He says, today, be assured that I've partaken all your feelings,
Speaker 1: and do not be angry. If I say that our intercourse,
Speaker 1: even by letter, must soon be given up. It makes
Speaker 1: me miserable. But mister Johnson vows that if I persist
Speaker 1: in the connection, you will settle in the country for
Speaker 1: the rest of his life. And you know it is
Speaker 1: impossible to submit to such an extremity while any other
Speaker 1: alternative remains. You have heard, of course, that the mainwarings
Speaker 1: are to part, and I am afraid missus m will
Speaker 1: come home to us again. But she's still so fond
Speaker 1: of her husband and frets so much about him that
Speaker 1: perhaps she may not live long. Miss Mainwaring is just
Speaker 1: come to town to be with her aunt, and they
Speaker 1: say that she declares she will have Sir James Martin
Speaker 1: before she leaves London again. If I were you, I
Speaker 1: would certainly get him myself. I had almost forgot to
Speaker 1: give you my opinion of mister de Courcy. I really
Speaker 1: am delighted with him. He is full, as handsome, I think,
Speaker 1: as mainwaring, and with such an open, good humored countenance
Speaker 1: that one cannot help loving him at first sight. Mister Johnson,
Speaker 1: and here are the greatest friends in the world. Adieu,
Speaker 1: my dearest Susan. I wish matters did not go so
Speaker 1: perversely that unlucky visit to Langford. But I dare say
Speaker 1: you did all for the best, and there is no
Speaker 1: defying destiny. Yours, sincerely, attached, Alicia. Chapter thirty nine, Lady
Speaker 1: Susan Vernon to missus Johnson.
Speaker 2: Upper Seymour Street. My dear Alicia, I yield to the
Speaker 2: necessity which parts us under circumstances you could not act otherwise.
Speaker 2: Our friendship cannot be impaired by it, and in happier times,
Speaker 2: when your situation is as independent as mine, it will
Speaker 2: unite us again in the same intimacy as ever. For
Speaker 2: this I shall impatiently wait, and meanwhile can safely assure
Speaker 2: you that I never was more at ease or better
Speaker 2: satisfied with myself at everything about me than at the
Speaker 2: present hour. Your husband I abhor Reginald. I despise, and
Speaker 2: I am secure of never seeing either again. Have I
Speaker 2: not reason to rejoice. Man Wearing is more devoted to
Speaker 2: me than ever, and here we are at liberty. I
Speaker 2: doubt if I could resist even matrimony offered by him
Speaker 2: this event. If his wife live with you, it may
Speaker 2: be in your power to hasten the violence of her feelings,
Speaker 2: which must wear her out, may be easily kept in irritation.
Speaker 2: I rely on your friendship for this. I am now
Speaker 2: satisfied that I never could have brought myself to marry Reginald.
Speaker 2: And I am equally determined that Frederica never shall tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I shall fetch her from Churchill, and let Mariah man
Speaker 2: Wearing tremble. For the consequence, Frederica shall be Sir James's
Speaker 2: wife before she quits my house. And she may whimper,
Speaker 2: and the vernons may storm, I regard them not I.
Speaker 2: I am tired of submitting my will to the caprices
Speaker 2: of others, of resigning my own judgment in deference to
Speaker 2: those to whom I owe no duty and for whom
Speaker 2: I feel no respect. I have given up too much,
Speaker 2: have been too easily worked on. But Frederica shall now
Speaker 2: feel the difference. Adieu, dearest of friends. May the next
Speaker 2: gouty attack be more favorable, and may you always regard
Speaker 2: me as unalterably yours, s Vernon.
Speaker 1: Chapter forty. Lady de Courcy to missus Vernon.
Speaker 8: My dear Catherine, I have charming news for you, and
Speaker 8: if I had not sent off my letter this morning,
Speaker 8: you might have been spared the vexation of knowing of
Speaker 8: Reginald's being gone to London. For he is returned. Reginald
Speaker 8: is returned not to ask our consent to his marrying
Speaker 8: Lady Susan, but to tell us they are parted forever.
Speaker 8: He has been only an hour in the house house,
Speaker 8: and I have not been able to learn particulars, for
Speaker 8: he is so very low that I have not the
Speaker 8: heart to ask questions. But I hope we shall soon
Speaker 8: know all. This is the most joyful hour he has
Speaker 8: ever given us since the day of his birth. Nothing
Speaker 8: is wanting but to have you here, and it is
Speaker 8: our particular wish and entreaty that you would come to
Speaker 8: us as soon as you can. You have owed us
Speaker 8: a visit many long weeks. I hope nothing will make
Speaker 8: it inconvenient to mister Vernon, and pray bring all my
Speaker 8: grandchildren and your dear niece is included. Of course I
Speaker 8: long to see her. It has been a sad, heavy
Speaker 8: winter hitherto without Reginald and seeing nobody from Churchhill. I
Speaker 8: never found the season so dreary before, But this happy
Speaker 8: meeting will make us young again. Frederica runs much in
Speaker 8: my thoughts. And when Reginald has recovered his usual good spirits,
Speaker 8: as I trust he soon will, we will try to
Speaker 8: rob him of his heart once more. And I am
Speaker 8: full of hopes of seeing their hands joined at no
Speaker 8: great distance your affectionate mother see de Corsi.
Speaker 1: Chapter forty one. Missus Vernon to Lady.
Speaker 3: De Corsi Churchill. My dear Madam, your letter has surprised
Speaker 3: me beyond measure. Can it be true that they are
Speaker 3: really separated and forever? I should be overjoyed if I
Speaker 3: dared depend upon it. But after all that I have seen,
Speaker 3: how can one be secure and Reginald really with you?
Speaker 3: My surprise is the greater because on Wednesday, the very
Speaker 3: day of his coming to Parkland's, we had a most
Speaker 3: unexpected and unwelcome visit from Lady Susan, looking all cheerfulness
Speaker 3: and good humor, and seeming more as if she were
Speaker 3: to marry him when she got to London, than as
Speaker 3: if parted from him forever. She stayed nearly two hours,
Speaker 3: was as affectionate and agreeable as ever, and not a syllable,
Speaker 3: not a hint was dropped of any disagreement or coolness
Speaker 3: between them. I asked her whether she had seen my
Speaker 3: brother since she arrived in town, not as you may suppose,
Speaker 3: with any doubt of the fact, but merely to see
Speaker 3: how she looked. She immediately answered, without any embarrassment, that
Speaker 3: he had been kind enough to call on her on Monday,
Speaker 3: but she believed he had already returned home, which I
Speaker 3: was very far from crediting. Your very kind invitation is
Speaker 3: accepted by us and with pleasure, and on Thursday next
Speaker 3: we and our little ones will be with you. Pray heaven,
Speaker 3: Reginald may not be in town again by that time.
Speaker 3: I wish we could bring dear Frederica too, But I
Speaker 3: am sorry to say that her mother's errand hither was
Speaker 3: to fetch her away, and miserable as it made the
Speaker 3: poor girl, it was impossible to detain her. I was
Speaker 3: thoroughly unwilling to let her go, and so was her uncle,
Speaker 3: and all that could be urged we did urge, but
Speaker 3: Lady Susan declared that as she was now about to
Speaker 3: fix herself in town for several month, she could not
Speaker 3: be easy if her daughter were not with her. For masters.
Speaker 3: Her manners, to be sure, were very kind and proper.
Speaker 3: And mister Vernon believes that Frederica will now be treated
Speaker 3: with faction. I wish I could think so too. The
Speaker 3: poor girl's heart was almost broke at taking leave of us.
Speaker 3: I charged her to write to me very often, and
Speaker 3: to remember that if she were in any distress, we
Speaker 3: should be always her friends. I took care to see
Speaker 3: her alone that I might say all this, and I
Speaker 3: hope made her a little more comfortable. But I shall
Speaker 3: not be easy until I go to town and judge
Speaker 3: her situation myself. I wish there were a better proposal
Speaker 3: than now appears at the match, which the conclusion of
Speaker 3: your letter declared your expectation of at present, It is
Speaker 3: not very likely, yours, Catherine.
Speaker 1: Vernon, end of chapter forty one. Conclusion this correspondence, by
Speaker 1: a meeting between some of the parties and a separation
Speaker 1: between the others, could not, to the great detriment of
Speaker 1: the post office revenue, be continued any longer, very little
Speaker 1: assistance to the state could be derived from the epistolary
Speaker 1: intercourse of Missus Vernon and her niece. For the former,
Speaker 1: soon perceived by the style of Frederica's letters that they
Speaker 1: were written under her mother's inspection, and, therefore deferring all
Speaker 1: particular enquiry till she could make it personally in London,
Speaker 1: ceased writing minutely or often, having learnt enough in the
Speaker 1: meanwhile from her open hearted brother of what had passed
Speaker 1: between him and Lady Susan to sink the latter lower
Speaker 1: than ever. In her opinion, she was proportionably more anxious
Speaker 1: to get Frederica removed from such a mother and placed
Speaker 1: under her own care, and, though with little hope of success,
Speaker 1: was resolved to leave nothing unattempted that might offer a
Speaker 1: chance of obtaining her sister in law's consent to it.
Speaker 1: Her anxiety on the side subject made her press for
Speaker 1: an early visit to London, and mister Vernon, who, as
Speaker 1: it must already have appeared, lived only to do whatever
Speaker 1: he was desired, soon found some accommodating business to call
Speaker 1: him thither.
Speaker 6: With a heart full of.
Speaker 1: The matter, Missus Vernon waited on Lady Susan shortly after
Speaker 1: her arrival in town, and was met with such an
Speaker 1: easy and cheerful affection as made her almost turn from
Speaker 1: her with horror. No remembrance of Reginald, no consciousness of guilt,
Speaker 1: gave one look of embarrassment. She was in excellent spirits
Speaker 1: and seemed eager to show at once by every possible
Speaker 1: attention to her brother and sister her sense of their
Speaker 1: kindness and her pleasure in their society. Frederica was no
Speaker 1: more altered than Lady Susan, the same restrained manners, the
Speaker 1: same timid look in the presence of her mother, as
Speaker 1: heretofore assured her aunt of her situation being uncomfortable, and
Speaker 1: confirmed her in the plan of alternate it. No unkindness, however,
Speaker 1: on the part of Lady Susan, appeared. Persecution on the
Speaker 1: subject of Sir James was entirely at an end. His
Speaker 1: name merely mentioned to say that he was not in London,
Speaker 1: and indeed, in all her conversation she was solicitous only
Speaker 1: for the welfare and improvement of her daughter, acknowledging in
Speaker 1: terms of grateful delight that Frederica was now growing every
Speaker 1: day more and more what a parent could desire. Missus Vernon,
Speaker 1: surprised and incredulous, knew not what to suspect, and without
Speaker 1: any change in her own views, only feared greater difficulty
Speaker 1: in accomplishing them. The first hope of anything better was
Speaker 1: derived from Lady Susan's asking her whether she thought Frederica
Speaker 1: looked quite as well as she had done at Churchhill.
Speaker 1: As she must confess herself to have sometimes an anxious
Speaker 1: doubt of London's perfectly agreeing with her, Missus Vernon, encouraging
Speaker 1: the doubt, directly proposed her niece's returning with them into
Speaker 1: the country. Lady Susan was unable to express her sense
Speaker 1: of such kindness, yet knew not, from a variety of reasons,
Speaker 1: how to part with her daughter, and as though her
Speaker 1: own plans were not yet wholly fixed, she trusted it
Speaker 1: would e'er be long in her power to take Frederica
Speaker 1: into the country. Herself concluded by declining entirely to profit
Speaker 1: by such unexampled attention, Missus Vernon persevered, however, in the
Speaker 1: offer of it, and though Lady Susan continued to resist
Speaker 1: her resistance, in the course of a few days seemed
Speaker 1: somewhat less formidable. The lucky alarm of an influenza decided
Speaker 1: what might not have been decided quite so soon. Lady
Speaker 1: Susan's maternal fears were then too much awakened for her
Speaker 1: to think of anything but Frederica's removal from the risk
Speaker 1: of infection. Above all disorders in the world, she most
Speaker 1: dreaded the influenza for her daughter's constance. Frederica returned to
Speaker 1: Churchill with her uncle and aunt, and three weeks afterwards
Speaker 1: Lady Susan announced her being married to Sir James Martin.
Speaker 1: Missus Vernon was convinced of what she had only suspected before,
Speaker 1: that she might have spared herself all the trouble of
Speaker 1: urging a removal, which Lady Susan had doubtless resolved on
Speaker 1: from the first. Frederica's visit was nominally for six weeks,
Speaker 1: but her mother, though inviting her to return in one
Speaker 1: or two affectionate letters, was very ready to oblige the
Speaker 1: whole party by consenting to a prolongation of her stay,
Speaker 1: and in the course of two months ceased to write
Speaker 1: of her absence, and in the course of two or
Speaker 1: more to write to.
Speaker 9: Her at all.
Speaker 1: Frederica was therefore fixed in the family of her uncle
Speaker 1: and aunt till such time as Reginald de Corsi could
Speaker 1: be talked, flattered and finessed into an affection for her, which,
Speaker 1: allowing leisure for the conquest of his attachment to her mother,
Speaker 1: for his abjuring all future attachments, and detesting the sex,
Speaker 1: might be reasonably looked for in the course of a twelvemonth.
Speaker 1: Three months might have done it in general, but Reginald's
Speaker 1: feelings were no less lasting than lively. Whether Lady Susan
Speaker 1: was or was not happy in her second choice, I
Speaker 1: do not see how it can ever be ascertained, for
Speaker 1: who would take her assurance of it? On either side
Speaker 1: of the question. The world must judge from probabilities. She
Speaker 1: had nothing against her but her husband and her conscience.
Speaker 1: Sir James may seem to have drawn a harder lot
Speaker 1: than mere folly merited. I leave him therefore to all
Speaker 1: the pity that anybody can give him. For myself, I
Speaker 1: confess that I can pity only Miss Mainwaring, who coming
Speaker 1: to town and putting herself to an expense in clothes
Speaker 1: which impoverished her for two months on purpose to secure him,
Speaker 1: was defrauded of her due by a woman ten years
Speaker 1: older than herself