Tales and Novels Volume V Part 38

CHAPTER VIII.

On his way to Glis...o...b..ry Castle, Vivian had full leisure to repent of having accepted of this invitation, recollecting, as he did, all the former reports about himself and Lady Sarah Lidhurst. He determined, therefore, that his visit should be as short as possible; and the chief pleasure he promised himself was the society of his friend Russell.

On his arrival at the castle, he was told that Mr. Russell was out riding; and that every body else was in the theatre at a rehearsal, except Lady Glis...o...b..ry, the Lady Sarah, and Miss Strictland. He found these three ladies sitting in form in the great deserted drawing-room, each looking like a copy of the other, and all as if they were deploring the degeneracy of the times. Vivian approached with due awe; but, to his great surprise and relief, at his approach their countenances exhibited some signs of life. Lord Glis...o...b..ry _presented_ him on his return from abroad: Lady Glis...o...b..ry's features relaxed to a smile, though she seemed immediately to repent of it, and to feel it inc.u.mbent upon her to maintain her rigidity of mien. Whilst she, and of course Miss Strictland and the Lady Sarah, were thus embarra.s.sed between the necessity of reprobating the sin, and the desire of pleasing the sinner, Lord Glis...o...b..ry ran on with one of his speeches, of borrowed sense and original nonsense, and then would have carried him off to the rehearsal, but Lady Glis...o...b..ry called Vivian back, begging, in her formal manner, "that her lord would do her the favour to leave Mr. Vivian with her for a few minutes, as it was so long since she had the pleasure of seeing him at Glis...o...b..ry." Vivian returned with as good a grace as he could; and, to find means of breaking the embarra.s.sing silence that ensued, took up a book which lay upon the table, "Toplady's Sermons"--no hope of a.s.sistance from that: he had recourse to another--equally unlucky, "Wesley's Diary:" another--"The Pilgrim's Progress." He went no farther; but, looking up, he perceived that the Lady Sarah was _motioned_ by her august mother to leave the room. Vivian had again recourse to "Toplady."

"Very unfas.h.i.+onable books, Mr. Vivian," said Miss Strictland, bridling and smiling as in scorn.

"Very unfas.h.i.+onable books!" repeated Lady Glis...o...b..ry, with the same inflection of voice, and the same bridling and smiling. "Very different," continued her ladys.h.i.+p, "very different from what you have been accustomed to see on _some_ ladies' tables, no doubt, Mr. Vivian!

Without mentioning names, or alluding to transactions that ought to be buried in eternal oblivion, and that are so very distressing to your friends here to think of, sir, give me leave to ask, Mr. Vivian, whether it be true what I have heard, that the prosecution, and every thing relative to it, is entirely given up?"

"Entirely, madam."

"Then," said Lady Glis...o...b..ry, glancing her eye at Miss Strictland, "_we_ may welcome Mr. Vivian with safe consciences to Glis...o...b..ry; and since the affair will never become public, and since Lady Sarah knows none of the improper particulars; and since she may, and, from her education, naturally will, cla.s.s all such things under the head of impossibilities and false reports, of which people, in our rank of life especially, are subject every hour to hear so many; there cannot, as I am persuaded you will agree with me in thinking, Miss Strictland, be any impropriety in our and Lady Sarah's receiving Mr. Vivian again on the same footing as formerly."

Miss Strictland bowed her formal a.s.sent: Vivian bowed, because he saw that a bow was expected from him; and then he pondered on what might be meant by the words, _on the same footing as formerly_; and he had just framed a clause explanatory and restrictive of the same, when he was interrupted by the sound of laughter, and of numerous, loud, and mingled voices, coming along the gallery that led to the drawing-room. As if these were signals for her departure, and as if she dreaded the intrusion and contamination of the revel rout, Lady Glis...o...b..ry arose, looked at her watch, p.r.o.nounced her belief that it was full time for her to go to dress, and retired through a Venetian door, followed by Miss Strictland, repeating the same belief, and bearing her ladys.h.i.+p's tapestry work: her steps quickened as the door at the opposite end of the room opened; and, curtsying (an unnecessary apology to Mr. Vivian) as she pa.s.sed, she left him _to himself_. And now,

"He sees a train profusely gay, Come pranckling o'er the place."

Some were dressed for comic, some for tragic characters; but all seemed equally gay, and talked equally fast. There had been a dressed rehearsal of "The Fair Penitent," and of "The Romp;" and all the spectators and all the actors were giving and receiving exuberant compliments. Vivian knew many of the party,--some of them bel-esprits, some fas.h.i.+onable amateurs; all pretenders to notoriety, either as judges or performers.

In the midst of this motley group, there was one figure who stood receiving and expecting universal homage: she was dressed as "The Fair Penitent;" but her affected vivacity of gesture and countenance was in striking contrast to her tragic attire; and Vivian could hardly forbear smiling at the _minauderies_ with which she listened and talked to the gentlemen round her; now languis.h.i.+ng, now coquetting; rolling her eyes, and throwing herself into a succession of studied att.i.tudes, dealing repartees to this side and to that; and, in short, making the greatest possible exhibition both of her person and her mind.

"Don't you know her? Did you never see her before?--No!

you've been out of England; but you've heard of her, certainly?--_Rosamunda_,"--whispered Lord Glis...o...b..ry to Vivian.

"And who is Rosamunda?" said Vivian; "an actress."

"Actress!--Hus.h.!.+--Bless you! no--but the famous poetess. Is it possible that you hav'n't read the poems of Rosamunda?--They were in every body's hands a few months ago; but you were abroad--better engaged, or as well, hey? But, as I was going to tell you, that's the reason she's called _The Rosamunda_--I gave her the name, for I patronized her from the first. Her real name is Bateman; and Lady Glis...o...b..ry and her set call her Miss Bateman still, but n.o.body else. She's an amazing clever woman, I a.s.sure you--more genius than any of 'em since the time of Rousseau!--Devil of a salary!--and devil of a battle I had to fight with some of my friends before I could fix her here; but I was determined I would follow my own ideas in Julia's education. Lady Glis...o...b..ry had her way and her routine with Lady Sarah; and it's all very well, vastly well--

'Virtue for her too painful an endeavour, Content to dwell in decencies for ever.'

You know the sort of thing! Yes, yes; but I was not content to have my Julia lost among the _mediocres_, as I call them: so I took her out of Miss Strictland's hands; and the Rosamunda's her governess."

"Her governess!" repeated Vivian, with uncontrollable astonishment; "Lady Julia Lidhurst's governess!"

"Yes, you may well be surprised," pursued Lord Glis...o...b..ry, mistaking the cause of the surprise: "no one in England could have done it but myself; she refused innumerable applications,--immense offers; and, after all, you know, she does not appear as governess _t.i.tree_--only as a friend of the family, who directs Lady Julia Lidhurst's literary talents. Oh, you understand, a man of the world knows how to manage these things--sacrifices always to the vanity of the s.e.x, or the pride, as the case may be, I never mind names, but things, as the metaphysicians say--distinguish betwixt essentials and accidents--sound philosophy that, hey? And, thank Heaven! a gentleman or a n.o.bleman need not apologize in these days for talking of philosophy before ladies, even if any body overheard us, which, as it happens, I believe n.o.body does. So let me, now that _you know your Paris_, introduce you to 'The Rosamunda.'--Mr. Vivian--the Rosamunda. Rosamunda--Mr. Vivian."

After Vivian had for a few minutes acted audience, very little to his own satisfaction, he was relieved by Lord Glis...o...b..ry's exclaiming, "But Julia! where's Julia all this time?"

Rosamunda looked round, with the air of one interrupted by a frivolous question which requires no answer; but some one less exalted, and more attentive to the common forms of civility, told his lords.h.i.+p that Lady Julia was in the gallery with her brother. Lord Glis...o...b..ry hurried Vivian into the gallery. He was struck the moment he met Lady Julia with the great change and improvement in her appearance. Instead of the childish girl he had formerly seen flying about, full only of the frolic of the present moment, he now saw a fine graceful woman with a striking countenance that indicated both genius and sensibility. She was talking to her brother with so much eagerness, that she did not see Vivian come into the gallery; and, as he walked on towards the farther end, where she was standing, he had time to admire her.

"A fine girl, faith! though she is my daughter," whispered Lord Glis...o...b..ry; "and would you believe that she is only sixteen?"

"Only sixteen!"

"Ay: and stay till you talk to her--stay till you hear her--you will be more surprised. Such genius! such eloquence! She's my own girl. Well, Julia, my darling!" cried he, raising his voice, "in the clouds, as usual?"

Lady Julia started--but it was a natural, not a theatric start--colouring at the consciousness of her own absence of mind. She came forward with a manner that apologized better than words could do, and she received Mr. Vivian so courteously, and with such ingenuous pleasure in her countenance, that he began to rejoice in having accepted the invitation to Glis...o...b..ry; at the same instant, he recollected a look which his mother had given him when he first saw Lady Julia on the terrace of the castle.

"Well, what was she saying to you, Lidhurst? hey! my boy?"

"We were arguing, sir."

"Arguing! Ay, ay, she's the devil for that!--words at will!--'Persuasive words, and more persuasive sighs!' Ah, woman! woman for ever! always talking us out of our senses! and which of the best of us would not wish it to be so? 'Oh! let me, let me be deceived!' is the cream of philosophy, epicurean and stoic--at least, that's my creed. But to the point: what was it about that she was holding forth so charmingly--a book or a lover? A book, I'll wager: she's such a romantic little fool, and so unlike other women: leaves all her admirers there in the drawing-room, and stays out here, talking over musty books with her brother. But come, what was the point? I will have it argued again before me--Let's see the book."

Lord Lidhurst pointed out a speech in "The Fair Penitent," and said that they had been debating about the manner in which it should be recited.

Lord Glis...o...b..ry called upon his daughter to repeat it: she showed a slight degree of unaffected timidity at first; but when her father stamped and bid her let him see no vulgar bashfulness, she obeyed--recited charmingly--and, when urged by a little opposition from her brother, grew warm in defence of her own opinion--displayed in its support such sensibility, with such a flow of eloquence, accompanied with such animated and graceful, yet natural gesture, that Vivian was transported with sudden admiration. He was astonished at this early development of feeling and intellect; and if, in the midst of his delight, he felt some latent disapprobation of this display of talent from so young a woman, yet he quickly justified her to himself, by saying that he was not a stranger; that he had formerly been received by her family on a footing of intimacy. Then he observed farther, in her vindication, that there was not the slightest affectation or coquetry in any of her words or motions; that she spoke with this eagerness not to gain admiration, but because she was carried away by her enthusiasm, and, thoughtless of herself, was eager only to persuade and to make her opinions prevail. Such was the enchantment of her eloquence and her beauty, that after a quarter of an hour spent in her company, our hero did not know whether to wish that she had more sedateness and reserve, or to rejoice that she was so animated and natural. Before he could decide this point, his friend Russell returned from riding. After the first greetings were over, Russell drew him aside, and asked, "Pray, my dear Vivian, what brings you here?"

"Lord Glis...o...b..ry--to whom I had not time to say no, he talked so fast.

But, after all, why should I say no? I am a free man--a discarded lover.

I am absolutely convinced that Selina Sidney's refusal will never be retracted; my mother, I know, is of that opinion. You suggested, that if I distinguished myself in public life, and showed steadiness, I might recover her esteem and affection; but I see no chance of it. My mother showed me her last letter--no hopes from that--so I think it would be madness, or folly, to waste my time, and wear out my feelings, in pursuit of a woman, who, however amiable, is lost to me."

"Of that you are the best judge," said Russell, gravely. "I am far from wis.h.i.+ng--from urging you to waste your time. Lady Mary Vivian must know more of Miss Sidney, and be better able to judge of the state of her heart than I can be. It would not be the part of a friend to excite you to persevere in a pursuit that would end in disappointment; but this much, before we quit the subject for ever, I feel it my duty to say--that I think Miss Sidney the woman of all others the best suited to your character, the most deserving of your love, the most calculated to make you exquisitely and permanently happy."

"All that's very true," said Vivian, impatiently; "but, since I can't have her, why make me miserable about her?"

"Am I to understand," resumed Russell, after a long pause, "am I to understand that, now you have regained your freedom, you come here with the settled purpose of espousing the Lady Sarah Lidhurst?"

"Heaven forfend!" cried Vivian, starting back.

"Then I am to go over again, on this subject, with indefatigable patience and in due logical order, all the arguments, moral, prudential, and conventional, which I had the labour of laying before you about a twelvemonth ago."

"Save yourself the trouble, my dear friend!" said Vivian; "I shall set all that upon a right footing immediately, by speaking of the report at once to some of the family. I was going to _rise to explain_ this morning, when I was with Lady Glas...o...b..ry; but I felt a sort of delicacy--it was an awkward time--and at that moment somebody came into the room."

"Ay," said Russell, "you are just like the hero of a novel, stopped from saying what he ought to say by somebody's coming into the room.--Awkward time! Take care you don't sacrifice yourself at last to these _awkwardnesses_ and this sort of _delicacies_. I have still my fears that you will get into difficulties about Lady Sarah."

Vivian could not help laughing at what he called his friend's absurd fears.

"If you are determined, my dear Russell, at all events to fear for me, I'll suggest to you a more reasonable cause of dread. Suppose I should fall desperately in love with Lady Julia!--I a.s.sure you there's some danger of that. She is really very handsome and very graceful; uncommonly clever and eloquent--as to the rest, you know her--what is she?"

"All that you have said, and more. She might be made any thing--every thing; an ornament to her s.e.x--an honour to her country--were she under the guidance of persons fit to direct great powers and a n.o.ble character; but yet I cannot, Vivian, as your friend, recommend her to you as a wife."

"I am not thinking of her as a wife," said Vivian: "I have not had time to think of her at all yet. But you said, just now, that in good hands she might be made every thing that is good and great. Why not by a husband, instead of a governess? and would not you call mine _good hands_?"

"Good, but not steady--not at all the husband fit to guide such a woman.

He must be a man not only of superior sense, but of superior strength of mind."

Vivian was piqued by this remark, and proceeded to compare the fitness of his character to _such_ a character as Lady Julia's. Every moment he showed more curiosity to hear further particulars of her disposition; of the different characters of her governesses, and of all her relations; but Russell refused to say more. He had told him what he was called upon, as his friend, to reveal; he left the rest to Vivian's own observation and judgment. Vivian set himself to work to observe and judge with all his might.

He soon perceived that all Russell had told him of the mismanagement of Lady Julia's education was true. In this house there were two parties, each in extremes, and each with their systems and practice carried to the utmost excess. The partisans of the old and the new school were here to be seen at daggers-drawing. Lady Glas...o...b..ry, abhorrent of what she termed modern philosophy, and cla.s.sing under that name almost all science and literature, especially all attempts to cultivate the understanding of women, had, with the a.s.sistance of her _double_, Miss Strictland, brought up Lady Sarah in all the ignorance and all the rigidity of the most obsolete of the old school; she had made Lady Sarah precisely like herself; with virtue, stiff, dogmatical, and repulsive; with religion, gloomy and puritanical; with manners, cold and automatic.

In the course of eighteen years, whilst Lady Glis...o...b..ry went on, like clock-work, the same round, punctual to the letter but unfeeling of the spirit of her duties, she contrived, even by the wearisome method of her _minuted_ diary of education, to make her house odious to her husband.

Some task, or master, or hour of lesson, continually, and immitigably plagued him: he went abroad for amus.e.m.e.nt, and found dissipation.

Thus, by her unaccommodating temper, and the obstinacy of her manifold virtues, she succeeded in alienating the affections of her husband. In despair he one day exclaimed,

"Ah que de vertus vous me faites har;"

and, repelled by virtue in this ungracious form, he flew to more attractive vice. Finding that he could not have any comfort or solace in the society of his wife, he sought consolation in the company of a mistress. Lady Glis...o...b..ry had, in the mean time, her consolation in being a pattern-wife; and in hearing that at card-tables it was universally said, that Lord Glis...o...b..ry was the worst of husbands, and that her ladys.h.i.+p was extremely to be pitied. In process of time, Lord Glis...o...b..ry was driven to his home again by the united torments of a virago mistress and the gout. It was at this period that he formed the notion of being at once a political leader and a Mecaenas; and it was at this period that he became acquainted with both his daughters, and determined that his Julia should never resemble the Lady Sarah. He saw his own genius in Julia; and he resolved, as he said, to give her fair play, and to make her one of the wonders of the age. After some months'

counteraction and altercation, Lord Glis...o...b..ry, with a high hand, took _his_ daughter from under the control of Miss Strictland; and, in spite of all the representations, prophecies, and denunciations of her mother, consigned Julia to the care of a governess after his own heart--a Miss Bateman; or, as he called her, _The Rosamunda_. From the moment this lady was introduced into the family there was an irreconcileable breach between the husband and wife. Lady Glis...o...b..ry was perfectly in the right in her dread of such a governess as Miss Bateman for her daughter.

Her ladys.h.i.+p was only partially and accidentally right: right in point of fact, but wrong in the general principle; for she objected to Miss Bateman, as being of the cla.s.s of literary women; to her real faults, her inordinate love of admiration, and romantic imprudence, Lady Glis...o...b..ry did not object, because she did not at first know them; and when she did, she considered them but as necessary consequences of the _cultivation and enlargement of Miss Bateman's understanding_. "No wonder!" her ladys.h.i.+p would say; "I knew it must be so; I knew it could not be otherwise. All those clever women, as they are called, are the same. This _comes_ of literature and literary ladies."