by Fanny Burney
CHAPTER VIII
The next morning, the Wanderer had the happy surprise of seeing Elinorburst into her chamber. 'We are all on fire,' she cried, 'at our house,so I am come hither to cool myself. Aunt Maple and I have fought a noblebattle; but I have won the day.'
She then related, that Harleigh had brought them an account of herdisappointments, her letter, her design to wait for another, and herbeing at the milliner's. 'Aunt Maple,' she continued, 'treated the wholeas imposition; but I make it a rule never to let her pitiful systemprevail in the house. And so, to cut the matter short, for I hate a longstory, I gave her to understand, that, if she would not let you returnto Lewes, and stay with us till your letter arrives, I should go toBrighthelmstone myself, and stay with you. This properly frightened her;for she knew I would keep my word.'
'And would you, Madam?' said the stranger, smiling.
'Why not? Do you think I would not do a thing only because no one elsewould do it? I am never so happy as in ranging without a guide. However,we came to a compromise this morning; and she consents to permit yourreturn, provided I don't let you enter her chaise, and engage forkeeping you out of every body's way.'
The stranger, evidently hurt and offended, declined admission upon suchterms. Her obligations, she said, were already sufficiently heavy, andshe would struggle to avoid adding to their weight, and to supply herown few wants herself, till some new resource might open to herassistance.
Elinor, surprised, hastily demanded whether she meant to live alone,that she might only be aided, and only be visited by Mr Harleigh.
The stranger looked all astonishment.
'Nay, that will certainly be the most pleasant method; so I don't affectto wonder at it; nevertheless--'
She hesitated, but her face was tinted with a glow of disturbance, andher voice announced strong rising emotion, as she presently added, 'Ifyou think of forming any attachment with that man--' She stopt abruptly.
The heightened amazement of the stranger kept her for a few instantsspeechless; but the troubled brow of Elinor soon made her with firmnessand spirit answer, 'Attachment? I protest to you, Madam, except at thoseperiods when his benevolence or urbanity have excited my gratitude, myown difficulties have absorbed my every thought!'
'I heartily congratulate your apathy!' said Elinor, her featuresinstantly dilating into a smile; 'for he is so completely anon-descript, that he would else incontestably set you upon hunting outfor some new Rosamund's Pond. That is all I mean.'
She then, but with gaiety and good humour, enquired whether or not thestranger would return to Lewes.
Nothing, to the stranger, could be less attractive at this moment; yetthe fear of such another misinterpretation and rebuff, and theunspeakable dread of losing, in her helpless situation, all femalecountenance, conquered her repugnance.
Elinor then said that she would hurry home, and send off the sameelegant machine from the farm, which, she found, had been made use of inher service the preceding day.
Far from exhilarated was the young person whom she left, who, thustreated, could scarcely brook the permission to return, which before shewould have solicited. Small are the circumstances which reverse all ourwishes! and one hour still less resembles another in our feelings, thanin our actions.
Upon arriving again at the house of Mrs Maple, she was met by Selina,who expressed the greatest pleasure at her return, and conducted her tothe little room which she had before occupied; eagerly announcing thatshe had already learnt half her part, which she glibly repeated, crying,'How lucky it is that you are come back; for now I have got somebody tosay it to!'
Mrs Maple, she added, had refused her consent to the whole scheme, tillElinor threatened to carry it into execution in Farmer Gooch's barn, andto invite all the county.
She then entered into sundry details of family secrets, the principal ofwhich was, that she often thought that she should be married before hersister Elinor, though Sister Elinor was twenty-two years old, and sheherself was only fourteen: but Sister Elinor had had a violent quarrelwith Mr Dennis Harleigh, whom she had been engaged to marry before shewent abroad, about the French Revolution, which Sister Elinor said wasthe finest thing in the world, but which Mr Dennis said was the veryworst. But, for all that, he loved her so, that he had made his brotherfetch her home, and wanted the marriage to take place directly: and AuntMaple wished it too, of all things, because Sister Elinor was so hard tomanage; for, now she was of age, she did everything that she liked; andshe protested that she would not give her consent, unless Mr Dennispromised to change his opinion upon the French Revolution; so theyquarrelled again the day before they left town; and Aunt Maple, quitefrightened, invited Mr Harleigh, the elder brother, to come and spend aweek or two at Lewes, to try to bring matters round again.
These anecdotes were interrupted by the appearance of Elinor, of whomthe Incognita entreated, and obtained, permission to reside, as in town,wholly in her own room.
'I wish you could hear,' said Elinor, 'how we all settle your history inthe parlour. No two of us have the same idea of whom or what you are.'She then entered upon the subject of the play, which was to be theProvoked Husband, in compliment to Miss Arbe, a young lady of celebratedtalents, who, having frequently played the part of Lady Townly, withamazing applause, at private theatres, had offered her services for thatcharacter, but would study no other. This, Elinor complained, wassingularly provoking, as Harleigh, who alone of the whole set was worthacting with, must necessarily be Lord Townly. However, since she couldnot try her own theatrical skill, by the magnetizing powers ofreciprocated exertions, she determined, in relinquishing what wasbrilliant, to adopt at least what was diverting; for which reason shehad taken the part of Lady Wronghead. Selina was to be Miss Jenny;Ireton, 'Squire Richard; and she had pitched upon Mr Scope and MissBydel, two famous, formal quizzes, residing in Lewes, to compliment themwith the fogrum parts of Manly and Lady Grace; characters which alwaysput the audience to sleep; but that, as they were both good sort ofsouls, who were never awake themselves, they would not find out. Theother parts she had chiefly arranged for the pleasure of giving a lessonof democracy to Aunt Maple; for she had appointed Sir Francis Wrongheadto Mr Stubbs, an old steward belonging to Lord Rockton; Count Basset toyoung Gooch, a farmer's son; Myrtylla to Golding, her own maid, andJohn Moody to Tomlinson, the footman.
The air of attention with which the stranger listened, whether sheanswered or not, renewed again in Elinor the pleasure which she hadfirst found in talking to her; and thus, between the two sisters, shehad almost constantly a companion till near midnight.
To be left, then, alone was not to be left to unbroken slumbers. She hadno dependence, nor hope, but in an expected second letter, yet haddevised no means to secure its immediate reception, even if its quickarrival corresponded with her wishes. As soon, therefore, as she heardthe family stirring the next morning, she descended, with an intentionof going to the housekeeper's room, to make some arrangement for thatpurpose.
Ireton, who caught a glimpse of her upon the stairs, met and stopt her.'My dear,' he cried, 'don't think me such a prig as to do you anymischief; but take a hint! Don't see quite so much of a certain younglady, whom I don't wish should know the world quite so soon! Youunderstand me, my dear?'
Inexpressibly offended, she was contemptuously shrinking from him, whenthey were joined by Harleigh, who asked, with an air of respect that wasevidently meant to give a lesson to Ireton, whether she would permit himto call at the post-office, to order that her letters should beforwarded to Lewes.
This offer was irresistible, and, with looks of the brightest gratitude,she was uttering her acknowledgements, when the voice of Elinor, from adistance, sounding tremulous and agitated, checked her, and she hastilyretreated.
But her room-door was only shut to be almost instantly thrown open byElinor herself, who, entering with a large parcel in her hands, whileher face shewed pain and disorder, said, 'See how I have been labouringto assist and to serve you, at the very moment of yo
ur insidiousduplicity!'
Thunderstruck by the harshness of an attack nearly as incomprehensibleas it was vehement, the stranger fixed her eyes upon her accuser with alook that said, Are you mad?
The silent, yet speaking expression was caught by Elinor, who, struckwith sudden shame, frankly begged her pardon; and, after a littlereflexion, coolly added, 'You must never mind what I say, nor what I do;for I sport all sort of things, and in all sort of manners. But it ismerely to keep off stagnation: I dread nothing like a lethargy. But praywhat were you all about just now?'
The Incognita related her intended purpose; its interruption; the offerof Mr Harleigh; and its acceptance.
Elinor looked perturbed again, and said, 'You seem mighty fond,methinks, of employing Mr Harleigh for your Mercury!'
'He is so good as to employ himself. I could never think of taking sucha liberty.'
Elinor put up her lip; but told her to make what use she could of theparcel, and, with an abrupt 'Good morning,' went down to breakfast.
The stranger, amazed and confounded, remained for some time absorbed byconjectures upon this scene.
The parcel contained cast-off clothes of almost every description; but,much as she required such aid, the manner in which it was offereddetermined her upon its rejection.
In a few hours, the maid who brought her meals, was desired by MrHarleigh to inform her, that he had executed her commission at thepost-office.
This assurance revived her, and enabled her to pass the day in tolerabletranquillity, though perfectly alone, and without any species ofemployment to diversify her ruminations, or help to wear away thetediousness of expectation.
When the next day, however, and the next, passed without her seeing anyof the family, she felt disconcerted and disturbed. To be abandoned byElinor, and even by Selina, made her situation appear worse thanforlorn; and her offended spirit deemed the succour thus afforded her,inadequate to compensate for the endurance of universal disesteem andavoidance. She determined, therefore, to quit the inhospitable mansion,persuaded that no efforts could be too difficult, no means toolaborious, that might rescue her from an abode which she could no longerinhabit, without seeming to herself to be degraded.
But the idea of this project had a facility of which its execution didnot partake. She had no money, save what she had received from the twosisters; even that, by a night and day spent at the milliner's, was muchdiminished. She could not quit the neighbourhood of Brighthelmstone,while still in expectation of a letter; and if, while awaiting it in anyother house, the compassion, or the philanthropy of Harleigh should urgehim to see her, might not Elinor conclude that she had only retreated toreceive his visits alone?
Apprehensions such as these frightened her into forbearance: but inteaching her prudence, they did not endow her with contentment. Herhours lingered in depression and uncertainty; her time was not employedbut consumed; her faculties were not enjoyed, but wasted.
Yet, upon more mature reflexion, she enquired by what right she expectedkinder treatment. Unknown, unnamed, without any sort of recommendation,she applied for succour, and it was granted her: if she met with thehumanity of being listened to, and the charity of being assisted, mustshe quarrel with her benefactors, because they gave not implicit creditto the word of a lonely Wanderer for her own character? or think herselfill used that their donations and their aid were not delicate as well asuseful?
This sober style of reasoning soon chased away resentment, and, withquieter nerves, she awaited some termination to her suspence andsolitude.
Meantime, most of the other inhabitants of the house, were engaged bystudying their parts for the intended representation, which socompletely occupied some by choice, and others by complaisance, ornecessity, that no visit or excursion was made abroad, till several daysafter their arrival at Lewes. Mrs Maple then, with her whole party,accepted an invitation to dine and spend the evening with the family oftheir principal actress, Miss Arbe; but a sudden indisposition withwhich that lady was seized after dinner, forced them home again early inthe evening. Their return being unexpected, the servants were all out,or out of the way, but, entering by a door leading from the garden,which they found open, they were struck with the sound of music. Theystopped, and distinctly heard a harp; they listened, and found that itwas played with uncommon ability.
''Tis my harp!' cried Selina, 'I am sure of that!'
'Your harp?' said Mrs Maple; 'why who can be playing it?'
'Hist! dear ladies,' said Harleigh; ''tis some exquisite performer.'
'It must be Lady Kendover, then,' said Mrs Maple, 'for nobody else comesto our house that plays the harp.'
A new movement was now begun; it was slow and pathetic, and played withso much taste and expression, though mixed with bursts of rapidexecution, that the whole auditory was equally charmed and surprized;and every one, Mrs Maple herself not excepted, with uplifted fingerseemed to beseech attention from the rest.
An Arpeggio succeeded, followed by an air, which produced, alternately,tones sweet, yet penetrating, of touching pathos or impassionedanimation; and announced a performer whom nature had gifted with herfinest feelings, to second, or rather to meet the soul-pervadingrefinements of skilful art.
When the voice ceased, the harp was still heard; but some sounds made byan involuntary, though restrained tribute of general approbation,apparently found their way to the drawing-room, where it was played; forsuddenly it stopped, the instrument seemed hastily to be put away, andsome one was precipitately in motion.
Every body then hastened up stairs; but before they could reach thelanding-place, a female figure, which they all instantly recognized forthat of the unknown young woman, glided out of the drawing-room, and,with the quick motion of fear, ran up another flight of stairs.
'Amazing!' cried Mrs Maple, stopping short; 'could any body havecredited assurance such as this? That bold young stroller has beenobtruding herself into my drawing-room, to hear Lady Kendover play!'
Harleigh, who had contrived to be the first to enter the apartment, nowreturned to the door, and, with a smile of the most animated pleasure,said, 'No one is here!--Not a creature!'
His tone and air spoke more than his words, and, to the quickconceptions of Elinor, pronounced: This divine singer, whom you were allready to worship, is no other than the lonely Wanderer whom you were allready to condemn!
Mrs Maple now, violently ringing the bell, ordered one of her servantsto summon the woman who came from abroad.
The stranger obeyed, with the confused look of a person who expected areprimand, to which she had not courage to reply.
'Be so good as to tell me,' said Mrs Maple, 'what you have been into mydrawing-room for? and whether you know who it is, that has taken theliberty to play upon my niece's harp?'
The Incognita begged a thousand pardons, but said that having learnt,from the house-maid, that the family was gone out for the day, she hadventured to descend, to take a little air and exercise in the garden.
'And what has that to do with my niece's harp?--And my drawing-room?'
'The door, Madam, was open.--It was long since I had seen aninstrument--I thought no one would hear me--'
'Why you don't pretend that it was you who played?'
The young woman renewed her apology.
'You?--You play upon a harp?--And pray who was it that sung?'
The stranger looked down.
'Well, this is surprising indeed!--And pray where might such a body asyou learn these things?--And what use can such a body want them for? Beso good as to tell me that; and who you are?'
The stranger, in the utmost disturbance, painfully answered, 'I am trulyashamed, Madam, so often to press for your forbearance, but my silenceis impelled by necessity! I am but too well aware how incomprehensiblethis must seem, but my situation is perilous--I cannot reveal it! I canonly implore your compassion!--'
She retired hastily.
No one pursued nor tried to stop her. All, except Harleigh, remainednearly stupified by w
hat had passed, for no one else had ever consideredher but as a needy travelling adventurer. To him, her language, her air,and her manner, pervading every disadvantage of apparel, poverty, andsubjection, had announced her, from the first, to have received theeducation, and to have lived the life of a gentlewoman; yet to him,also, it was as new, though not as wonderful, as to the rest, to find inher all the delicately acquired skill, joined to the happy naturaltalents, which constitute a refined artist.
Elinor seemed absorbed in mortification, not sooner to have divined whatHarleigh had so immediately discovered; Selina, triumphant, feltenchanted with an idea that the stranger must be a disguised princess;Mrs Maple, by a thousand crabbed grimaces, shewed her chagrin, that thefrenchified stroller should not rather have been detected as a positivevagabond, then proved, by her possession of cultivated talents, to havebeen well brought up; and Ireton, who had thought her a mere femalefortune-hunter, was utterly overset, till he comforted himself byobserving, that many mere adventurers, from fortuitous circumstances,obtain accomplishments that may vie, in brilliancy, with those acquiredby regular education and study.
Doubts, however, remained with all: they were varied, but not removed.The mystery that hung about her was rather thickened than cleared, andthe less she appeared like an ordinary person, the more restless becameconjecture, to dive into some probable motive, for the immoveableobstinacy of her concealment.
The pause was first broken by Elinor, who, addressing Harleigh, said,'Tell me honestly, now, what, all together, you really and truly thinkof this extraordinary demoiselle?'
'I think her,' answered he, with readiness, 'an elegant and well bredyoung woman, under some extraordinary and inexplicable difficulties: forthere is a modesty in her air which art, though it might attain, couldnot support; and a dignity in her conduct in refusing all succour butyours, that make it impossible for me to have any doubt upon thefairness of her character.'
'And how do you know that she refuses all succour but mine? Have youoffered her yours?'
'She will not let me go so far. If she perceive such an intention, shedraws back, with a look that would make the very mentioning itinsolent.'
Elinor ran up stairs.
She found the stranger disturbed and alarmed, though she was easilyrevived upon seeing Elinor courteous, almost respectful; for, powerfullystruck by a discovery, so completely accidental, of talents so superior,and satisfied by the assurance just received from Harleigh, that hispecuniary aid had never been accepted, she grew ashamed of the angryflippancy with which she had last quitted the room, and of the resoluteneglect with which she had since kept aloof. She now apologized forhaving stayed away, professed a design to be frequent in her futurevisits, and presented, with generous importunity, the trifles which sheblushed to have offered so abruptly.
Addressed thus nearly upon equal terms, the stranger gracefully acceptedthe donation, and, from the relief produced by this unexpected goodtreatment, her own manners acquired an ease, and her language a flow,that made her strikingly appear to be what Harleigh had called her, awell bred and elegant young woman; and the desire of Elinor to conversewith her no longer hung, now, upon the mere stimulus of curiosity; itbecame flattering, exhilarating, and cordial.
The stranger, in return, upon nearer inspection, found in Elinor a solidgoodness of heart, that compensated for the occasional roughness, andhabitual strangeness of her manners. Her society was gay and original;and, to great quickness of parts, and liberality of feeling, she joineda frankness of character the most unbounded. But she was alarming andsarcastic, aiming rather to strike than to please, to startle than toconquer. Upon chosen and favourite subjects she was impressive, nayeloquent; upon all others she was careless, flighty, and indifferent,and constantly in search of matter for ridicule: yet, though severe,almost to ferocity, where she conceived herself to be offended, orinjured, she became kind, gentle, and generously conceding, whenconvinced of any errour.
Selina, when her sister retired, tripped fleetly into the chamber,whisperingly revealing, that it was Mr Ireton who had persuaded her torelinquish her visits; but that she would now make them as often asever.
Thus supported and encouraged, the stranger, again desiring to stay inthe house, earnestly wished to soften the ill will of Mrs Maple; andhaving heard, from Selina, that the play occupied all hands, she beggedMrs Fenn to accept her services at needle-work.
Mrs Fenn conveyed the proposal to her mistress, who haughtily protestedthat she would have nothing done under her roof, by she did not knowwho; though she tacitly suffered Mrs Fenn to try the skill of theproposer with some cambric handkerchiefs.
These she soon returned, executed with such admirable neatness, that MrsFenn immediately found her other similar employment; which she presentedto her with the air of conferring the most weighty of obligations.
And such, in the event, it proved; for she now continued to receivedaily more business of the same sort, without any hint relative to herdeparture; and heard, through Selina, that Mrs Maple herself hadremarked, that this was the first singer and player she had ever known,who had not been spoilt by those idle habits for a good huswife.
The Incognita now thankfully rejoiced in the blessing bestowed upon her,by that part of her education, which gave to her the useful andappropriate female accomplishment of needle-work.