by Fanny Burney
CHAPTER X
The Incognita continued to devote herself to needle-work till themorning of the next rehearsal. She was then again called to the doubletask of prompting, and of reading the part of Lady Townly, Miss Arbehaving, unceremoniously, announced, that as she had already performedthat character three several times, and to the most brilliant audiences,though at private theatres, any further practice for herself would be awork of supererogation; and if the company, she added, would but be sogood as to remember her directions, she need only attend personally atthe final rehearsal.
The whole party was much offended by this insinuation of itsinferiority, as well as by so contemptuous an indifference to theprosperity of the enterprize. Nor was this the only difficulty caused bythe breach of attendance in Miss Arbe. The entertainment was to concludewith a cotillon, of which Ireton had brought the newest steps and methodfrom France, but which, through this unexpected failure, the sett wasincomplete for practising. Elinor was persuaded, that in keeping thewhole group thus imperfect, both in the play and in the dance, it wasthe design of Miss Arbe to expose them all to ridicule, that her ownfine acting and fine steps might be contrasted to the greater advantage.To obviate, as much as possible, this suspected malice, the stranger wasnow requested to stand up with them; for as she was so lately come fromabroad, they concluded that she might know something of the matter.
They were not mistaken: the steps, the figure, the time, all werefamiliar to her; and she taught the young Selina, dropt hints to Elinor,endeavoured to set Miss Bydel right, and gave a general, thoughunpremeditated lesson to every one, by the measured grace and lightnessof her motions, which, little as her attire was adapted to such apurpose, were equally striking for elegance and for modesty.
Harleigh, however, alone perceived her excellence: the rest had so muchto learn, or were so anxious to shine, that if occasionally theyremarked her, it was rather to be diverted by seeing any one dance soill equipped, than to be struck with the elevated carriage which no suchdisadvantage could conceal.
Early on the morning preceding the intended representation, the strangerwas summoned to the destined theatre, where, while she was aiding thegeneral preparations, of dresses, decorations, and scenery, previous tothe last grand rehearsal, which, in order to try the effect of theilluminations, was fixed to take place in the evening, Mrs Maple, withderision marked in every feature of her face, stalked into the room, toannounce to her niece, with unbridled satisfaction, that all her finevagaries would now end in nothing, as Miss Arbe, at last, had the goodsense to refuse affording them her countenance.
Elinor, though too much enraged to inquire what this meant, soon,perforce, learnt, that an old gentleman, a cousin of Miss Arbe's, hadridden over with an apology, importing, that the most momentous reasons,yet such as could not be divulged, obliged his relation to decline thepleasure of belonging to their dramatic party.
The offence given by this abrupt renunciation was so general, thoughElinor, alone, allowed it free utterance, that Mr Giles Arbe, the bearerof these evil tidings, conceived it to be more advisable to own theplump truth, he said, at once, than to see them all so affronted withoutknowing what for; though he begged them not to mention it, his cousinhaving peremptorily charged him not to speak out: but the fact was, thatshe had repented her engagement ever since the first rehearsal; forthough she should always be ready to act with the Miss Joddrels, whowere nieces to a baronet, and Mr Harleigh, who was nephew to a peer, andMr Ireton, who was heir to a large entailed estate; she was yetapprehensive that it might let her down, in the opinion of the nobletheatrical society to which she belonged, if she were seen exhibitingwith such common persons as farmers and domestics; whom, however, forall his cousin's nicety, Mr Giles said he thought to be full as good menas any other; and, sometimes, considerably better.
Mrs Maple was elevated into the highest triumph by this explanation. 'Itold you how it would be!' she cried. 'Young ladies acting with meremob! I am truly rejoiced that Miss Arbe has given you the slip.'
Elinor heard this with a resentment, that determined her, morevehemently than ever, not to abandon her project; she proudly,therefore, returned thanks, by Mr Giles, for the restoration of thepart, which she had resigned in mere complaisance, as there was nothingin the world she so much desired as to act it herself, even though itmust be now learnt in the course of a day; and she begged leave, as amark that she was not offended at the desertion, to borrow the dress ofthe character, which she knew to be ready, and with which she wouldadorn herself the following night, at the performance.
This last clause, she was well aware, would prove the most provokingthat she could devise, to Miss Arbe, who was renowned for beingfinically tenacious of her attire; but Elinor would neither add a wordto her message, nor suffer one to be taken from it; and when Mr GilesArbe, frightened at the ill success of his confidence, would haveoffered some apology, she drove him from the house, directing a trustyperson in the neighbourhood, to accompany him back, with positive ordersnot to return without the dress.
She then told the stranger to study the part of Lady Wronghead, to fillup the chasm.
The stranger began some earnest excuses, but they were lost in thelouder exclamations of Mrs Maple, whose disappointment in finding thescheme still supported, was aggravated into rage, by the unexpectedproposition of admitting the stranger into the sett.
'What, Miss Joddrel!' she cried, 'is it not enough that you have made usa by-word in the neighbourhood, by wanting to act with farmers andservants? Must you also bring a foundling girl into your sett? anillegitimate stroller, who does not so much as know her own name?'
The stranger, deeply reddening, gravely answered, 'Far from wishing toenter into any plan of amusement, I could not have given my consent toit, even if solicited.'
'Nobody asks what you could have done, I hope!' Mrs Maple began, whenElinor, pushing the stranger into a large light closet, and throwing thepart after her, shut the door, charging her not to lose a moment, ingetting ready for the final rehearsal that very evening.
The Incognita, fixed not to look at the manuscript, now heard, perforce,a violent quarrel between the aunt and the niece, the former protestingthat she would never agree to such a disgrace, as suffering a poorstraggling pauper to mix herself publicly with their society; and thelatter threatening, that, if forced to grant such a triumph to MissArbe, as that of tamely relinquishing the undertaking, she would leavethe country and settle at once in France, and in the house ofRobespierre himself.
Harleigh, who, in a hasty and dashing, but masterly manner, wascolouring some scenery; had hitherto been silent; but now, advancing, heproposed, as a compromise, that the performance should be deferred for aweek, in which time Miss Sycamore, a young lady at Brighthelmstone, whomthey all knew, would learn, he doubted not, the part, and supply, withpleasure, the vacant place.
To this Mrs Maple, finding no hope remained that she could abolish thewhole project, was sullenly assenting, when Elinor reproachfullyexclaimed, 'What, Don Quixote! is your spirit of chivalry thus cooled?and are you, too, for rejecting, with all this scorn, the fellow-voyageryou were so strenuous to support?'
'Scorn?' repeated Harleigh, 'No! I regard her, rather, with reverence.'Tis she herself that has declined the part, and with a dignity thatdoes her honour. All she suffers to be discerned of her, announcesdistinguished merit; and yet, highly as I have conceived of hercharacter, she is unknown to us; except by her distresses; and these,though they call loudly for our sympathy and assistance, and, throughthe propriety of her conduct, lay claim to our respect, may be thoughtinsufficient by the world, to justify Mrs Maple, who has two youngladies so immediately under her care, for engaging a perfect stranger,in a scheme which has no reference to humanity, or good offices.'
'Ah ha, Mr Harleigh!' cried Ireton, shaking his head, 'you are afraid ofwhat she may turn out! You think no better of her, at last, than I do.'
'I think, on the contrary, so well of her,' answered Harleigh, 'that Iam sincerely sorry to see
her thus haughtily distanced. I often wishthese ladies would as generously, as I doubt not that they might safely,invite her into their private society. Kindness such as that mightproduce a confidence, which revolts from public and abrupt enquiry; andwhich, I would nearly engage my life, would prove her innocence andworth, and vindicate every trust.'
He then begged them to consider, that, should their curiosity andsuspicions work upon her spirits, till she were urged to reveal,prematurely, the secret of her situation, they would themselves be thefirst to condemn her for folly and imprudence, if breaking up themystery of her silence should affect either her happiness or her safety.
Mrs Maple would have been inconsolable at a defence against which shehad nothing positive to object, had she not reaped some comfort fromfinding that even Harleigh opposed including the stranger in the actingcircle.
The delay of the performance, and an application to Miss Sycamore,seemed now settled, when Mrs Fenn, the housekeeper, who was also aidingin the room, lamented the trouble to be renewed for thesupper-preparations, as neither the fish, nor the pastry, nor sundryother articles, could keep.
This was a complaint to which Mrs Maple was by no means deaf. Theinvitations, also, were made; the drawing-room was given up for thetheatre; another apartment was appropriated for a green-room; and therewas not any chance that the house could be restored to order, nor themaids to their usual occupations, till this business were finally over.
Her rancour now suddenly relented, with regard to the stranger, and, tothe astonishment of every one, she stopt Harleigh from riding over toBrighthelmstone, to apply to Miss Sycamore, by concedingly saying, that,since Mr Harleigh had really so good an opinion of the young woman whocame from France, she must confess that she had herself, of late, takena much better notion of her, by finding that she was so excellent aneedle-woman; and, therefore, she did not see why they should send forso finical a person as Miss Sycamore, who was full of airs andextravagance, to begin all over again, and disappoint so much company,when they had a body in the house who might do one of the parts, so asto pass amongst the rest, without being found out for what she was.
Harleigh expressed his doubts whether the young person herself, who wasobviously in very unpleasant circumstances, might chuse to be broughtforward in so public an amusement.
The gentleness of Mrs Maple was now converted into choler; and shedesired to know, whether a poor wretch such as that, who had her meat,drink, and lodging for nothing, should be allowed to chuse any thing forherself one way or another.
Elinor, dropping, though not quite distinctly, some sarcasticalreflections upon the persistence of Harleigh in preferring Miss Sycamoreto his Dulcinea, retired to her room to study the part of Lady Townly;saying that she should leave them full powers, to wrangle amongstthemselves, for that of Lady Wronghead.
Harleigh, who had not seen the stranger turned into the closet, nowentered it, in search of a pencil. Not a little was then his surprize tofind her sketching, upon the back of a letter, a view of the hills,downs, cottages, and cattle, which formed the prospect from the window.
It was beautifully executed, and undoubtedly from nature. Harleigh, withmingled astonishment and admiration, clasped his hands, andenergetically exclaimed, 'Accomplished creature! who ... and what areyou?'
Confused, she blushed, and folded up her little drawing. He seemedalmost equally embarrassed himself, at the expression and the questionwhich had escaped him. Mrs Maple, following, paradingly told thestranger, that, as she had hemmed the last cambric-handkerchiefs soneatly, she might act, upon this particular occasion, with the MissJoddrels; only first premising, that she must not own to a living soulher being such a poor forlorn creature; as the only way to avoiddisgrace to themselves, amongst their acquaintance, for admitting her,would be to say that she was a young lady of family, who came over withthem from France.
To the last clause, the stranger calmly answered that she could offer noobjection, in a manner which, to the attentive Harleigh, clearlyindicated that it was true; but that, with respect to performing, shewas in a situation too melancholy, if not disastrous, to be capable ofmaking any such attempt.
Mrs Maple was so angry at this presumption, that she replied, 'Do as youare ordered, or leave my house directly!' and then walked, in highwrath, away.
The stranger appeared confounded: she felt an almost resistless impulseto depart immediately; but something stronger than resentment told herto stay: it was distress! She paused a moment, and then, with a sigh,took up the part, and, without looking at Harleigh, who was too muchshocked to offer any palliation for this grossness, walked pensively toher chamber.
She was soon joined by Elinor, who, in extreme ill humour, complainedthat that odious Lady Townly was so intolerably prolix, that there wasno getting her endless babbling by heart, at such short notice: andthat, but for the triumph which it would afford to Miss Arbe, to findout their embarrassment, and the spite that it would gratify in AuntMaple, the whole business should be thrown up at once. Sooner, however,than be conquered, either by such impertinence, or such malignity, shewould abandon Lady Townly to the prompter, whom Miss Arbe might have thesurprise and amusement to dizen out in her fine attire.
Then, declaring that she hated and would not act with Miss Sycamore, whowas a creature of insolence and conceit, she flung the part of LadyTownly to the Incognita, saying, that she must abide herself by that ofLady Wronghead; a name which she well merited to keep for the rest ofher life, from her inconceivable mismanagement of the whole affair.
The stranger earnestly entreated exemption from the undertaking, andsolicited the intercession of Elinor with Mrs Maple, to soften the hardsentence denounced against her refusal. To act such a character as thatof Lady Townly, she should have thought formidable, if not impossible,even in her gayest moments: but now, in a situation the most helpless,and with every reason to wish for obscurity, the exertion would be themost cruel that could be exacted.
Elinor, however, listened only to herself: Miss Arbe must be mortified;Mrs Maple must be thwarted; and Miss Sycamore must be omitted: thesethree things, she declared, were indispensable, and could only beaccomplished by defying all obstacles, and performing the comedy uponthe appointed day.
The stranger now saw no alternative between obsequiously submitting, orimmediately relinquishing her asylum.
How might she find another? she knew not where even to seek her friend,and no letter was arrived from abroad.
There was no resource! She decided upon studying the part.
This was not difficult: she had read it at three rehearsals, and hadcarefully copied it; but she acquired it mechanically becauseunwillingly, and while she got the words by rote, scarcely took theirmeaning into consideration.
When called down, at night, to the grand final rehearsal, she gave equalsurprise to Harleigh, from finding her already perfect in so long apart, and from hearing her repeat it with a tameness almost lifeless.
At the scene of the reconciliation, in the last act, he took her hand,and slightly kissed the glove. Ireton called out, 'Embrace!embrace!--the peace-making is always decided, at the theatre, by anembrace. You must throw your arms lovingly over one another'sshoulders.'
Harleigh did not advance, but he looked at the stranger, and the blushupon her cheeks shewed her wholly unaccustomed even to the mention ofany personal liberty; Ireton, however, still insisting, he laughinglyexcused himself, by declaring, that he must do by Lord Townly as hewould do by himself; and he never meant, should he marry, to be tenderto his wife before company.
Mrs Maple now, extremely anxious for her own credit, told all theservants, that she had just discovered, that the stranger who came fromFrance, was a young lady of consequence, and she desired that they wouldmake a report to that effect throughout the neighbourhood; and, in thenew play-bills which were now written, she suffered to see inserted,Lady Townly by Miss Ellis.
Harleigh was the first to address the stranger by this name, previouslytaking an opportunity, with an air of f
riendly regard, to advise thatshe would adopt it, till she thought right to declare her own. Shethanked him gratefully for his counsel, confessing, that she had longfelt the absurdity of seeming nameless; and adding, 'but I had made nopreparation for what I so little expected, as the length of time inwhich I have been kept in this almost unheard of situation! and thehourly hope of seeing it end, made me decide to spare myself, at leastby silence, from deceit.'
The look of Harleigh shewed his approbation of her motive, while hiswords strengthened her conviction, that it must now give way to thenecessity of some denomination. 'Be it Ellis, then,' said she, smiling,'though evasion may, perhaps, be yet meaner than falsehood!Nevertheless, I am rather more contented to make use of this name, whichaccident has bestowed upon me, than positively to invent one formyself.'
Ellis, therefore, which appellation, now, will be substituted for thatof the Incognita, seeing no possibility of escaping this exhibition,comforted herself, that, however repugnant it might be to herinclinations and her sense of propriety, it gave her, at least, somechance, during the remainder of her stay at Lewes, of being treated withless indignity.