by Fanny Burney
CHAPTER L
Juliet, as earnest to avoid, as Flora felt eager to pursue, the openingfeats, hurried from the destined spot, after charging the simple damselnot to make known her departure. Unavailing, however, was the caution;and immaterial alike the prudence or the indiscretion of Flora: Juliethad no sooner crossed the first style, than she perceived Sir LyellSycamore sauntering in the meadow.
She would promptly have returned to the farm, but a shout of noisymerriment reached her ears from the company that she was quitting, andpointed out the danger of passing the evening in the midst of suchturbulent and vulgar revelry. She hastened, therefore, on; but neitherthe lightness of her step, nor the swiftness of her speed, could saveher from the quick approach of the Baronet. 'My angel!' he cried,'whither are you going? and why this prodigious haste? What is it myangel fears? Can she suppose me rascal enough, or fool enough, to makeuse of any violence? No, my angel, no! I only ask to be regaled, fromyour own sweet lips, with the delicious tale of divine partiality, thatthe quaint old knight began revealing. I sigh, I pant to hearconfirmed--'
'Hold, Sir Lyell!' interrupted Juliet. 'If Sir Jaspar is the author ofthis astonishing mistake, I trust he will have the honour to rectify it.When I named you to him, it was but with a view to rescue a credulousyoung creature from your pursuit, whom I feared it might injure; not toexpose to it one whom it never can endanger; however deeply it mayoffend.'
Struck and disappointed at the courage and coolness of this explanation,Sir Lyell looked mortified and amazed; but, upon seeing her reach thestyle, he sprang over it, and, recovering his usual effrontery, offeredher his hand.
Juliet knew not whether her risk were greater to proceed or to return;but while she hesitated, a phaeton, which was driving by, stopt, and anelderly lady, addressing the Baronet, in a tone of fawning courtesy,enquired after his health, and added, 'So you are come to this famousjunket, Sir Lyell?'
Sir Lyell forced a laugh, and bowed low; though he muttered, loud enoughfor Juliet to hear, 'What cursed spies!'
Juliet now perceived Mrs and Miss Brinville; and neither innocence, norcontempt of calumny, could suppress a rising blush, at being surprised,by persons already unfavourably disposed towards her, in a situationapparently so suspicious.
The countenance of the mother exhibited strong chagrin at sight ofJuliet; while the daughter, in a tone of pique, said, 'No doubt but youare well amused, Sir Lyell?'
They drove on; not, however, very fast, and with so little self-command,as frequently to allow themselves to look back. This indelicacy, howeverill adapted to raise them in the esteem of the Baronet, at least rescuedJuliet from his persecution. Disconcerted himself, he felt the necessityof decency; and, quitting her, with affected carelessness, he hummed anair, while grumbling curses, and, swinging his switch to and fro, walkedoff; not more careful that the ladies in the phaeton should see himdepart, than assiduous to avoid with them any sort of junction.
The relief caused to Juliet by his retreat, was cruelly clouded by herterrour of the false suggestions to which this meeting made her liable.Neither mother nor daughter would believe it accidental; nor credit itto have been contrived without equal guilt in both parties. Is there noend, then, she cried, to the evils of defenceless female youth? And,even where actual danger is escaped, must slander lie in wait, tomisconstrue the most simple actions, by surmising the most culpabledesigns?
Neither to follow the footsteps of Sir Lyell, nor to remain where hemight return, she was going back to the farm; when she was met by Flora,who, with a species of hysterical laughter, nearly of kin to crying,called out, 'So Ma'am! so Miss Ellis! I've caught you at last! I'vesurprised you at last! a-courting with my sweetheart!'
Pitying her credulous ignorance, Juliet would have cleared up thismistake; but the petulant Flora would not listen. 'I'll speak to thegentleman myself!' she cried, running forward to the style; 'for I havefound out your design; so it's of no use to deny it! I saw you togetherall the way I came; so you may as well not try to make a ninny of me,Miss Ellis, for it i'n't so easy!'
Catching a glimpse of the Baronet as he descended the road, she jumpedover the style to run after him; but seeing him look round, and, thoughhe perceived her, quietly walk on, she stopt, crying bitterly: 'Verywell, Miss Ellis! very well! you've got your ends! I see that! and, Idon't thank you for it, I assure you, for I liked him very well; and iti'n't so easy to find a man of quality every day; so it i'n't doing asyou'd be done by; for nobody likes much to be forsaken, no more than I,I believe, for it i'n't so agreeable. And I had rather you had notserved me so by half! In particular for a man of quality!'
Juliet, though vainly, was endeavouring to appease and console her, whena young lady, bending eagerly from the window of a post chaise which waspassing by, ejaculated, 'Ellis!' and Juliet, with extreme satisfaction,perceived Elinor.
The chaise stopt, and Juliet advanced to it with alacrity; but beforeshe could speak, the impatient Elinor, still looking pale, meagre, andwretched, burst forth, with rapid and trembling energy, into a string ofdisordered, incoherent, scarcely intelligible interrogatories. 'Ellis!what brings you to this spot?--Whither is it you go?--What project areyou forming?--What purpose are you fulfilling?--Whom are youflying--Whom are you following?--What is it you design?--What is it youwish?--Why are you here alone?--Where--Where--'
Leaning, then, still further out of the window, she fixed her nearlyhaggard, yet piercing eyes upon those of Juliet, and, in a hollow voice,dictatorially added: 'Where--tell me, I charge you! where--is Harleigh?'
Consternation at sight of her altered countenance, and affright at theimpetuosity of her questions, produced a hesitation in the answer ofJuliet, that, to the agitated Elinor, seemed the effect of surprisedguilt. Her pallid cheeks then burnt with the mixed feelings of triumphand indignation; yet her voice sought to disguise her wounded feelings,and in subdued, though broken accents, ''Tis well!' she cried, 'You nolonger, at least, seek to deceive me, and I thank you!' Deaf toexplanation or representation, she then hurried her weak frame from thechaise, aided by her foreign lackey; and, directing Juliet to follow,crossed the road to a rising ground upon the Downs; seated herself; sentoff her assistant, and made Juliet take a place by her side; while Florareturned, crying and alone, to the farm.
'Now, then,' she said, 'that you try no more to delude, to cajole, toblind me, tell me now, and in two words,--where is Harleigh?'
'Believe me, Madam,--' Juliet was tremblingly beginning, when Elinor,casting off the little she had assumed of self-command, passionately,cried, 'Must I again be played upon by freezing caution and duplicity?Must I die without end the lingering death of cold inaction anduncertainty? breathe for ever without living? Where, I demand, isHarleigh? Where have you concealed him? Why will Harleigh, the nobleHarleigh, degrade himself by any concealment? Why stoop to the subtiltyof circumspection, to spare himself the appearance of destroying onewhose head, heart, and vitals, all feel the reality of the destructionhe inflicts? And yet not he! No, no! 'tis my own ruthless star! He lovesme not! he is not responsible for my misery, though he is master of myfate! Where is he? where is he? You,--who are the tyrant of his! tellme, and at once!'
'I solemnly protest to you, Madam, with the singleness of the mostscrupulous truth,' cried Juliet, recovering her presence of mind, 'I amentirely ignorant of his abode, his occupations, and his intentions.' Ahwhy, she secretly added, am I not equally unacquainted with his feelingsand his wishes!
Unable to discredit the candour with which this was pronounced, andfilled with wonder, yet involuntarily consoled, the features of Elinorlost their rigidity, and her eyes their fierceness; and, in milderaccents, she replied, 'Strange! how strange! Where, then, can hebe?--with whom?--how employed?--Does he fly the whole world as well asElinor? Has no one his society?--no one his confidence?--his society,which, by contrast, makes all existence without it disgusting!--hisconfidence, which, to obtain, I would yet live, though doomed daily tothe rack! O Harleigh! love like mine, who has felt?--love lik
e mine, whobut you, O matchless Harleigh! ever inspired!'
Tears now gushed into her eyes. Ashamed, and angry with herself, shehastily brushed them off with the back of her hand, and, with forcedvivacity, continued, 'He thinks, perchance, to sicken me into the piningend of a love-sick consumption? to avert the kindly bowl or dagger, thatcut short human misery, for the languors, the sufferings, and despair ofa loathsome natural death? And for what?--to restore, to preserve me?No! I have no share in the arrangement; no interest, no advantage fromthe plan. Appearances alone are considered; all else is regarded asimmaterial; or sacrificed. And he, Harleigh, the noblest,--the onlynoble of men!--can level himself with the narrowest and most illiberalof his race, to pay coward obeisance to appearances!'
Again she then repeated her personal interrogatories to Juliet; anddemanded whether she should set off immediately for Gretna Green, withLord Melbury; or whether she must wait till he should be of age.
'Neither!' Juliet solemnly answered; and frankly recounted her recentdifficulties; and entreated the advice of Elinor for adopting anotherplan of life.
Elinor, interrupting her, said, 'Nay, 'twas your own choice, you know,to live in a garret, and hem pocket-handkerchiefs.'
'Choice, Madam! Alas! deprived of all but personal resource, I fixedupon a mode of life that promised me, at least, my mental freedom. I wasnot then aware how imaginary is the independence, that hangs for supportupon the uncertain fruits of daily exertions! Independent, indeed, suchsituations may be deemed from the oppressions of power, or the tyranniesof caprice and ill humour; but the difficulty of obtaining employment,the irregularity of pay, the dread of want,--ah! what is freedom but aname, for those who have not an hour at command from the subjection offearful penury and distress?'
'If all this is so,' said Elinor, 'which, unless you wait for LordMelbury's majority, is more than incomprehensible; what say you, now, toan asylum safe, at least, from torments of this sort;--will youcommission me, at length, to apply to Mrs Ireton?'
Juliet, instinctively, recoiled at the very name of that lady; yet alittle reflection upon the dangers to which she was now exposed, throughunprotected poverty; through the lawless pursuit of Sir Lyell Sycamore;and the vindictive calumnies of the Brinvilles, made the wish of solidsafety repress the disgusts of offended sensibility; and, after apainful pause, she recommended herself to the support of Elinor:resolving to accept, for the moment, any proposition, that might secureher an honourable refuge from want and misconception.
Elinor, looking at her suspiciously, said, 'And Harleigh?--Will he letyou submit to such slavery?'
Mr Harleigh, Juliet protested, could have no influence upon herdetermination.
'But you yourself, who a month or two ago, could so ill bear hertauntings, how is it you are thus suddenly endued with so muchhumility?'
'Alas, Madam, all choice, all taste, all obstacles sink beforenecessity! When I came over, I had expectations of immediate succour. Iknew not that the friend I sought was herself ruined, as well asunhappy! I had hopes, too, of speedy intelligence that might haveliberated me from all my difficulties....'
She stopt; Elinor exclaimed, 'From whence?--From abroad?--'
Juliet was silent; and Elinor, after a few passing sallies againstsecrets and mystery, sarcastically bid her consider, before she adoptedthis new scheme, that Harleigh never visited at Mrs Ireton's; havingtaken, in equal portions, a dose of aversion for the mother, and ofcontempt for the son.
Juliet calmly replied, that such a circumstance could be but anadditional motive to seek the situation; and, hopeless, for the moment,of doing better, seriously begged that proper measures might be taken toaccelerate the plan.
Elinor, now, from mingled wonder, satisfaction, and scorn, recovered allher wonted vivacity. 'You are really, and bona fide, contented, then,'she cried, 'to be shut up as completely from Harleigh, through hishorrour of that woman's irascible temper, as if you were separated bybolts, bars, dungeons, towers, and bastilles? I applaud your taste, andwish you the full enjoyment of its fruits! Yet what materials you can bemade of, to see the first of men at your feet, and voluntarily to flyhim, to be trampled under by those of the most odious of women, I cannotdivine! 'Tis an exuberance of apathy that surpasses my comprehension.And can He, the spirited Harleigh, love, adore, such a composition ofice, of snow, of marble?'
She could not, however, disguise the elation with which she lookedforward, to depositing Juliet where information might constantly beprocured of her visitors and her actions. They went together to thecarriage; and Elinor conveyed her submissive and contemned, yetagonizingly envied rival, to Brighthelmstone.
In her usually unguarded manner, Elinor, by the way, communicated thevarious, but successless efforts by which she had endeavoured to gainintelligence whither Harleigh had rambled. 'If I pursued him,' shecried, 'with the vanity of hope; or with the meanness of flattery, hewould do well to shun me; but the pure-minded Harleigh is capable ofbelieving, that the moment is over for Elinor to desire to be his! And,to sustain at once and shew my principles, I never seek his sight, butin presence of her who has blasted even my wishes! Else, thusclamourously to invoke, thus pertinaciously to follow him, might,indeed, merit avoidance. But Elinor, now, would be as superiour toaccepting, ... as she is to forgetting him!'
'Yet his obdurate seclusion,' she continued, 'is the only mark Ireceive, that I escape his disdain. It shews me that he fears the eventof a meeting. He does not, therefore, utterly deride the pusillanimityof my abortive attempt. O could I justify his good opinion!--All others,I doubt not, insult me by the most ludicrous suspicions; they arewelcome. They judge me by their little-minded selves. But thou, OHarleigh! could I see thee once more!--in thy sight, thy loved sight,could I sink, at last, my sorrows and my disgrace to rest! to oblivion,to sleep eternal!'--
Vainly Juliet essayed to plead the cause of religion, and the duties oflife; unanswered, unmarked, unheard, she talked but to the air. All thatwas uttered in return, began and ended alike with Harleigh, death, andannihilation.