by Fanny Burney
CHAPTER XXI
Painfully revolving a scene which had deeply affected her, Ellis, forsome time, had remained uninterrupted, when, opening her door to agentle tap, she was startled by the sight of Harleigh. The letter ofElinor was in his hand, which he immediately presented to her, andbowing without speaking, without looking at her, instantly disappeared.
Ellis was so confounded, first by his unexpected sight, and next by hisso speedily vanishing, that she lost the opportunity of returning thebank notes. For some minutes she gazed pensively down the staircase;slowly, then, she shut her door, internally uttering 'all is over:--heis gone, and will pursue me no more.' Then casting up her eyes, whichfilled with tears, 'may he,' she added, 'be happy!'
From this sadness she was roused, by feeling, from the thickness of thepacket, that it must contain some additional paper; eagerly opening it,she found the following letter:
'I have acquainted Mrs Maple that Miss Joddrel has determined upon living, for a while, alone, and that her manner of announcing that determination, in her letter to you, is so peremptory, as to make you deem it improper to be produced. This, as a mark of personal respect, appeases her; and, upon this subject, I believe you will be tormented no more. With regard to the unfortunate secret of Elinor, I can but wish it as safe in her own discretion, as it will remain in your honour.
'For myself, I must now practise that hardest lesson to the stubborn mind of man, submission to undefined, and what appears to be unnecessary evil. I must fly from this spot, and wait, where and as I can, the restoration of Elinor to prudence and to common life. I must trust that the less she is opposed, the less tenaciously she will cling to the impracticable project, of ruling the mind and will of another, by letting loose her own. When she hears that I deny myself inhabiting the mansion which you inhabit, perhaps, relieved from the apprehension of being deceived by others, she may cease to deceive herself. She may then return to her friends, contented to exist by the general laws of established society; which, though they may be ameliorated, changed, or reformed, by experience, wisely reflecting upon the past; by observation, keenly marking the present; or by genius, creatively anticipating the future, can never be wholly reversed, without risking a re-bound that simply restores them to their original condition.
'I depart, therefore, without one more effort to see you. I yield to the strange destiny that makes me adore in the dark; yet that blazons to my view and knowledge the rarest excellencies, the most resistless attractions: but to remain in the same house, yet scarcely ever to behold you; or, in seeing you but for a moment, to awaken a sensibility that electrifies every hope, only to inflict, with the greater severity, the shock that strikes me back to mystery and despondence--no, I will be gone! Her whom I cannot soften, I will at least forbear to persecute.
'In this retreat, my only consolation for your happiness is in the friendship, so honourable for both, that you have formed with Lady Aurora Granville; my only reliance for your safety, is in the interest of Mrs Maple to detain you under her roof, for the improvement of Selina; and my only hope for myself, is, that when Elinor becomes reasonable, you will no longer let her exclusively occupy your humanity or your feeling.
'ALBERT HARLEIGH.'
* * * * *
The tone of remonstrance, if not of reproach, which was blended with theserious attachment marked by Harleigh in this letter, deeply touchedEllis; who was anxiously re-perusing it, when she received information,through Selina, that Mr Harleigh had set out for London; whence he meantto proceed to Bath, or, perhaps, to make the western tour.
The earnestness of Ireton that Selina should take some lessons upon theharp, joined to the equal earnestness of Mrs Maple, to elude theexpensive professor at Brighthelmstone, confirmed the new orders thatSelina should begin a course of instruction with Ellis. The mistress andthe scholar were mutually well disposed, and Ellis was endeavouring togive her pupil some idea of a beautiful Sonata, when Miss Arbe, enteringthe house upon a morning visit, and catching the sound of a harp fromthe dressing-room of Selina, so touched as Selina, she knew, could nottouch it, nimbly ran up stairs. Happy, then, to have surprised MissEllis at the instrument, she would take no denial to hearing her play.
The elegance and feeling of her performance, engaged, alike, the readyenvy, and the unwilling admiration of Miss Arbe; who, a self-conceivedparagon in all the fine arts, thought superior merit in a _diletanti_ aspecies of personal affront. She had already felt as an injury to hertheatrical fame, the praise which had reached her ears of Ellis as LadyTownly; and a new rivalry seemed now to menace her supremacy as chief oflady performers: but when she gathered, through Selina, who knew noteven of the existence of such an art as that of holding the tongue, thatthey were now practising together, her supercilious air was changed intoone of rapture, and she was seized with a strong desire to profit, also,from such striking talents. A profusion of compliments and civilities,ended, therefore, in an earnest invitation to cultivate so charming anacquaintance.
Mrs Maple, while this was passing, came uneasily into the room, meaningto make a sign to Ellis to glide away unnoticed. But when she found thatEllis was become the principal object with the fastidious Miss Arbe, andheard this wish of intimacy, she was utterly confounded that anotherperson of consequence should countenance, and through her means, thisitinerant Incognita. Yet to obviate the mischief by an avowal similar tothat which she had been forced to make to Mrs Howel, she thought aninsupportable degradation; and Miss Arbe, with the politest declarationsthat she should call again the next day, purposely to entitle herself toa visit in return from Miss Ellis, was already gone, before Mrs Maplehad sufficiently recovered from her confusion, to devise any impedimentto the proposal.
All then that occurred to her, was her usually violent, but shortmeasure, of sending Ellis suddenly from the house, and excusing herdisappearance, by asserting that her own friends had summoned her away:for Mrs Maple, like at least half the world, though delicate withrespect to her character for truth in public, had palliations alwaysready for any breach of it, in favour of convenience, in private.
Ellis attempted not any opposition. The sufferings annexed to an asylumthus perpetually embittered by reproach and suspicion, had long made herlanguish to change it for almost any other; and her whole thoughtsturned once more upon a journey to London, and an interview with LadyAurora Granville.
Selina warmly protested that this separation should only augment herattachment to her favourite; by whose side she stayed, prattling,weeping, or practising the harp, till she was called away to Mrs Maple;from whom, however, she soon returned, relating, with uplifted hands,that all below was again in the utmost confusion, through a letter, justarrived, from Mrs Howel, stating the following particulars. That uponher communicating to Lord Denmeath the strange transaction, in which shemust forever blush to have been, however innocently, involved, hislordship, very properly, had forbidden Lady Aurora to keep any sort ofcorrespondence with so palpable an adventurer. But the excess of griefproduced by this prohibition, had astonished and concerned both hislordship and herself: and their joint alarm had been cruelly augmented,by a letter from Mrs Greaves, the housekeeper, with intelligence thatLord Melbury had been shut up nearly two hours with this suspiciousyoung woman, on the day that Mrs Howel had quitted Brighthelmstone;during which time, his lordship had suffered no one to come into theroom, though she, Greaves, in accidentally passing by one of thewindows, saw his lordship demean himself so far as to be speaking to herupon his knees. Lord Denmeath, treating this account as an impertinentpiece of scandal, requested to have it shewn to his nephew; but howunspeakable was their consternation when Lord Melbury undauntedlyavowed, that the charge was true; and added, that he was glad of theopportunity thus afforded him, to declare that Miss Ellis was the mostvirtuous and dignified, as well as the most beauti
ful and amiable of hersex: she had rejected, he said, a suit which he should always take shameto himself for having made; and rejected it in a manner so impressive ofreal purity, that he should for ever hold it his duty to do her honourby every means in his power. The wrath expressed by Lord Denmeath, andthe tears shed by Lady Aurora, during this scene, were dreadful. LordDenmeath saw that there was no time to be lost in guarding against themost eminent danger: he desired, therefore, that the young woman mightbe induced, if possible, to quit the country without delay; and hislordship was willing not only to pay for her voyage back, but to givesecurity that she should receive a very considerable sum of money, theinstant that he should be assured of her safe landing upon thecontinent. Mrs Howel begged that Mrs Maple would endeavour to bring thisplan to bear; and, at all events, not lose sight of the young person,till she should be, some how or other, secured from Lord Melbury. Therest of the letter contained injunctions, that Mrs Maple would not letthis disgraceful affair transpire in the neighbourhood; with sundryscornful admonitions, that she would herself be more guarded, in future,whom she recommended to her friends.
Mrs Maple, now, peremptorily sent word to Ellis, that she mustimmediately make up her mind to leaving the kingdom. But Ellis, withouthesitation, answered that she had no such design. Commands and menaces,though amply employed, were fruitless to obtain any change in herresolution. She was, therefore, positively ordered to seek for charityin some other house.
Ellis, no longer wishing to stay, occupied her mind almost exclusivelywith the thoughts of her young friends. The tender attachment shewn toher by Lady Aurora, and the honourable testimony borne her by LordMelbury, cheered her spirits, and warmed her heart, with a trust intheir regard, that, defying the inflexibility of Mrs Howel, theauthority of Lord Denmeath, and the violence of Mrs Maple, filled herwith soft, consolatory ideas, that sweetened her night's rest, even inher uncertainty where she should find, or where seek repose on the nightthat would follow.
But this brighter side of her prospects, which soothed her on its firstview, lost its gay colouring upon farther examination: that Lady Aurorashould be forbidden to see, forbidden to write to her, was shocking toher feelings, and blighting to her happiness: and even though the tendernature, and strong partiality, of that youthful friend, might privatelyyield to the pleadings of an oppressed and chosen favourite, Ellis,while glowing with the hope that the interest which she had excitedwould be lastingly cherished, revolted from every plan that wasclandestine.
Mrs Maple, who, in common with all those whose tempers are violent inthe same proportion that their judgment is feeble, had issued forth hermandates, without examining whether they could be obeyed; and haduttered her threats, without considering whether she could put them intoexecution; no sooner learnt, from Selina, that Ellis was tranquillypreparing to depart, than she repented the step which she had taken, andpassed the night in suggesting how it might be retrieved, to spareherself the discredit, in the neighbourhood, of a breach with Mrs Howel.
The next morning, therefore, the willing Selina was instructed tohasten to Ellis, with a message from Mrs Maple, graciously permittingone more lesson upon the harp.
Destitute as Ellis felt, she would have resisted such a mockery ofbenevolence, but from gratitude at the pleasure which it procured toSelina.
Again, according to her promise, arrived Miss Arbe, and again hearingthe sound of the harp, tript lightly up stairs to the dressing-room ofSelina; where she paid her compliments immediately to Ellis, whom shecourteously solicited to take an airing with her to Brighthelmstone, andthence to accompany her home for the day.
Anxious to strengthen her weak resources, by forming some newconnection, Ellis was listening to this proposal, when a footman broughther a letter.
Concluding that it came from abroad, she received it with strongemotion, and evident alarm; but no sooner had she looked at thedirection, than the brightest bloom glowed upon her cheeks, her eyeswere suffused with tears of pleasure, and she pressed, involuntarily, toher heart, the writing of Lady Aurora Granville.
The little coronet seal, with the cypher A. G., had been observed notalone by Miss Arbe, but by Mrs Maple, who, curiously, had followed thefootman into the room.
Miss Arbe, now, renewed her invitation with redoubled earnestness; andMrs Maple felt almost insane, from excess of wrath and embarrassment,when, suddenly, and most unexpectedly, Ellis accepted the offer;gratefully embracing Selina, and taking of herself a grave, butrespectful leave.
From the window Mrs Maple, then, saw this unknown Wanderer enter thecarriage first.
For some time, she remained almost stupified by so unlooked for anevent; and she could only quiet her conscience, for having beenaccessary, though so unintentionally, to procuring this favour andpopularity for such an adventurer, by devoutly resolving, that noentreaties, and no representation, should ever in future, dupe her outof her own good sense, into other people's fantastical conceits ofcharity.