The Wanderer; or, Female Difficulties (Volume 4 of 5)

by Fanny Burney

  CHAPTER LXIX

  Gabriella, who had thus long been detained from her business, becausethe lady, whose orders she had obeyed, had either forgotten that thoseorders had been issued, or deemed that to wait in an anti-room was thenatural fate of an haberdasher; now, entering the shop, saw, with nolittle surprize, Juliet in close conference with an old bean, who wasevidently disconcerted, and embarrassed by the interruption. Remitting,however, all enquiry, and gracefully declining a chair, which wasrespectfully offered to her by Sir Jaspar, who imagined her to be somecustomer; she silently employed herself in examining and arranging herunpinned, unrolled, and tumbled ribbons.

  The surprize of the Baronet, now, became greater than her own. Noplainness of attire could hide, from his scrutinizing eye, a certainnative taste with which her habiliments, however simple, were put on;nor could even the band-box which she held in her hand, and which he hadsupposed to be there from some accident, disguise the elegance of hermotions, or conceal her lofty mien. When, therefore, he discovered thatshe was at home, and that she was an haberdasher, he looked from onelovely companion to the other, with reverential wonder, and upliftedhands. Long profoundly impressed by the beauty of Juliet, by her merit,her youth, her modest yet dignified demeanour, in the midst of all thedifficulties of distressed poverty; he was now as powerfully affected bythe appearance of Gabriella; whose noble, yet never haughty manners,joined to a tragic expression of constant woe in her countenance,rendered her if not as attractive, at least as interesting as herfriend.

  A general pause ensued, till Gabriella, fearing that she was obtrusive,retired to the inner room.

  Sir Jaspar, wide opening his eyes, and again leaning forward, to hearmore distinctly, exclaimed, 'Who is that fine creature? What a majesticport! Yet how sweet a look! She awes while she invites! Who is she?'

  Juliet felt enchanted; she even felt exalted by a testimony so impartialand so honourable, to the merit of her friend, and she eagerly answered,'Your admiration, Sir, does honour to your discernment. Herexcellencies, her high qualities, and spotless conduct, might make theproudest Englishman exult to own her for his country-woman; though thelowest Frenchman would dispute, even at the risk of his life, the honourof her birth. Sprung from one of the first houses of Europe, a house notmore ancient in its origin, than renowned for its virtues; allies to afamily the most illustrious, whose military glory has raised it to thehighest ranks in the state; herself an ornament to that birth, an honourto that alliance; she sustains a reverse of fortune, which reduces herfrom every indulgence to every privation, with a calm courage that keepsher always mistress of herself, and enables her to combat evil bylabour, misery by industry! And which never has failed her, but in apersonal, bosom affliction, that would equally have shaken herfortitude, in the brightest splendour of prosperity!--'

  'Hold! hold, you little torment!' interrupted Sir Jaspar. 'You don'tconsider what an artillery my wanton sprites are bringing upon me! Mypoor gouty fingers are so mumbled and pinched, and tweaked, to hurry meto get at my purse, that I cannot catch hold of it for very tremour!--'

  'Oh no, Sir Jaspar, no! What she earns, however hardly and howeverhumbly, she thankfully reaps; but she could only submit to accept alms,if bowed down by age, by malady, or by incapacity for work. Yet thisspirit is not pride; 'tis but a strong and refined sense of propriety;since from a friend, in the tender persuasion, that participation offortune ought to be leagued with participation of sentiment, she wouldcandidly receive whatever would not injure that friend to bestow.'

  'Divinest of little mortals!' cried Sir Jaspar. 'What whimsey is it,what astonishing whimsey of "the sisters three", that can have nailed toa counter two such delectable beings, to weigh pins and needles, andmeasure tapes and bobbins? And how,--beautiful witch! with charms,graces, accomplishments, talents such as yours, how is it you submit tosuch base drudgery in "durance vile," without even making a wry face?without a scowl upon your eye-brow, or a grumble from your throat?'

  'Can you look, Sir, at her whom you call my partner, and think of me?She has lost her country; she wastes in exile; she sinks in obscurity;she has no communication with her friends; she knows not even whetherthey yet breathe the vital air!--nevertheless she works, she sustainsherself by her industry and ingenuity; and repines only that she has notstill another, has not her loved and lovely infant to sustain also!--andI, shall I complain?--Offspring of a race the most dignified, she toilsmanually, not to degrade it mentally;--and I, shall I blush to owe mysubsistence to my exertions?'

  Tears now flowed fast down her cheeks, while the crutches dropt from thefeeble hands of the penetrated Baronet, whose eyes, dimmed bycompassion, were fastened upon the face of the lovely mourner, whenGabriella re-appeared.

  In deep amazement and concern, she hesitated whether she should comeforward, to offer comfort; or whether, as she now concluded the oldgentleman to be some intimate friend, she ought not again to retire; butJuliet entreated her to return to her place. She resumed, therefore, herbusiness of restoring her ribbons to order; dejectedly announcing, thatnothing had been bought; though every thing had been examined, deranged,and tossed about.

  Sir Jaspar now, courteously waving his hand, smilingly addressed himselfto Gabriella, saying, ''Tis my good Genius, Ma'am, make no doubt of it,that has run away with the feeling of those people you mention! For mygood Genius, I must beg you to observe, has frequently taken lessons ofthe god Mercury, and is nearly as adroit in petty larceny as his godshiphimself. I should not, therefore, wonder, if, in his eagerness to serveme, he had pilfered from those poor souls, who have used you so ill,every grain he could pick up of decency! For, knowing that ribbons are acommodity of which I want a prodigious stock, he would not suffer yourassortment to be diminished, till I had had the pleasure of making mybargains.'

  He then selected the piece of ribbon which seemed the most considerable,and desired to have it measured.

  Gabriella obeyed, not more amazed than Juliet felt amused.

  But, when a similar order was given, for ascertaining the quantity of asecond piece, and then a third; Juliet, though delighted at the pleasedlooks of Gabriella, and charmed with the generosity of the Baronet,began to apprehend, that she might herself be supposed to incur somedebt of gratitude for this liberality. She retreated, therefore, withher needle-work, to the adjoining little room.

  In a few minutes, she was followed by Gabriella; who, uneasily, askedwhat she must do with this magnificent old beau, who still while shemeasured one piece of ribbon, employed himself in selecting another; andwho, though so gallant that he never spoke without a compliment, was sorespectful, that it was not possible to check him by any seriousreproof.

  Juliet disclaimed taking any share in his present munificence; yet ownedthat she had an ancient obligation to him that she was unable, at thismoment, to repay; and which, from the delicacy with which it had beenconferred, and the seasonable relief which it had procured her, wouldmerit her lasting gratitude. He was brother-in-law, she added, to thelady with whom she had lately resided; and he was as rich as he wasbenevolent.

  Her scruples, then, Gabriella said, were at an end. Juliet, therefore,begged that she would endeavour to enter into conversation with himconcerning Brighthelmstone; and try to obtain some particulars relativeto the party at Mrs Ireton's.

  'I began to fear you had flown away, Ma'am,' said Sir Jaspar, uponGabriella's re-entrance into the shop; 'and I was much less surprisedthan concerned; for I had already surmized that you were an angel;though I had failed to remark your wings.'

  He then put into her hand three more pieces of ribbon, which he hadchosen during her absence.

  Gabriella, who understood English well, though she spoke it imperfectly,made her answers in French.

  Having now given her ample employment, he sat down to examine, or,rather, to admire at his ease, the lightness and grace with which sheexecuted her office; saying, 'You are not, perhaps, aware, Madam, thatthere are certain little beings, nameless and invisible, yet active andpenetrating, pe
rpetually hovering around us, who have let me a littleinto your history; and have taken upon them to assure me that you werenot precisely brought up to be a shop-keeper? How, then, is it that youhave jumbled thus together such heterogeneous materials of existence?leaguing high birth with low life? superiour rank with vulgaremployment; and grace, taste, and politeness with common drudgery? How,in short, born and bred to be dangled after by your vassals, and tolollop, the live-long-day, upon sofas and arm-chairs, have you acquiredthe necessary ingredients for being metamorphosed into a tidy littlehaberdasher?'

  Gabriella, concluding that her situation had been made known to him byJuliet, answered, in a melancholy tone,

  'Is this a period, Sir, to consider punctilio? Alas! whence I come, allthat are greatest, most ancient, and most noble,[1] have learnt, thatself-exertion can alone mark nobility of soul; and that self-dependenceonly can sustain honour in adversity. Alas, whence I come, the firstyouth is initiated in the view, if not in the endurance of misfortune!There can be no understanding, or there must be early reflection; therecan be no heart, or there must be commiserating sympathy!'

  [Footnote 1: The period is the reign of Robespierre.]

  'I protest, Ma'am,' cried Sir Jaspar, looking at her with astonishment,'I begin to suspect that I came into the world only this morning! WhereI may have been rambling, all these years, in the persuasion I was in italready, I have by no means any clear notion! But to see two suchinstances of wisdom and resignation, united with youth and beauty, makesme believe myself in some new region, never yet visited by vice orfolly.'

  'Ah, Sir, the French Revolution has opened our eyes to a species ofequality more rational, because more feasible, than that of lands or ofrank; an equality not alone of mental sufferings, but of manualexertions. No state of life, however low, or however hard, has been leftuntried, either by the highest, or by the most delicate, in the variousdispersions and desolation of the ancient French nobility. And tosee,--as I, alas! have seen,--the willing efforts, the even glad toil,of the remnants of the first families of Europe, to procure,--notluxuries, not elegancies, not even comforts,--but maintenance! mean,laborious maintenance!--to preserve,--not state, not fortune, notrank,--but life itself! but simple existence!'--

  'Very wonderful personage!' cried Sir Jaspar, his air mingling reverencewith amazement; 'and what,--unfold to me, I beg, what is the necromancythrough which you support, under such toils, your intellectual dignity?and strangle, in its birth, every struggle of false shame?'

  'Alas, Sir, I have seen guilt!--Since then, I have thought that shamebelonged to nothing else!'

  The eyes of Sir Jaspar were now suffused with tender admiration. 'Fairdeity of the counter!' he cried, 'you are sublime! And she, too,--yourwitching little handmaid; by what kind, dulcet chance,--new in theannals of misfortune,--have two such wonders met?--'

  'Ah, rather, Sir,--since you couple us so kindly,--rather ask by whatadverse chance we have so long been separated?'

  'You have known her, then, some time?'

  'We were brought up together!--the same convent, the same governess, thesame instructors, were common to both till my marriage. And now,again,--as before that period,--I have not the most distant idea of anypossible happiness, that is not annexed to her presence.'

  Touched to hear the word happiness once again, even though with suchsadness, pronounced by Gabriella; yet alarmed at a discourse that mightlead, inadvertently, to some secret history, Juliet was returning, tostop any further detail; when, upon Sir Jaspar's answering, 'Sweetcouple! Lord Denmeath, who ought at least, if I understand right,--totake care of one of you will surely make it his business that you shouldcoo together in the same cage?'--she again retreated, anxious to learnwhat this meant, and hoping that he would become more explicit.

  'Lord Denmeath?' repeated Gabriella, 'If you know Lord Denmeath you maybe better informed upon this subject than I am myself. Was it atBrighthelmstone that you met with his lordship?'

  'It was at Brighthelmstone that I heard of him; and heard that, thoughwary of speech, he has been incautious in manner, and left little doubtupon the minds of his observers, that this fair flower springs from thesame stock as some part of his own family; though she may be one ofthose sweet, but hapless buds, whose innocence pays for the guilt of itsplanter.--'

  'No, Sir, no!' Gabriella precipitately interrupted him; 'the birth of myfriend is unstained, though unequal; the marriage of her parents waslegal, though secret. Her mother came not, indeed, from an ancient race;but she was a pattern of virtue, as well as a model of beauty. Could it,indeed, be believed, that a young nobleman of such expectations, inevery way, as those of the Earl of Melbury's only son, Lord Granville,would have given his hand to the orphan and destitute daughter of aninsolvent man of business, had she not possessed every advantage, nay,every perfection to which human nature can rise?'

  Affrighted by this so open relation, drawn forth involuntarily from thenobly ingenuous Gabriella, in the persuasion that Sir Jaspar was alreadya confidential, and might become a useful friend; Juliet, in the firstmoment, was advancing to stop it; but her heart, yet more than her ear,was so fascinated by the generous eulogy of her virtuous, though lowlymother, from the offspring of a house whose height, and natalprejudices, might have palliated, upon this subject, the language evenof disdain; that she could not prevail with herself to break into whatshe considered as sacred praise.

  ''Tis even so, then!' cried Sir Jaspar, with smiling delight; 'thisforlorn, but most beautiful Wanderer,--this so long concealed, andmysterious, but most lovely _incognita_, is the daughter of the lateLord Granville, and the grand-daughter of the late Earl of Melbury!'

  Utterly confounded, to hear the secret history of her birth and familythus casually, yet irretrievably discovered, Juliet, trembling, againshrunk back; yet would not, now, and unavailingly, check the ardent zealof her high-minded friend, since without any added danger, it mightprocure some useful intelligence.

  The willing Baronet, whose sole desire was to keep up the conversation,wanted no urging to relate all that he had gathered from the loquaciousSelina. Lord Denmeath, upon the sudden disappearance of Miss Ellis, hadbeen surprised into confessing, that he had a faint notion that he knewsomething of that young person; that there had been, once, an oddstory,--a report--that a young woman was existing in France, who wassome way belonging to the late Lord Granville, his sister's husband;though without ever having been acknowledged by the family. He let fall,also, sundry obscure hints of information, of the most serious import,which he had recently received, relating to this young woman; but whichhe would not divulge, till he had investigated; as he began to surmise,that it had been conveyed to him for some fraudulent and mercenarypurpose. Mrs Ireton, to all this, had answered, that she had suspected,from the beginning, that the creature was an adventurer; and that shewas now fully convinced that they had been played upon by asupposititious person. Lord Denmeath, though he forbore confirming thisassertion, listened to it with a smile of concurrence.

  Juliet here felt shocked and confounded; but Gabriella, animated bygenerous resentment, warmly repeated her asseverations, of the validityof the marriage of Lord Granville with Miss Powel, her friend's mother;though an excess of fear of the inflexible character of the old EarlMelbury had prevented its early avowal; and the death of the concealedwife, while Juliet was yet in arms, had afterwards decided the youngwidower to guard the secret, till his child should be grown up; or tillhe should become his own master.

  'But where, during this interval,' said Sir Jaspar, 'where,--and whatwas the hiding-place of that seraphic offspring?'

  Till her seventh year, Gabriella answered, she had been consigned to thecare of Mrs Powel, her maternal grandmother; who, satisfied of thelegality, had herself aided the secresy of the marriage. They had dwelt,during that period, in the same picturesque, but no longer lovedretreat, upon the banks of the Tyne, in which Lady Granville, under afeigned name, had been concealed, for the short space of time betweenher marriage and her death.

/>   Juliet, whose intention had been to gather, not to bestow intelligence,now came forward, and made signs to Gabriella to drop the subject. Butthis was no longer practicable. Urged by the idea of doing honour to herfriend, and incited by adroit interrogatories, or piquant observations,from Sir Jaspar, Gabriella, having insensibly begun the tale, feltirresistibly impelled to make clear the birth and family of Juliet,beyond all doubt or cavil. She continued, therefore, the narration; andJuliet, much agitated, retreated wholly to the inner room.

  Under pretence of change of air for his health, Lord Granville, to hidehis grief from his father and friends, spent the first year of hiswidowhood at Montpellier; then the residence of the Bishop of ----, thematernal uncle of Gabriella; with whom he formed a friendship thatneither time nor absence, not even death itself, had had power todissolve; and to whom he confided the history and punishment of hisclandestine juvenile engagement. Called home, the following year, by theEarl, his father, he had been prevailed upon to marry a lady of qualityand large fortune. But, previous to these new nuptials, to securejustice to his eldest born, though he had not the courage to own her; aswell as to tranquillize Mrs Powel; he deposited in the hands of thatworthy old lady, the certificate of his first marriage; to which headded a deed, that he called the codicil to whatever will he might havemade, or might hereafter make; and in which he declared JulietGranville, born near ----, in Yorkshire, to be his lawful daughter, byhis first marriage, with Juliet Powel, in Flanders; and, as such, hebequeathed to her the same portion, at his death, that should be settledupon any other daughter, or daughters, that he might have, hereafter, byany subsequent marriage.

  The impossibility of obtaining, in the Yorkshire retirement, such meansof improvement, as were suitable to the future expectations and lot inlife of his little girl, determined Lord Granville to have her conveyedto France for her education. Mrs Powel, who had no other remaining tieupon earth, but a son who was settled in the East Indies, preferredaccompanying her little darling to a separation; the fear of which, withthe possession of the marriage certificate, and the codicil to the will,had always counteracted her impatience for the discovery ultimatelypromised. The uncle of Gabriella, the Bishop, consented to take thechild under his immediate care; and to place her in the convent in whichhis sister, the Marchioness of ----, had placed his niece. And here thechildren had been brought up together, with the same opportunities ofimprovement; except that the little Juliet had the advantage of speakingEnglish with her grandmother; who knew no other language; and whoentered the convent as a pensioner. By this means, and by books, Juliethad perfectly retained her native tongue, though she had acquiredsomething of a foreign accent. She was known only as a young Englishlady of fortune, for whom no expence was to be spared; and theremittances for her board and education were constant, and evensplendid. She had been called simply by the name of MademoiselleJuliette, which had generally been supposed to be the name of herfamily. Here, from the facility with which she caught instruction, andthe ability with which she appropriated its result, she became the mostaccomplished pupil of the convent and was not more generally, from herappearance, called _la belle_, than from her acquirements and conduct_la sage petite Anglaise_. And here, still more united by the samesentiments than by the same studies, Gabriella had formed with her thetender, confiding and unalterable friendship, that had bound them toeach other with an even sisterly love.

  The Bishop frequently pressed the young lord to avow the birth ofJuliet, and to legitimate her claims upon his family: but he alwaysanswered, that since she, whose reputation, happiness, and spirits mighthave paid the avowal, was gone, he could not support the fruitless painof offending his sickly, but imperious father, by such a discovery, tillthe necessity of receiving his daughter should make it indispensable.

  Previous to this period, Gabriella was taken from the convent, toprepare for her marriage with the Comte de ----; and Juliet, who had thenlost her tender grandmother, was invited to the wedding-ceremony, and toremain with her friend till she should be called to her own country.Lord Granville, with that spirit of procrastination which always growswith indulgence, joyfully acceded to this invitation; and remitted tothe ensuing summer the public acknowledgment of his daughter. But, erethe ensuing summer arrived, all these projects were rendered abortive!The Bishop, through a news-paper, received the fatal intelligence, thatLord Granville had been killed by a fall from his horse.

  While the deeply disappointed and afflicted Juliet was the prey of heavygrief at this event, the Bishop, to whom the grandmother, in dying, hadconsigned the marriage-certificate, the codicil, and every letter orpaper that authenticated the legitimacy of her grandchild, constitutedhimself guardian and protector of the young orphan.

  Convinced that no time should be lost in making known her rights, yetunwilling to risk shocking the old peer by an abrupt address, he statedthe affair to Lord Denmeath, brother to Lord Granville's second lady,and guardian of two children by the second marriage. To thiscommunication he received no answer. But, upon writing again, with moreenergy, and hinting at sending over an agent, Lord Denmeath thoughtproper to reply. His style was extremely cold. His brother-in-law, hesaid, had expired, after his fall, without uttering a word. Having,therefore, no knowledge of any secret business, he begged to be excusedfrom entering into a discussion of the obscure affair to which theBishop seemed to allude.

  The Bishop grew but warmer in the interests of his Ward, from thedifficulty of serving her. He sent over, to Lord Denmeath, copies of thecodicil, of the certificate, and of every letter upon the subject, thathad been written to the grandmother, or to himself, by the late lord.

  The answer now was more civil, but evidently embarrassed, thoughprofessing much respect for the motives which guided the charitableBishop; and a willingness to enter into some compromise for the youngperson in question; provided she could be settled abroad, that sostrange a tale might not disturb his sister; nor involve his nephew andniece, by coming before the public.

  All compromise was declined by the Bishop, who now made known the wholehistory to the old peer.

  The answer, nevertheless, was again from Lord Denmeath, though writtenby the desire, and in the name of the Earl; briefly saying, Let theyoung woman marry and settle in France; and, upon the delivery of theoriginal documents relative to her birth, she shall be portioned; butshe shall never be received nor owned in England; the Earl beingdetermined not to countenance such a disgrace to his family, and to thememory of his son, as the acknowledgment of so unsuitable a marriage.

  The Bishop held his honour engaged to his departed friend, to sustainthe birth-right of the innocent orphan; he menaced, therefore,accompanying her over to England himself, and putting all the documents,with the direction of the affair, into the hands of some celebratedlawyer.

  Alarmed at this intimation, milder letters passed: but the result of allthat the Bishop could obtain, was a promissory-note of six thousandpounds sterling, for the portion of a young person brought up at theconvent of ----, and known by the name of Mademoiselle Juliette; to bepaid by Messieurs ----, bankers, on the day of her marriage with anative of France, resident in that country.

  The conditions annexed to the payment were then detailed, of deliveringto the bankers the originals of all the MSS of which copies had beensent over; with an acquittal, signed by the new married couple, and bythe Bishop, to all future right or claim upon the Melbury family. Thewhole to be properly witnessed, &c. This promissory-note had the jointseal and signature of the old Earl and of Lord Denmeath.

  But the Bishop inflexibly insisted, that his ward should be recognizedas the Honourable Miss Granville; and share an equal portion with herhalf-sister, Aurora; for whom, upon the premature death of LordGranville, the old peer had solicited and obtained the title and honoursof an earl's daughter.

  All representation proving fruitless, the Bishop was preparing to attendMiss Granville to England, when the French Revolution broke out. Thegeneral confusion first stopt his voyage, and next destroyed even t
hematerials of his agency. The family chateau was burnt by the populace;and all the papers of Juliet, which had been carefully hoarded up withthe records of the house, were consumed! The promissory-note alone, andaccidentally, had been saved; the Bishop chancing to have it in hispocket-book, for the purpose of consulting upon it with some lawyer.

  With the nobleness of unsuspicious integrity, the Bishop wrote anaccount of this disaster to Lord Denmeath; whose answer containedtidings of the death of the old Earl, and reclaimed the promissory-notefor revisal. But the Bishop, who possessed no other proof or document ofthe identity of Juliet, would by no means part with a paper that becameof the utmost importance.

  Juliet, pitied and sustained, loved and esteemed by all, had beenprevailed upon to continue with her cherished and cherishing friends,till some political calm should enable the Bishop to conduct her toEngland, and there to struggle for her rights. At the opening, however,of the dreadful reign of Robespierre, sudden and immediate danger hadcompelled Gabriella, with her husband and her child, to emigrate: butJuliet, hopeless of making herself acknowledged by her family withoutthe support of the Bishop, had preferred, till she could obtain thesanction of his presence, to remain with the Marchioness.

  'And what,' Sir Jaspar cried, 'what is become of this Bishop? this manof peace, this worthiest wight that breathes the vital air?'

  Gabriella herself knew not; nor what change of plan had induced herfriend to venture over alone: she knew only that what was counselled bythe Bishop must be wise; that what was executed by Juliet must be right.

  Juliet, who had heard this recital with melting tenderness, was now withdifficulty restrained, even by the presence of Sir Jaspar, from castingherself rather at the feet than into the arms, of her generous, noble,and confiding, though untrusted friend.