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

by Fanny Burney

  CHAPTER LXXXI

  Sir Jaspar had listened to this narrative with trembling interest, and aspecies of emotion that was indefinable; his head bent forward, and hismouth nearly as wide open, from the fear of losing a word, as his eyes,from eagerness not to lose a look: but, when it was finished, heexclaimed, in a sort of transport, 'Is this all? Joy, then, to greatCaesar! Why 'tis nothing! My little fairies are all skipping in ecstacy;while the wickeder imps are making faces and wry mouths, not to seemischief enough in the wind to afford them a supper! This a marriage?Why you are free as air!

  'The little birds that fly, With careless ease, from tree to tree,'

  are not more at liberty. Ah! fair enslaver! were I as unshackled!'--

  The smiles that, momentarily, broke their way through the tears andsadness of Juliet shewed how much this declaration was in unison withher wishes; but, exhausted by relating a history so deeply affecting toher, she could enter into no discussion; and remained ceaselesslyweeping, till the Baronet, with an expression of surprize, asked whetherthe meeting that would now ensue with her own family, could offer her noconsolation?

  Rousing, then, from her sorrows, to a grateful though forced exertion,'Oh yes!' she cried, 'yes! Your generous goodness has given me newexistence! But horrour and distress have pursued me with suchaccumulating severity, that the shock is still nearly overpowering.Yet,--let me not diminish the satisfaction of your beneficence. I amgoing now to be happy!--How big a word!--how new to my feelings!--Asister!--a brother!--Have I, indeed, such relations?' smiling evenbrightly through her tears. 'And will Lady Aurora,--the sweetest ofhuman beings!--condescend to acknowledge me? Will the amiable LordMelbury deign to support, to protect me? Oh Sir Jaspar, how have youbrought all this to bear? Where are these dearest persons? And when, andby what means, am I to be blest with their sight, and honoured withtheir sanction to my claim of consanguinity?'

  Sir Jaspar begged her to compose her spirits, promising to satisfy herwhen she should become more calm. But, her thoughts having once turnedinto this channel, all her tenderest affections gushed forth to opposetheir being diverted into any other; and the sound, the soul-penetratingsound of sister!--of brother! once allowed utterance, vibrated throughher frame with a thousand soft emotions, now first welcomed withoutcheck to her heart.

  Urgently, therefore, she desired an explanation of the manner in whichthis commission had been given; of the tone of voice in which she hadbeen named; and of the time and place destined for the precious meeting.

  Sir Jaspar, though enchanted to see her revived, and enraptured to giveear to her thanks, and to suck in her praises, was palpably embarrassedhow to answer her enquiries; which he suffered her to continue so longwithout interruption or reply, that, her eagerness giving way toanxiety, she solemnly required to know, whether it were by accident, orthrough his own information, that Lord Melbury and Lady Aurora had beenmade acquainted with her rights, or, more properly, with her hopes andher fears in regard to their kindness and support.

  Still no answer was returned, but smiling looks, and encouragingassurances.

  The most alarming doubts now disturbed the just opening views of Juliet'Ah! Sir Jaspar!' she cried, 'why this procrastination? Practise nodeception, I conjure you!--Alas, you make me fear that you have actedcommission?'--

  He protested, upon his honour, that that was not the case; yet asked whyshe had settled that his commission came from Lady Aurora, or LordMelbury?

  'Good Heaven!'--exclaimed Juliet, astonished and affrighted.

  He had only, he said, affirmed, that his commission was to take her tothose noble personages; not that it had been from themselves that it hademanated.

  Again every feature of Juliet seemed changed by disappointment; and theaccent of reproach was mingled with that of grief, as she pronounced,'Oh Sir Jaspar! can you, then, have played with my happiness? havetrifled with my hopes?'--

  'Not to be master of the whole planetary system,' he cried, 'with Venus,in her choicest wiles, at its head! I have honourably had my commission;but it has been for, not from your honourable relations. Those littleinvisible, but active beings, who have taken my conscience in charge,have spurred and goaded me on to this deed, ever since I saw yourdistress at the fair Gallic needle-monger's. Night and day have theypinched me and jirked me, to seek you, to find you, and to rescue youfrom that brawny caitiff.'--

  'Alas! to what purpose? If I have no asylum, what is my security?--'

  'If I have erred, my beauteous fugitive,' said Sir Jaspar, archly, 'Imust order the horses to turn about! We shall still, probably, be intime to accompany the happy captive to his cell.'

  Juliet involuntarily screamed, but besought, at least, to know how shehad been traced; and what had induced the other pursuit; or caused theseizure, which she had so unexpectedly witnessed, of her persecutor?

  He answered, that, restless to fathom a mystery, the profundity of whichleft, to his active imagination, as much space for distant hope as forpresent despair, he had invited Riley to dinner, upon quitting FrithStreet; and, through his means, had discovered the pilot; whosefriendship and services were secured, without scruple, by a few guineas.By this man, Sir Jaspar was shewn the advertisement, which he nowproduced; and which Juliet, though nearly overcome with shame, begged toread.

  'ELOPED from her HUSBAND,

  'A young woman, tall, fair, blue-eyed; her face oval; her nose Grecian; her mouth small; her cheeks high coloured; her chin dimpled; and her hair of a glossy light brown.

  'She goes commonly by the name of Miss Ellis.

  'Whoever will send an account where she may be met with, or where she has been seen, to ---- Attorney in ---- Street London, shall receive a very handsome reward.'

  The pilot further acknowledged to Sir Jaspar, that his employer had,formerly, been at the head of a gang of smugglers and swindlers; though,latterly, he had been engaged in business of a much more serious nature.

  This intelligence, with an internal conviction that the marriage musthave been forced, decided Sir Jaspar to denounce the criminal tojustice; and then to take every possible measure, to have him eitherimprisoned for trial, or sent out of the country, by the alien-bill,before he should overtake the fair fugitive. His offences were, itseems, notorious, and the warrant for his seizure was readily granted;with an order for his being embarked by the first opportunity:nevertheless, the difficulty to discover him had almost demolished thescheme: though the Baronet had aided the search in person, to enjoy thebliss of being the first to announce freedom to the lovely Runaway; andto offer her immediate protection.

  But the pilot, who, after being well paid for his information, hadhimself absconded, delayed all proceedings till he was found out, byRiley, upon the Salisbury-road. He evaded giving any furtherintelligence, till the glitter of a few guineas restored his spirit ofcommunication, when he was brought to confess, that his master was inthat neighbourhood; where they had received assurances that the fugitiveherself was lodged. Sir Jaspar instantly, then, took the measures ofwhich the result, seconded by sundry happy accidents, had been soseasonable and prosperous. 'And never,' said he, in conclusion, 'did mydelectable little friends serve me so cogently, as in suggesting mystratagem at your sight. If you do not directly name, they squeaked inmy ear, her brother and sister, she may demur at accompanying you: ifher brother and sister honour your assertion, you will fix the matchlessWanderer in her proper sphere; if they protest against it,--what giantstands in the way to your rearing and protecting the lovely floweryourself?--This was the manner in which these hovering little beingsegged me on; but whether, with the playful philanthropy of courteoussylphs, to win me your gentle smiles; or whether, with the wantonmalignity of little devils, to annihilate me with your frowns, is stilllocked up in the womb of your countenance!'

  He then farther added, that Riley had accompanied him throughout theexpedition; but that, always exhilarated by scenes which excitedcuriosity, or which produced commotion; he had scampered into t
he inn,to witness the culprit's being secured, while Sir Jaspar had paid hisrespects at the chaise.

  With a disappointed heart, and with affrighted spirits, Juliet now sawthat she must again, and immediately, renew her melancholy flight, insearch of a solitary hiding-place; till she could be assured of thepositive embarkation of the commissary.

  In vain Sir Jaspar pressed to pursue his design of conveying her to herfamily; the dread of Lord Denmeath, who was in actual communication andleague with her persecutor, decided her refusal; though, while she hadbelieved in Sir Jaspar's commission for seeking her, neither risk nordoubt had had power to check the ardour of her impatience, to castherself upon the protection of Lord Melbury and Lady Aurora: but shefelt no courage,--however generously they had succoured anddistinguished her as a distressed individual,--to rush upon them,uncalled and unexpected, as a near relation; and one who had so large aclaim, could her kindred be proved, upon their inheritance.

  Her most earnest wish was to rejoin her Gabriella; but there, where shehad been discovered, she could least hope to lie concealed. She muststill, therefore, fly, in lonely silence. But she besought Sir Jaspar totake her any whither rather than to Salisbury, where she had had thehorrour of being examined by the advertisement.

  Proud to receive her commands, he recommended to her a farm-house aboutthree miles from the city, of which the proprietor and his wife, whowere worthy and honest people, had belonged, formerly, to his family.

  She thankfully agreed to this proposal: but, when they arrived at thefarm, they heard that the master and mistress were gone to aneighbouring fair, whence they were not expected back for an hour ortwo; and that they had locked up the parlour. Some labourers being inthe kitchen, Sir Jaspar proposed driving about in the interval; andordered the postilion to Wilton.