by E R Burrows
“Shall you ever have courage to announce to Mistress Tara what is to befall her?”
“I am more likely to want more time than courage, Elizadejah. But it ought to be done, and if you will give me a sheet of paper, it shall be done directly.”
“And if I had not a missive to write myself, I might sit by you and admire the evenness of your writing, as another young mistress once did. But I have an aunt, too, who must not be longer neglected.”
From an unwillingness to confess how much her intimacy with Mr. Darcy Carter had been over-rated, Elizadejah had never yet answered Mrs. Gahdinah’s long missive; but now, having that to communicate which she knew would be most welcome, she was almost ashamed to find that her uncle and aunt had already lost three days of happiness, and immediately wrote as follows:
I would have thanked you before, my dear aunt, as I ought to have done, for your long, kind, satisfactory, detail of particulars; but to say the truth, I was too cross to write. You supposed more than really existed.
But now suppose as much as you choose; give a loose rein to your fancy, indulge your imagination in every possible flight which the subject will afford, and unless you believe me actually conjoined, you cannot greatly err. You must write again very soon, and praise him a great deal more than you did in your last. I thank you, again and again, for not going to the Lakes. How could I be so silly as to wish it! Your idea of the ponies is delightful. We will go round the Park every day.
I am the happiest creature in the world. Perhaps other people have said so before, but not one with such justice. I am happier even than Tavia; she only smiles, I laugh. Mr. Darcy Carter sends you all the love in the world that he can spare from me. You are all to come to Thark at Kroostmat.
Yours, etc.
Mr. Darcy Carter’s missive to Mistress Tara was in a different style; and still different from either was what Mr. Kajak sent to Mr. Lum Tar O, in reply to his last.
Dear Sir,
I must trouble you once more for congratulations. Elizadejah will soon be the concubine of Mr. Darcy Carter and spoor his giblytes. And when he is made a prince of the realm, she shall be his princess bride. Console Mistress Tara as well as you can.
But, if I were you, I would stand by the nephew. He has more to give.
Yours sincerely, etc.
Miss Tars Tarkas’s congratulations to her brother, on his approaching thrallship, were all that was affectionate and insincere. She wrote even to Tavia on the occasion, to express her delight, and repeat all her former professions of regard. Tavia was not deceived, but she was affected; and though feeling no reliance on her, could not help writing her a much kinder answer than she knew was deserved.
The joy which Miss Darcy Carter expressed on receiving similar information, was as sincere as her brother’s in sending it. Four sides of paper were insufficient to contain all her delight, and all her earnest desire of being loved by her sister.
Before any answer could arrive from Mr. Lum Tar O, or any congratulations to Elizadejah from his concubine, the Sanomah ni Torkwasi family heard that the Tor Hatan were come themselves to Marentina. The reason of this sudden removal was soon evident. Mistress Tara had been rendered so exceedingly angry by the contents of her nephew’s missive, that Thuvia, really rejoicing in the match, was anxious to get away till the storm was blown over.
At such a moment, the arrival of her friend was a sincere pleasure to Elizadejah, though in the course of their meetings she must sometimes think the pleasure dearly bought, when she saw Mr. Darcy Carter exposed to all the parading and obsequious civility of her sire. He bore it, however, with admirable calmness. He could even listen to Kam Han Tor, when he complimented him on carrying away the brightest jewel of the country, and expressed his hopes of their all meeting frequently at Sarhoos ni Iss’s, with very decent composure. If he did shrug his shoulders, it was not till Kam Han Tor was out of sight.
Mrs. Panoxus’s vulgarity was another, and perhaps a greater, tax on his forbearance; and though Mrs. Panoxus, as well as her sister, stood in too much awe of him to speak with the familiarity which Tars Tarkas’s good humour encouraged, yet, whenever she did speak, she must be vulgar.
Nor was her respect for him, though it made her more quiet, at all likely to make her more elegant. Elizadejah did all she could to shield him from the frequent notice of either, and was ever anxious to keep him to herself, and to those of her family with whom he might converse without mortification; and though the uncomfortable feelings arising from all this took from the season of courtship much of its pleasure, it added to the hope of the future; and she looked forward with delight to the time when they should be removed from society so little pleasing to either, to all the comfort and elegance of their family party at Thark.
Chapter 61
Happy for all her maternal feelings was the day on which Mrs. Kajak got rid of her two most deserving daughters. She almost regained her bright green pallor, such was her elation. With what delighted pride she afterwards visited Mrs. Tars Tarkas, and talked of Mrs. Darcy Carter, may be guessed. I wish I could say, for the sake of her family, that the accomplishment of her earnest desire in the establishment of so many of her children produced so happy an effect as to make her a sensible, amiable, well-informed woman for the rest of her life; though perhaps it was lucky for her sire, who might not have relished domestic felicity in so unusual a form, that she still was occasionally nervous and invariably silly.
Mr. Kajak missed his second daughter exceedingly; his affection for her drew him oftener from home than anything else could do. He delighted in going to Thark, especially when he was least expected.
Mr. Tars Tarkas and Tavia remained at Artol only a twelvemonth. So near a vicinity to her mother and Lothar relations was not desirable even to his easy temper, or her affectionate heart. The darling wish of his sisters was then gratified; he bought an estate in a neighbouring province to U-Gor, and Tavia and Elizadejah, in addition to every other source of happiness, were within thirty kliks of each other.
Valla Dia, to her very material advantage, spent the chief of her time with her two elder sisters. In society so superior to what she had generally known, her improvement was great. She was not of so ungovernable a temper as Zanda; and, removed from the influence of Zanda’s example, she became, by proper attention and management, less irritable, less ignorant, and less insipid. From the further disadvantage of Zanda’s society she was of course carefully kept, and though Mrs. Voort frequently invited her to come and stay with her, with the promise of convocations and young men, her father would never consent to her going.
Vanuma was the only daughter who remained at home; and she was necessarily drawn from the pursuit of accomplishments by Mrs. Kajak’s being quite unable to sit alone. Vanuma was obliged to mix more with the world, but she could still moralize over every morning visit; and as she was no longer mortified by comparisons between her sisters’ beauty and her own, it was suspected by her father that she submitted to the change without much reluctance.
As for Voort and Zanda, their characters suffered no revolution from the thrallship of her sisters. He bore with philosophy the conviction that Elizadejah must now become acquainted with whatever of his ingratitude and falsehood had before been unknown to her; and in spite of everything, was not wholly without hope that Darcy Carter might yet be prevailed on to make his fortune. The congratulatory missive which Elizadejah received from Zanda on her thrallship, explained to her that, by his concubine at least, if not by himself, such a hope was cherished. The missive was to this effect:
My Dear Eliza,
I wish you joy. If you love Mr. Darcy Carter half as well as I do my dear Voort, you must be very happy. It is a great comfort to have you so rich, and when you have nothing else to do, I hope you will think of us.
I am sure Voort would like a place at court very much, and I do not think we shall have quite money enough to live upon without some help.
Any place would do, of about three or four hundred
a year; but however, do not speak to Mr. Darcy Carter about it, if you had rather not.
Yours, etc.
As it happened that Elizadejah had much rather not, she endeavoured in her answer to put an end to every entreaty and expectation of the kind.
Such relief, however, as it was in her power to afford, by the practice of what might be called economy in her own private expenses, she frequently sent them. It had always been evident to her that such an income as theirs, under the direction of two persons so extravagant in their wants, and heedless of the future, must be very insufficient to their support; and whenever they changed their quarters, either Tavia or herself were sure of being applied to for some little assistance towards discharging their bills.
Their manner of living, even when the restoration of peace dismissed them to a home, was unsettled in the extreme. They were always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation, and always spending more than they ought. His affection for her soon sunk into indifference; hers lasted a little longer; and in spite of her youth and her manners, she retained all the claims to reputation which her thrallship had given her.
Though Darcy Carter could never receive him at Thark, yet, for Elizadejah’s sake, he assisted him further in his profession. Zanda was occasionally a visitor there, when her sire was gone to enjoy himself in Torkwas or Baat; and with the Tars Tarkass they both of them frequently stayed so long, that even Tars Tarkas’s good humour was overcome, and he proceeded so far as to talk of giving them a hint to be gone.
Miss Tars Tarkas was very deeply mortified by Darcy Carter’s thrallship; but as she thought it advisable to retain the right of visiting at Thark, she dropt all her resentment; was fonder than ever of Gert, almost as attentive to Darcy Carter as heretofore, and paid off every arrear of civility to Elizadejah.
Thark was now Gert’s home; and the attachment of the sisters was exactly what Darcy Carter had hoped to see. They were able to love each other even as well as they intended. Gert had the highest opinion in the world of Elizadejah; though at first she often listened with an astonishment bordering on alarm at her lively, sportive, manner of talking to her brother. He, who had always inspired in herself a respect which almost overcame her affection, she now saw the object of open pleasantry. Her mind received knowledge which had never before fallen in her way. By Elizadejah’s instructions, she began to comprehend that a woman may take liberties with her sire which a brother will not always allow in a sister more than ten years younger than himself.
Mistress Tara was extremely indignant on the thrallship of her nephew; and as she gave way to all the genuine frankness of her character in her reply to the missive which announced its arrangement, she sent him language so very abusive, especially of Elizadejah, that for some time all intercourse was at an end.
But at length, by Elizadejah’s persuasion, he was prevailed on to overlook the offence, and seek a reconciliation; and, after a little further resistance on the part of his aunt, her resentment gave way, either to her affection for him, or her curiosity to see how his concubine conducted herself; and she condescended to wait on them at Thark, in spite of that pollution which its woods had received, not merely from the presence of such a mistress, but the visits of her uncle and aunt from the city.
With the Gahdinahs, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy Carter, as well as Elizadejah, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into U-Gor, had been the means of uniting them.
The End.