A Simple Story

by Mrs. Inchbald

  CHAPTER IX.

  There are few things so mortifying to a proud spirit as to suffer byimmediate comparison--men can hardly bear it, but to women the punishmentis intolerable; and Miss Milner now laboured under this humiliation to adegree which gave her no small inquietude.

  Miss Fenton, young, of exquisite beauty, elegant manners, gentledisposition, and discreet conduct, was introduced to Miss Milner'sacquaintance by her guardian, and frequently, sometimes inadvertently,held up by him as a pattern for her to follow--for when he did not saythis in direct terms, it was insinuated by the warmth of his panegyricon those virtues in which Miss Fenton excelled, and in which his wardwas obviously deficient. Conscious of her own inferiority in thesesubjects of her guardian's praise, Miss Milner, instead of beinginspired to emulation, was provoked to envy.

  Not to admire Miss Fenton was impossible--to find one fault with herperson or sentiments was equally impossible--and yet to love her wasunlikely.

  That serenity of mind which kept her features in a continual placidform, though enchanting at the first glance, upon a second or third,fatigued the sight for want of variety; and to have seen her distortedwith rage, convulsed with mirth, or in deep dejection, had been to heradvantage. But her superior soul appeared above those emotions, andthere was more inducement to worship her as a saint than to love her asa woman. Yet Dorriforth, whose heart was not formed (at least noteducated) for love, regarding her in the light of friendship only,beheld her as the most perfect model for her sex. Lord Frederick onfirst seeing her was struck with her beauty, and Miss Milner apprehendedshe had introduced a rival; but he had not seen her three times, beforehe called her "The most insufferable of Heaven's creatures," and vowedthere was more charming variation in the plain features of MissWoodley.

  Miss Milner had a heart affectionate to her own sex, even where she sawthem in possession of superior charms; but whether from the spirit ofcontradiction, from feeling herself more than ordinarily offended by herguardian's praise of this lady, or that there was a reserve in MissFenton that did not accord with her own frank and ingenuous disposition,so as to engage her esteem, certain it is that she took infinitesatisfaction in hearing her beauty and virtues depreciated or turnedinto ridicule, particularly if Mr. Dorriforth was present. This waspainful to him upon many accounts; perhaps an anxiety for his ward'sconduct was not among the least; and whenever the circumstance occurred,he could with difficulty restrain his anger. Miss Fenton was not only aperson whose amiable qualities he admired, but she was soon to be alliedto him by her marriage with his nearest relation, Lord Elmwood, a youngnobleman whom he sincerely loved.

  Lord Elmwood had discovered all that beauty in Miss Fenton which everycommon observer could not but see. The charms of her mind and of herfortune had been pointed out by his tutor; and the utility of themarriage, in perfect submission to his precepts, he never permittedhimself to question.

  This preceptor held with a magisterial power the government of hispupil's passions; nay, governed them so entirely, that no one couldperceive (nor did the young Lord himself know) that he had any.

  This rigid monitor and friend was a Mr. Sandford, bred a Jesuit in thesame college at which Dorriforth had since been educated, but before histime the order was compelled to take another name. Sandford had been thetutor of Dorriforth as well as of his cousin, Lord Elmwood, and by thisdouble tie seemed now entailed upon the family. As a Jesuit, he wasconsequently a man of learning; possessed of steadiness to accomplishthe end of any design once meditated, and of sagacity to direct theconduct of men more powerful, but less ingenious, than himself. Theyoung Earl, accustomed in his infancy to fear him as his master, in hisyouthful manhood received every new indulgence with gratitude, and atlength loved him as a father--nor had Dorriforth as yet shaken offsimilar sensations.

  Mr. Sandford perfectly knew how to influence the sentiments andsensations of all human kind, but yet he had the forbearance not to"draw all hearts towards him." There were some whose hatred he thoughtnot unworthy of his pious labours; and in that pursuit he was more rapidin his success than even in procuring esteem. It was an enterprise inwhich he succeeded with Miss Milner even beyond his most sanguine wish.

  She had been educated at an English boarding school, and had no idea ofthe superior and subordinate state of characters in a foreignseminary--besides, as a woman, she was privileged to say any thing shepleased; and as a beautiful woman, she had a right to expect thatwhatever she pleased to say, should be admired.

  Sandford knew the hearts of women, as well as those of men, though hehad passed little of his time in their society--he saw Miss Milner'sheart at the first view of her person; and beholding in that littlecircumference a weight of folly that he wished to eradicate, he began totoil in the vineyard, eagerly courting her detestation of him, in thehope he could also make her abominate herself. In the mortifications ofslight he was expert; and being a man of talents, whom all companies,especially her friends, respected, he did not begin by wasting thatreverence so highly valued upon ineffectual remonstrances, of which hecould foresee the reception, but wakened her attention by his neglect ofher. He spoke of her in her presence as of an indifferent person,sometimes forgetting even to name her when the subject required it; thenwould ask her pardon, and say that he "Really did not recollect her,"with such seeming sorrow for his fault, that she could not think theoffence intended, and of course felt the affront more acutely.

  While, with every other person she was the principle, the cause uponwhom a whole party depended for conversation, cards, musick, or dancing,with Mr. Sandford she found that she was of no importance. Sometimes shetried to consider this disregard of her as merely the effect ofill-breeding; but he was not an ill-bred man: he was a gentleman bybirth, and one who had kept the best company--a man of sense andlearning. "And such a man slights me without knowing it," she said--forshe had not dived so deeply into the powers of simulation, as to suspectthat such careless manners were the result of art.

  This behaviour of Mr. Sandford had its desired effect--it humbled her inher own opinion more than a thousand sermons would have done preached onthe vanity of youth and beauty. She felt an inward shame at theinsignificance of these qualities that she never knew before, and wouldhave been cured of all her pride, had she not possessed a degree ofspirit beyond the generality of her sex--such a degree as even Mr.Sandford, with all his penetration, did not expect. She determined toresent his treatment; and, entering the lists as his declared enemy,give to the world a reason why he did not acknowledge her sovereignty,as well as the rest of her devoted subjects.

  She now commenced hostilities against all his arguments, his learning,and his favourite axioms; and by a happy talent of ridicule, in want ofother weapons for this warfare, she threw in the way of the holy Fatheras great trials of his patience, as any that his order could havesubstituted in penance. Many things he bore like a martyr--at others, hisfortitude would forsake him, and he would call on her guardian, hisformer pupil, to interpose with his authority: she would then declarethat she only had acted thus "to try the good man's temper, and that ifhe had combated with his fretfulness a few moments longer, she wouldhave acknowledged his claim to canonization; but that having yielded tothe sallies of his anger, he must now go through numerous otherprobations."

  If Miss Fenton was admired by Dorriforth, by Sandford she wasadored--and, instead of placing her as an example to Miss Milner, hespoke of her as of one endowed beyond Miss Milner's power of imitation.Often, with a shake of his head and a sigh, would he say,

  "No; I am not so hard upon you as your guardian: I only desire you tolove Miss Fenton; to resemble her, I believe, is above your ability."

  This was too much to bear composedly--and poor Miss Woodley, who wasgenerally a witness of these controversies, felt a degree of sorrow atevery sentence which like the foregoing chagrined and distressed herfriend. Yet as she suffered too for Mr. Sandford, the joy of herfriend's reply was abated by the uneasiness it gave to _him._ But Mrs.Horton felt for none but
the right reverend priest; and often did shefeel so violently interested in his cause, that she could not refraingiving an answer herself in his behalf--thus doing the duty ofan adversary with all the zeal of an advocate.