"Ah, Charles, how could you esteem me as a wife if I were to tell you I could forget I am a daughter?"
This was said so touchingly, and with so perfect a freedom from all affectation, that her lover could only reply by covering her hand with his kisses. And it was not till after a pause that he continued pa.s.sionately,--
"You do but show me how much deeper is my love than yours. You can never dream how I love you. But I do not ask you to love me as well--it would be impossible. My life from my earliest childhood has been pa.s.sed in these solitudes;--a happy life, though tranquil and monotonous, till you suddenly broke upon it. You seemed to me the living form of the very poetry I had worshipped--so bright--so heavenly--I loved you from the very first moment that we met. I am not like other men of my age. I have no pursuit--no occupation--nothing to abstract me from your thought. And I love you so purely--so devotedly, Camilla. I have never known even a pa.s.sing fancy for another. You are the first--the only woman--it ever seemed to me possible to love. You are my Eve--your presence my paradise! Think how sad I shall be when you are gone--how I shall visit every spot your footstep has hallowed--how I shall count every moment till the year is past!"
While he thus spoke, he had risen in that restless agitation which belongs to great emotion; and Camilla now rose also, and said soothingly, as she laid her hand on his shoulder with tender but modest frankness:
"And shall I not also think of you? I am sad to feel that you will be so much alone--no sister--no brother!"
"Do not grieve for that. The memory of you will be dearer to me than comfort from all else. And you will be true!"
Camilla made no answer by words, but her eyes and her colour spoke. And in that moment, while plighting eternal truth, they forgot that they were about to part!
Meanwhile, in a room in the house which, screened by the foliage, was only partially visible where the lovers stood, sat Mr. Robert Beaufort and Mr. Spencer.
"I a.s.sure you, sir," said the former, "that I am not insensible to the merits of your nephew and to the very handsome proposals you make, still I cannot consent to abridge the time I have named. They are both very young. What is a year?"
"It is a long time when it is a year of suspense," said the recluse, shaking his head.
"It is a longer time when it is a year of domestic dissension and repentance. And it is a very true proverb, "Marry in haste and repent at leisure." No! If at the end of the year the young people continue of the same mind, and no unforeseen circ.u.mstances occur--"
"No unforeseen circ.u.mstances, Mr. Beaufort!--that is a new condition--it is a very vague phrase."
"My dear sir, it is hard to please you. Unforeseen circ.u.mstances," said the wary father, with a wise look, "mean circ.u.mstances that we don"t foresee at present. I a.s.sure you that I have no intention to trifle with you, and I shall be sincerely happy in so respectable a connexion."
"The young people may write to each other?"
"Why, I"ll consult Mrs. Beaufort. At all events, it must not be very often, and Camilla is well brought up, and will show all the letters to her mother. I don"t much like a correspondence of that nature. It often leads to unpleasant results; if, for instance--"
"If what?"
"Why, if the parties change their minds, and my girl were to marry another. It is not prudent in matters of business, my dear sir, to put down anything on paper that can be avoided."
Mr. Spencer opened his eyes. "Matters of business, Mr. Beaufort!"
"Well, is not marriage a matter of business, and a very grave matter too? More lawsuits about marriage and settlements, &c., than I like to think of. But to change the subject. You have never heard anything more of those young men, you say?"
"No," said Mr. Spencer, rather inaudibly, and looking down.
"And it is your firm impression that the elder one, Philip, is dead?"
"I don"t doubt it."
"That was a very vexatious and improper lawsuit their mother brought against me. Do you know that some wretched impostor, who, it appears, is a convict broke loose before his time, has threatened me with another, on the part of one of those young men? You never heard anything of it--eh?"
"Never, upon my honour."
"And, of course, you would not countenance so villanous an attempt?"
"Certainly not."
"Because that would break off our contract at once. But you are too much a gentleman and a man of honour. Forgive me so improper a question. As for the younger Mr. Morton, I have no ill-feeling against him. But the elder! Oh, a thorough reprobate! a very alarming character! I could have nothing to do with any member of the family while the elder lived; it would only expose me to every species of insult and imposition. And now I think we have left our young friends alone long enough.
"But stay, to prevent future misunderstanding, I may as well read over again the heads of the arrangement you honour me by proposing. You agree to settle your fortune after your decease, amounting to L23,000. and your house, with twenty-five acres one rood and two poles, more or less, upon your nephew and my daughter, jointly--remainder to their children.
Certainly, without offence, in a worldly point of view, Camilla might do better; still, you are so very respectable, and you speak so handsomely, that I cannot touch upon that point; and I own, that though there is a large nominal rent-roll attached to Beaufort Court (indeed, there is not a finer property in the county), yet there are many inc.u.mbrances, and ready money would not be convenient to me. Arthur--poor fellow, a very fine young man, sir,--is, as I have told you in perfect confidence, a little imprudent and lavish; in short, your offer to dispense with any dowry is extremely liberal, and proves your nephew is actuated by no mercenary feelings: such conduct prepossesses me highly in your favour and his too."
Mr. Spencer bowed, and the great man rising, with a stiff affectation of kindly affability, put his arm into the uncle"s, and strolled with him across the lawn towards the lovers. And such is life-love on the lawn and settlements in the parlour.
The lover was the first to perceive the approach of the elder parties.
And a change came over his face as he saw the dry aspect and marked the stealthy stride of his future father-in-law; for then there flashed across him a dreary reminiscence of early childhood; the happy evening when, with his joyous father, that grave and ominous aspect was first beheld; and then the dismal burial, the funereal sables, the carriage at the door, and he himself clinging to the cold uncle to ask him to say a word of comfort to the mother, who now slept far away. "Well, my young friend," said Mr. Beaufort, patronisingly, "your good uncle and myself are quite agreed--a little time for reflection, that"s all. Oh! I don"t think the worse of you for wishing to abridge it. But papas must be papas."
There was so little jocular about that sedate man, that this attempt at jovial good humour seemed harsh and grating--the hinges of that wily mouth wanted oil for a hearty smile.
"Come, don"t be faint-hearted, Mr. Charles. "Faint heart,"--you know the proverb. You must stay and dine with us. We return to-morrow to town.
I should tell you, that I received this morning a letter from my son Arthur, announcing his return from Baden, so we must give him the meeting--a very joyful one you may guess. We have not seen him these three years. Poor fellow! he says he has been very ill and the waters have ceased to do him any good. But a little quiet and country air at Beaufort Court will set him up, I hope."
Thus running on about his son, then about his shooting--about Beaufort Court and its splendours--about parliament and its fatigues--about the last French Revolution, and the last English election--about Mrs. Beaufort and her good qualities and bad health--about, in short, everything relating to himself, some things relating to the public, and nothing that related to the persons to whom his conversation was directed, Mr. Robert Beaufort wore away half an hour, when the Spencer"s took their leave, promising to return to dinner.
"Charles," said Mr. Spencer, as the boat, which the young man rowed, bounded over the water towards their quiet home; "Charles, I dislike these Beauforts!"
"Not the daughter?"
"No, she is beautiful, and seems good; not so handsome as your poor mother, but who ever was?"--here Mr. Spencer sighed, and repeated some lines from Shenstone.
"Do you think Mr. Beaufort suspects in the least who I am?"
"Why, that puzzles me; I rather think he does."
"And that is the cause of the delay? I knew it."
"No, on the contrary, I incline to think he has some kindly feeling to you, though not to your brother, and that it is such a feeling that made him consent to your marriage. He sifted me very closely as to what I knew of the young Mortons--observed that you were very handsome, and that he had fancied at first that he had seen you before."
"Indeed!"
"Yes: and looked hard at me while he spoke; and said more than once, significantly, "So his name is Charles?" He talked about some attempt at imposture and litigation, but that was, evidently, merely invented to sound me about your brother--whom, of course, he spoke ill of--impressing on me three or four times that he would never have anything to say to any of the family while Philip lived."
"And you told him," said the young man, hesitatingly, and with a deep blush of shame over his face, "that you were persuaded--that is, that you believed Philip was--was--"
"Was dead! Yes--and without confusion. For the more I reflect, the more I think he must be dead. At all events, you may be sure that he is dead to us, that we shall never hear more of him."
"Poor Philip!"
"Your feelings are natural; they are worthy of your excellent heart; but remember, what would have become of you if you had stayed with him!"
"True!" said the brother, with a slight shudder--"a career of suffering--crime--perhaps the gibbet! Ah! what do I owe you?"
The dinner-party at Mr. Beaufort"s that day was constrained and formal, though the host, in unusual good humour, sought to make himself agreeable. Mrs. Beaufort, languid and afflicted with headache, said little. The two Spencers were yet more silent. But the younger sat next to her he loved; and both hearts were full: and in the evening they contrived to creep apart into a corner by the window, through which the starry heavens looked kindly on them. They conversed in whispers, with long pauses between each: and at times Camilla"s tears flowed silently down her cheeks, and were followed by the false smiles intended to cheer her lover.
Time did not fly, but crept on breathlessly and heavily. And then came the last parting--formal, cold--before witnesses. But the lover could not restrain his emotion, and the hard father heard his suppressed sob as he closed the door.