"To the Right Honourable Lady Aurora Granville.
"Brought hither in search of the friend of my earlier youth, what have been my perturbation, my hope, my fear, at the sound of the voice of her whom, proudly and fondly, it is my first wish to be permitted to love, and to claim as the friend of my future days!
Ah, Lady Aurora! my inmost soul is touched and moved!--nevertheless, not to press upon the difficulties of your delicacy, nor to take advantage of the softness of your sensibility, I go hence without imploring your support or countenance. I quit again this loved land, scarcely known, though devoutly revered, to watch and wait,--far, far off!--for tidings of my future lot: I go to join the generous guardian of my orphan life,--till I know whether I may hope to be acknowledged by a brother! I go to dwell with my n.o.ble adopted sister,--till I learn whether I may be recalled, to be owned by one still nearer,--and who alone can be still dearer!"
She gave this paper sealed, for delivery, to the chambermaid; saying that she was going to take a long walk; and desiring, should there be any answer, that it might carefully be kept for her return.
This measure was to give Lady Aurora time to reflect, whether or not she should demand an explanation of the note; rather than to surprize the first eager impulse of her kindness.
She then bent her steps towards the sea-side; but, though it was still very early, there was so much company upon the sands, taking exercise before, or after bathing, that she soon turned another way; and, invited by the verdant freshness of the prospects, rambled on for a considerable time: at first, with no other design than to while away a few hours; but, afterwards, to give to those hours the pleasure ever new, ever instructive, of viewing and studying the works of nature; which, on this charming spot, now awfully n.o.ble, now elegantly simple; where the sea and the land, the one sublime in its sameness, the other, exhilarating in its variety, seem to be presented, as if in primeval l.u.s.tre, to the admiring eye of a meditative being.
She clambered up various rocks, nearly to their summit, to enjoy, in one grand perspective, the stupendous expansion of the ocean, glittering with the brilliant rays of a bright and cloudless sky: dazzled, she descended to their base, to repose her sight upon the soft, yet lively tint of the green turf, and the rich, yet mild hue of the downy moss.
Almost sinking, now, from the scorching beams of a nearly vertical sun, she looked round for some umbrageous retreat; but, refreshed the next moment, by salubrious sea-breezes, by the coolness of the rocks, or by the shade of the trees, she remained stationary, and charmed; a devoutly adoring spectatress of the lovely, yet magnificent scenery encircling her; so vast in its glory, so impressive in its details, of wild, varied nature, apparently in its original state.
When at length, she judged it to be right to return, upon coming within sight of the lodging-house, she saw a carriage at the door, into which some lady was mounting.
Could it be Lady Aurora?--could she so depart, after reading her letter?
She retreated till the carriage drove off; and then, at the foot of the stairs, met the chambermaid; of whom she eagerly asked, whether there were any letter, or message, for her, from Lady Aurora.
The maid answered No; her ladyship was gone away without saying any thing.
The words "gone away" extremely affected Juliet, who, in ascending to her room, wept bitterly at such a desertion; even while concluding it to have been exacted by Mrs Howel.
She rang the bell, to enquire whether she might now have a chaise.
The chambermaid told her that she must come that very moment to speak to a lady.
"What lady?" cried Juliet, ever awake to hope; "Is Lady Aurora Granville come back?"
No, no; Lady Aurora was gone to Chudleigh.
"What lady then?"
Mrs Howel, the maid answered, who ordered her to come that instant.
""Tis a mistake," said Juliet, with spirit; "you must seek some other person to whom to deliver such a message!"
The maid would have a.s.serted her exact.i.tude in executing her commission; but Juliet, declining to hear her, insisted upon being left.
Extremely disturbed, she could suggest no reason why Mrs Howel should remain, when Lady Aurora was gone; nor divine whether her letter were voluntarily unanswered; or whether it had even been delivered; nor what might still instigate the unrestrained arrogance of Mrs Howel.
In a few minutes, the chambermaid returned, to acquaint her, that, if she did not come immediately, Mrs Howel would send for her in another manner.
Too indignant, now, for fear, Juliet, said that she had no answer to give to such a message; and charged the maid not to bring her any other.
Another, nevertheless, and ere she had a moment to breathe, followed; which was still more peremptory, and to which the chambermaid sneeringly added,
"You wonna let me look into youore work-bag, wull y?"
"Why should you look into my work-bag?"
"Nay, it ben"t I as do want it; it be Maddam Howel."
"And for what purpose?"
"Nay, I can"t zay; but a do zay a ha" lost a bank-note."
"And what have I, or my work-bag, to do with that?"
"Nay I don"t know; but it ben"t I ha" ta"en it. And it ben"t I--"
She stopt, grinning significantly; but, finding that Juliet deigned not to ask an explanation, went on: "It ben"t I as husselled zomat into my work-bag, in zuch a peck o" troubles, vor to hide it; it ben"t I, vor there be no mortal mon, nor womon neither, I be afeared of; vor I do teake no mon"s goods but my own."
Juliet now was thunderstruck. If a bank-note were missing, appearances, from her silently entering and quitting the room, were certainly against her; and though it could not be difficult to clear away such a suspicion, it was shocking, past endurance, to have such a suspicion to clear.
While she hesitated what to reply, the maid, not doubting but that her embarra.s.sment was guilt, triumphantly continued her own defence; saying, whoever might be suspected, it could not be she, for she did not go into other people"s rooms, not she! to peer about, and see what was to be seen; nor say she was going to call upon grand gentlefolks, when she was not going to do any such thing; not she! nor tear paper upon other people"s tables, to roll things up, and poke them into her work-bag; not she! she had nothing to hide, for there was nothing she took, so there was nothing she had to be ashamed of, not she!
She then mutteringly walked off; but almost instantly returned, desiring to know, in the name of Mrs Howel, whether Miss Ellis preferred that the business of her examination should be terminated, before proper witnesses, in her own room.
Juliet, thus a.s.sailed, urged by judgment, and a sense of propriety, struggled against personal feelings and fears; and resolved to rescue not only herself, but her family, from the disgrace of a public interrogatory. She walked, therefore, straight forward to the apartment of Mrs Howel; determined to own, without delay, her birth and situation, rather than submit to any indignity.
At the entrance, she made way for the chambermaid to announce her; but when she heard that voice, which, to her shocked ears, sounded far more hoa.r.s.e, more harsh, and more coa.r.s.e than the raven"s croak, her spirits nearly forsook her. To cast herself thus upon the powerful enmity of Lord Denmeath, with no kind Lady Aurora at hand, to soften the hazardous tale, by her benignant pity; no generous Lord Melbury within call, to resist perverse incredulity, by spontaneous support, and promised protection:--"twas dreadful!--Yet no choice now remained, no possible resource; she must meet her fate, or run away as a culprit.
The latter she utterly disdained; and, at the words, loudly spoken, from the inner room, "Order her to appear!" she summoned to her aid all that she possessed of pride or of dignity, to disguise her apprehensions; and obeyed the imperious mandate.
Mrs Howel, seated upon an easy chair, received her with an air of prepared scorn; in which, nevertheless, was mixed some surprize at the elegance, yet propriety, of her attire. "Young woman," she sternly said, "what part is this you are acting? And what is it you suppose will be its result? Can you imagine that you are to brave people of condition with impunity? You have again dared to address, clandestinely, and by letter, a young lady of quality, whom you know to be forbidden to afford you any countenance. You have entered my apartment under false pretences; you have been detected precipitately quitting it, thrusting something into your work-bag, evidently taken from my table."--
Juliet now felt her speech restored by contempt. "I by no means intended, Madam," she drily answered, "to have intruded upon your benevolence. The sheet of paper which I took was to write to Lady Aurora Granville; and I imagined,--mistakenly, it seems,--that it was already her ladyship"s."
The calmness of Juliet operated to produce a storm in Mrs Howel that fired all her features; though, deeming it unbecoming her rank in life, to shew anger to a person beneath her, she subdued her pa.s.sion into sarcasm, and said, "Her ladyship, then, it seems, is to provide the paper with which you write to her, as well as the clothes with which you wait upon her? That she refuses herself whatever is not indispensable, in order to make up a secret purse, has long been clear to me; and I now, in your a.s.sumed garments, behold the application of her privations!"
"Oh Lady Aurora! lovely and loved Lady Aurora! have you indeed this kindness for me! this heavenly goodness!"--interrupted, from a sensibility that she would not seek to repress, the penetrated Juliet.
"Unparalleled a.s.surance!" exclaimed Mrs Howel. "And do you think thus triumphantly to gain your sinister ends? no! Lady Aurora will never see your letter! I have already dispatched it to my Lord Denmeath."
The spirit of Juliet now instantly sunk: she felt herself again betrayed into the power of her persecutor; again seized; and trembled so exceedingly, that she with difficulty kept upon her feet.
Mrs Howel exultingly perceived her advantage. "What," she haughtily demanded, "has brought you hither? And why are you here? If, indeed, you approach the sea-side with a view to embark, and return whence you came, I am far from offering any impediment to so befitting a measure.
My Lord Denmeath, I have reason to believe, would even a.s.sist it. Speak, young woman! have you sense enough of the unbecoming situation in which you now stand, to take so proper a course for getting to your home?"
"My home!" repeated Juliet, casting up her eyes, which, bedewed with tears at the word, she then covered with her handkerchief.
"If to go thither be your intention," said Mrs Howel, "the matter may be accommodated; speak, then."
"The little, Madam, that I mean to say," cried Juliet, "I must beg leave to address to you when you are alone." For the waiting-woman still remained at the side of the toilette-table.
"At length, then," said Mrs Howel, much gratified, though always scornful; "you mean to confess?" And she told her woman to hasten the packing up, and then to step into the next room.
"Think, however;" she continued; "deliberate, in this interval, upon what you are going to do. I have already heard the tale which I have seen, by your letter, you hint at propagating; heard it from my Lord Denmeath himself. But so idle a fabrication, without a single proof, or doc.u.ment, in its support, will only be considered as despicable. If that, therefore, is the subject upon which you purpose to entertain me in this _tete a tete_, be advised to change it, untried. Such stale tricks are only to be played upon the inexperienced. You may well blush, young woman! I am willing to hope it is with shame."