"Liberty of action, sir! There is no such thing, and if you do not comply with my wishes, I shall be under the necessity of disinheriting you, though I shall do so with tears in my eyes."
He immediately sought Mrs. Hilary, and communicated his views to her.
She straightway hinted to her niece, whom she loved as her own child, that dignity and decorum required them to leave the abbey at once.
Marionetta listened in silent submission, but when Scythrop entered, and threw himself at her feet in a paroxysm of grief, she threw her arms round his neck, and burst into tears.
Scythrop s.n.a.t.c.hed from its repository his ancestor"s skull, filled it with Madeira, and presenting himself before Mr. Glowry, threatened to drink off the contents, if he did not promise that Marionetta should not leave the abbey without her own consent. Mr. Glowry, who took the Madeira to be some deadly brewage, gave his promise in dismal panic.
Scythrop returned to Marionetta with a joyful heart, and drank the Maderia by the way, leaving his father much disturbed, for he had set his heart on marrying his son to the daughter of his friend, Mr. Toobad.
_III.--Celinda_
Mr. Toobad, too much accustomed to the intermeddling of the devil in all his affairs to be astonished at this new trace of his cloven claw, yet determined to outwit him, for he was sure there could be no comparison between his daughter and Marionetta in the mind of anyone who had a proper perception of the fact that seriousness and solemnity are the characteristics of wisdom. Therefore he set off to meet her in London, that he might lose no time in bringing her to Nightmare Abbey. After the first joy of meeting was over, he told his daughter he had a husband ready for her. The young lady replied very gravely she should take the liberty of choosing for herself.
"Have I not a fortune in my own right, sir?" said Celinda.
"The more is the pity," said Mr. Toobad. "But I can find means, miss--I can find means."
They parted for the night with the expression of opposite resolutions, and in the morning the young lady"s chamber was empty, and what was become of her, Mr. Toobad had no clue to guess. He declared that when he should discover the fugitive, she should find "that the devil was come unto her, having great wrath," and continued to investigate town and country, visiting and revisiting Nightmare Abbey at intervals to consult Mr. Glowry.
Notwithstanding the difficulties that surrounded her, Marionetta could not debar herself from the pleasure of tormenting her lover, whom she kept in a continual fever, sometimes meeting him with unqualified affection, sometimes with chilling indifference, softening him to love by eloquent tenderness, or inflaming him to jealousy by coquetting with the Hon. Mr. Listless. Scythrop"s schemes for regenerating the world and detecting his seven golden candlesticks went on very slowly.
On retiring to his tower one day Scythrop found it pre-occupied. A stranger, m.u.f.fled to the eyes in a cloak, rose at his entrance, and looked at him intently for a few minutes in silence, then saying, "I see by your physiognomy you are to be trusted," dropped the cloak, and revealed to the astonished Scythrop a female form and countenance of dazzling grace and beauty, with long, flowing hair of raven blackness.
"You are a philosopher," said the lady, "and a lover of liberty. You are the author of a treatise called "Philosophical Gas?""
"I am," said Scythrop, delighted at this first blossom of his renown.
She then informed him that she was under the necessity of finding a refuge from an atrocious persecution, and had determined to apply to him (on reading his pamphlet, and recognising a kindred mind) to find her a retreat where she could be concealed from the indefatigable search being made for her.
Doubtless, thought Scythrop, this is one of my seven golden candlesticks, and at once offered her the asylum of his secret apartments, a.s.suring her she might rely on the honour of a transcendental eleutherarch.
"I rely on myself," said the lady. "I act as I please, and let the whole world say what it will. I am rich enough to set it at defiance. They alone are subject to blind authority who have no reliance on their own strength."
Stella took possession of the recondite apartments. Scythrop intended to find another asylum; but from day to day postponed his intention, and by degrees forgot it. The young lady reminded him from day to day, till she also forgot it.
Scythrop had now as much mystery about him as any romantic transcendentalist could desire. He had his esoterical and his exoterical love, and could not endure the thought of losing either of them. His father"s suspicions were aroused by always finding the door locked on visiting Scythrop"s study; and one day, hearing a female voice, and, on the door being opened, finding his son alone, he looked around and said:
"Where is the lady?"
Scythrop invited him to search the tower, but Mr. Glowry was not to be deceived. Scythrop talked loudly, hoping to drown his father"s voice, in vain.
"I, say, sir, when you are so shortly to be married to your cousin Marionetta----"
The bookcase opened in the middle, and the beautiful Stella appeared, exclaiming:
"Married! Is he going to be married? The profligate!"
"Really, madam," said Mr. Glowry, "I do not know what he is going to do, or what anyone is going to do, for all this is incomprehensible."
"I can explain it all," said Scythrop, "if you will have the goodness to leave us alone."
Stella threw herself into a chair and burst into a pa.s.sion of tears.
Scythrop took her hand. She s.n.a.t.c.hed it away, and turned her back upon him. Scythrop continued entreating Mr. Glowry to leave them alone, but he was obstinate, and would not go.
A tap at the door, and Mr. Hilary entered. He stood a few minutes in silent surprise, then departed in search of Marionetta.
Scythrop was now in a hopeless predicament.
Mr. Hilary made a hue and cry, summoning his wife and Marionetta, and they hastened in consternation to Scythrop"s apartments. Mr. Toobad saw them, and judging from their manner that the devil had manifested his wrath in some new shape, followed, and intercepted Stella"s flight at the door by catching her in his arms.
"Celinda!" he exclaimed.
"Papa!" said the young lady disconsolately.
"The devil is come among you!" said Mr. Toobad. "How came my daughter here?"
Marionetta, who had fainted, opened her eyes and fixed them on Celinda.
Celinda, in turn, fixed hers on Marionetta. Scythrop was equi-distant between them, like Mahomet"s coffin.
"Celinda," said Mr. Toobad, "what does this mean? When I told you in London that I had chosen a husband for you, you thought proper to run away from him; and now, to all appearance, you have run away to him."
"How, sir? Was that your choice?"
"Precisely; and if he is yours, too, we shall both be of a mind, for the first time in our lives."
"He is not my choice, sir. This lady has a prior claim. I renounce him."
"And I renounce him!" said Marionetta.
Scythrop knew not what to do. He therefore retreated into his stronghold, mystery; maintained an impenetrable silence, and contented himself with deprecating glances at each of the objects of his idolatry.
The Hon. Mr. Listless, Mr. Flosky, and other guests had been attracted by the tumult, mult.i.tudinous questions, and answers _en ma.s.se_, composed a _charivari_, which was only terminated by Mrs. Hilary and Mr. Toobad retreating with the captive damsels. The whole party followed, leaving Scythrop carefully arranged in a pensive att.i.tude.
_IV.--Scythrop"s Fate_
He was still in this position when the butler entered to announce that dinner was on the table. He refused food, and on being told that the party was much reduced, everybody had gone, requested the butler to bring him a pint of port and a pistol. He would make his exit like Werter, but finally took Raven"s advice--to dine first, and be miserable afterwards.
He was sipping his Madeira, immersed in melancholy musing, when his father entered and requested a rational solution of all this absurdity.
"I will leave it in writing for your satisfaction. The crisis of my fate is come. The world is a stage, and my direction is exit."
"Do not talk so, sir; do not talk so, Scythrop! What would you have?"
"I would have my love."
"And pray, sir, who is your love?"