"They have not resided there for more than two years."
"Indeed!"
"They have lived, of late, at Weymouth, for the benefit of the sea air."
"I hope neither Lady Annabel nor her daughter needs it?" said Lord Cadurcis, in a tone of much feeling.
"Neither now, G.o.d be praised!" replied Masham; "but Miss Herbert has been a great invalid."
There was a rather awkward silence. At length Lord Cadurcis said, "We meet rather unexpectedly, my dear sir."
"Why, you have become a great man," said the Bishop, with a smile; "and one must expect to meet you."
"Ah! my dear friend," exclaimed Lord Cadurcis, with a sigh, "I would willingly give a whole existence of a life like this for one year of happiness at Cherbury."
"Nay!" said the Bishop, with a look of good-natured mockery, "this melancholy is all very well in poetry; but I always half-suspected, and I am quite sure now, that Cherbury was not particularly adapted to you."
"You mistake me," said Cadurcis, mournfully shaking his head.
"Hitherto I have not been so very wrong in my judgment respecting Lord Cadurcis, that I am inclined very easily to give up my opinion,"
replied the Bishop.
"I have often thought of the conversation to which you allude,"
replied Lord Cadurcis; "nevertheless, there is one opinion I never changed, one sentiment that still reigns paramount in my heart."
"You think so," said his companion; but, perhaps, were it more than a sentiment, it would cease to flourish."
"No," said Lord Cadurcis firmly; "the only circ.u.mstance in the world of which I venture to feel certain is my love for Venetia."
"It raged certainly during your last visit to Cherbury," said the Bishop, "after an interval of five years; it has been revived slightly to-day, after an interval of three more, by the sight of a mutual acquaintance, who has reminded you of her. But what have been your feelings in the meantime? Confess the truth, and admit you have very rarely spared a thought to the person to whom you fancy yourself at this moment so pa.s.sionately devoted."
"You do not do me justice," said Lord Cadurcis; "you are prejudiced against me."
"Nay! prejudice is not my humour, my good lord. I decide only from what I myself observe; I give my opinion to you at this moment as freely as I did when you last conversed with me at the abbey, and when I a little displeased you by speaking what you will acknowledge has since turned out to be the truth."
"You mean, then, to say," said his lordship, with some excitement, "that you do not believe that I love Venetia?"
"I think you do, at this moment," replied Masham; "and I think," he continued, smiling, "that you may probably continue very much in love with her, even during the rest of the week."
"You mock me!"
"Nay! I am sincerely serious."
"What, then, do you mean?"
"I mean that your imagination, my lord, dwelling for the moment with great power upon the idea of Venetia, becomes inflamed, and your whole mind is filled with her image."
"A metaphysical description of being in love," said Lord Cadurcis, rather dryly.
"Nay!" said Masham, "I think the heart has something to do with that."
"But the imagination acts upon the heart," rejoined his companion.
"But it is in the nature of its influence not to endure. At this moment, I repeat, your lordship may perhaps love Miss Herbert; you may go home and muse over her memory, and even deplore in pa.s.sionate verses your misery in being separated from her; but, in the course of a few days, she will be again forgotten."
"But were she mine?" urged Lord Cadurcis, eagerly.
"Why, you would probably part from her in a year, as her father parted from Lady Annabel."
"Impossible! for my imagination could not conceive anything more exquisite than she is."
"Then it would conceive something less exquisite," said the Bishop.
"It is a restless quality, and is ever creative, either of good or of evil."
"Ah! my dear Doctor, excuse me for again calling you Doctor, it is so natural," said Cadurcis, in a tone of affection.
"Call me what you will, my dear lord," said the good Bishop, whose heart was moved; "I can never forget old days."
"Believe me, then," continued Cadurcis, "that you misjudge me in respect of Venetia. I feel a.s.sured that, had we married three years ago, I should have been a much happier man."
"Why, you have everything to make you happy," said the Bishop; "if you are not happy, who should be? You are young, and you are famous: all that is now wanted is to be wise."
Lord Cadurcis shrugged his shoulders. I am tired of this life," he said; "I am wearied of the same hollow bustle, and the same false glitter day after day. Ah! my dear friend, when I remember the happy hours when I used to roam through the woods of Cherbury with Venetia, and ramble in that delicious park, both young, both innocent, lit by the sunset and guided by the stars; and then remember that it has all ended in this, and that this is success, glory, fame, or whatever be the proper t.i.tle to baptize the bubble, the burthen of existence is too great for me."
"Hush, hush!" said his friend, rising from the sofa; "you will be happy if you be wise."
"But what is wisdom?" said Lord Cadurcis.
"One quality of it, in your situation, my lord, is to keep your head as calm as you can. Now, I must bid you good night."
The Bishop disappeared, and Lord Cadurcis was immediately surrounded by several fine ladies, who were encouraged by the flattering bulletin that his neighbour at dinner, who was among them, had given of his lordship"s temper. They were rather disappointed to find him sullen, sarcastic, and even morose. As for going to Ranelagh, he declared that, if he had the power of awarding the punishment of his bitterest enemy, it would be to consign him for an hour to the barbarous infliction of a promenade in that temple of ennui; and as for the owner of the alb.u.m, who, anxious about her verses, ventured to express a hope that his lordship would call upon her, the contemptuous bard gave her what he was in the habit of styling "a look," and quitted the room, without deigning otherwise to acknowledge her hopes and her courtesy.
CHAPTER V.
We must now return to our friends the Herberts, who, having quitted Weymouth, without even revisiting Cherbury, are now on their journey to the metropolis. It was not without considerable emotion that Lady Annabel, after an absence of nearly nineteen years, contemplated her return to the scene of some of the most extraordinary and painful occurrences of her life. As for Venetia, who knew nothing of towns and cities, save from the hasty observations she had made in travelling, the idea of London, formed only from books and her imagination, was invested with even awful attributes. Mistress Pauncefort alone looked forward to their future residence simply with feelings of self-congratulation at her return, after so long an interval, to the theatre of former triumphs and pleasures, and where she conceived herself so eminently qualified to shine and to enjoy.
The travellers entered town towards nightfall, by Hyde Park Corner, and proceeded to an hotel in St. James"s Street, where Lady Annabel"s man of business had engaged them apartments. London, with its pallid parish lamps, scattered at long intervals, would have presented but a gloomy appearance to the modern eye, habituated to all the splendour of gas; but to Venetia it seemed difficult to conceive a scene of more brilliant bustle; and she leant back in the carriage, distracted with the lights and the confusion of the crowded streets. When they were once safely lodged in their new residence, the tumult of unpacking the carriages had subsided, and the ceaseless tongue of Pauncefort had in some degree refrained from its wearying and worrying chatter, a feeling of loneliness, after all this agitation and excitement, simultaneously came over the feelings of both mother and daughter, though they alike repressed its expression. Lady Annabel was lost in many sad thoughts, and Venetia felt mournful, though she could scarcely define the cause. Both were silent, and they soon sought refuge from fatigue and melancholy in sleep.
The next morning, it being now April, was fortunately bright and clear. It certainly was a happy fortune that the fair Venetia was not greeted with a fog. She rose refreshed and cheerful, and joined her mother, who was, however, not a little agitated by an impending visit, of which Venetia had been long apprised. This was from Lady Annabel"s brother, the former amba.s.sador, who had of late returned to his native country. The brother and sister had been warmly attached in youth, but the awful interval of time that had elapsed since they parted, filled Venetia"s mother with many sad and serious reflections. The Earl and his family had been duly informed of Lady Annabel"s visit to the metropolis, and had hastened to offer her the hospitality of their home; but the offer had been declined, with feelings, however, not a little gratified by the earnestness with which it had been proffered.
Venetia was now, for the first time in her life, to see a relative.
The antic.i.p.ated meeting excited in her mind rather curiosity than sentiment. She could not share the agitation of her mother, and yet she looked forward to the arrival of her uncle with extreme inquisitiveness. She was not long kept in suspense. Their breakfast was scarcely finished, when he was announced. Lady Annabel turned rather pale; and Venetia, who felt herself as it were a stranger to her blood, would have retired, had not her mother requested her to remain; so she only withdrew to the back of the apartment.
Her uncle was ten years the senior of his sister, but not unlike her.
Tall, graceful, with those bland and sympathising manners that easily win hearts, he entered the room with a smile of affection, yet with a composure of deportment that expressed at the same time how sincerely delighted he was at the meeting, and how considerately determined, at the same time, not to indulge in a scene. He embraced his sister with tenderness, a.s.sured her that she looked as young as ever, softly chided her for not making his house her home, and hoped that they should never part again; and he then turned to his niece. A fine observer, one less interested in the scene than the only witnesses, might have detected in the Earl, notwithstanding his experienced breeding, no ordinary surprise and gratification at the sight of the individual whose relationship he was now to claim for the first time.