Emily Eden

“ But if in the whole course of woman's sensitive life there is one moment of happiness more keen, blissful, bright, than another, it is that in which the husband of her choice thanks her for his first born child. It was with heartfelt gratitude that Blanche whispered "I thank God, love, that he has not taken me from you," for she felt, as Arthur pressed her to his heart, as with tears he thanked her for being so patient, so good—as he blessed her, not so much that she was the mother of his child, as that she was still his own, his wife, his Blanche ”

“ She told me the other day, with tears in her eyes, that she never knew what goodness was till she married Mr. Armistead. You know what her own home was. And so as I was saying," pursued the old lady without raising her eyes from her netting, "I expect that in a very short time we shall have Arthur here—perhaps to-morrow."
"Oh, Aunt Sarah!" said Blanche, throwing her arms round her Aunt's neck, "you know more than you tell me; you have heard from Arthur, you are sure he is coming; perhaps he is here," and she started up as if to go and meet him. ”

“ Willis and Mrs. Hopkinson walked for some time in silence, and then she suddenly said,
"I don't like those people, Charles; I do not mind their rudeness to me. I suppose I look like a respectable housekeeper, and she thinks I am one, that does not matter; but I do not quite make out what they are. What do you know of them, my dear?"
"He is one of the wealthiest men in the city," said Willis apologetically, for he was rather nettled that his mother-in-law should have been treated cavalierly, "and she is a very fine lady." ”

“ Have you no nearer relations than an uncle and aunt?"
"I have no other relations whatever, my father and mother died before I was two years old, and I never had either brother or sister."
"That is sad," said the sisters, looking at each other, 'but still you have a home, and since you have no one else to look to, I suppose your uncle and aunt stand in the place of parents to you; could you not—" Janet stopped, she looked at the Baron and Baroness. It seemed really a waste of words to ask if anybody could love them. ”

“ Everybody had been, or would be disappointed in love, hardly anybody but himself aspired to being hopelessly miserable, and invariably unlucky. So any little vague tenderness for Rachel was quelled, his coat was once more buttoned up to the chin, a fresh crape put to his hat, his grey gloves thrown into the fire, and, leaning, with his arms folded, under a cypress tree on the lawn of Marble Hall, Willis was himself again.
"You wicked man!" said the Baroness, approaching him, "where have you been all day? there is breakfast over without you. ”

“ No wonder he looked astonished, and that she felt almost guilty; and the sound of Aileen's carriage was a relief to them both, there would have been a scene, if their tête-à-tête had lasted much longer, so Blanche hurried her father-in-law into the house; and by the help of Aileen and her London topics, conversation was carried on for a few more minutes, and then Lord Chesterton departed, or rather seemed to Blanche to vanish in a black cloud, which would dissolve eventually into a letter to Arthur, warning him of the folly of his wife.
"Oh, dear Aileen, what shall I do? he is so angry!" ”

“ The girls looked at her with astonishment, and Janet, laying hold of her hand, said, "Do not talk so, it is not right, I beg your pardon, perhaps you are not speaking seriously. Nobody can exist unless they have somebody to love, and who loves them in return."
"True," said Rachel, "it is not existence, it is a myth.
"'A dreary void,
The leafless desert of the mind,
The waste of feelings unemployed.'"
"But why not employ them?" said Rose, who was not learned in Byron, "you have a home." ”

“ When you tell me to be more cheerful, when you say my home might be happy, Miss Monteneros, it is in your power to verify your own prophecy."
Rachel looked up with an air of intense astonishment.
"You are fond of that child, oh! Miss Monteneros, let him find in you the mother he has lost. It is in your power to make both the child and father happy."
"Oh, Mr, Willis, what are you saying? Stay one moment—" 'Then there was a pause, and to Willis' extreme surprise, she burst into a hearty laugh. ”

“ While she was sitting by the river side with her nieces, a boat drew to the landing place, and Edwin Grenville's joyous voice hailed his sisters–"Can you give us some luncheon, Blanche? we are starving and tired."
"Then pray come and eat; but who are 'we?'"
"Harcourt, and Grey, and Hilton."
"Hilton," whispered Blanche. "Oh, Aunt Sarah, I wish Edwin would not bring him here, Arthur will be so angry."
"I cannot see why," said Aileen, hastily, and colouring up to the eyes. ”

“ Rachel deposited Charlie with his aunts, and walked home half annoyed, half amused with what had passed. "That comes of giving advice," she thought. "It never answers, but I did it for Charlie's sake; and as the man has no real feeling, no great harm is done. I wish little Charlie had not been so funny and clever about the 'golly locks,' it made me long to be his mother; but to be sure it would not do to marry poor Mr. Willis on the strength of that one quotation." ”

“ He was certain that nobody had ever had such a wife as his, and that no woman had ever endured so much with so much fortitude. He went from Lady Sarah to the Duchess to be soothed, and when their matronly experience failed to console him, he turned to Aileen, and as for the brusque word or two which Mrs. Hopkinson occasionally found time to bestow on him, he accepted it as an oracle from heaven. ”

“ Mrs Hopkinson found the house in great confusion, and full of strange looking men, some trying to seize valuable property which they looked upon as their own, as it had never been paid for—others guarding it for the general benefit of the creditors, and all heaping abuse, in no measured terms, on the head of the plausible swindler. Rachel was in her own room, preparing for departure, but sinking at times into gloomy reveries, which seemed to unfit her for any exertion. ”

“ Baroness Sampson saw that, for one moment, her husband's hand had been unnerved, and to her this told all. She passed her handkerchief rapidly over her face, and then suddenly rose from the table. Her pale face and trembling movements, confirming the declaration she made of sudden faintness, she left the room, murmuring that her influenza and the heat of the room had overcome her, and that Rachel must take her place. ”

“ We must take refuge in the summer-house, Aileen,"
"But it is raining, and your cold?"
"Oh, that is not much, and anything is better than this. Give me heaps of shawls, Justine, and then we will rush into the drawing-room, and save our beloved Aunt Sarah, and carry her off to our wretched little asylum in the garden. Where are my letters? we will take them with us; and now, Aileen, I am ready." ”

“ The other, tall, erect, fresh coloured, his crisp dark curls clustering over his manly looking head, and his keen blue eyes full of intelligence, giving his opinions or his information in a few words, and with a careless tone and manner that inspired confidence. He seemed to have no wish to persuade, and no anxiety as to the effect his assertion might make. "I suppose," thought Rachel, "my uncle might cajole me into believing what he has said; but I have faith beforehand in what Captain Hopkinson is going to say." ”

“ Well, we must do our best to-day, I have a great mind to tell him of all those young men landing at Pleasance, and that lovely lilac gown of Lady Chester's, and the old lady in grey, and the grand carriage with the Duke's coronet that came afterwards; but somehow when I have collected a few little topics of a light kind, Charles looks so like a mute at a funeral, that I cannot bring them out. However, one comfort is, that our old grey gowns will do, and we want to wear them out. ”

“ I could have said nothing better myself, and as the tide has turned, you may as well go. Good-bye, Edwin, you have been lucky in your tides to-day; generally they seem to me to run the wrong way. Aileen, bid your friends good-bye, for we are going in, Blanche is tired."
And so they all dispersed, and Blanche said to her sister, "I am glad Aunt Sarah was here. I shall tell Arthur how it was, and that I had nothing to do with Colonel Hilton's coming here. The next thing will be, that we shall hear of Arthur's waltzing with that horrid Madame von Moerkerke." ”

“ The Baroness had seen the letter arrive, and the trivial incident of the falling glasses, perhaps, had a meaning to her, which no one else could attach to it. How often is the face of the husband, when it seems utterly calm and unmoved to the generality of society, full of strange revelations and terror to the wife who knows its slightest line, its most passing expression. ”

“ And very serviceable Mrs. Hopkinson was. She found Aileen still with tears in her eyes, Mademoiselle Justine occasionally proffering to Blanche a little tisane de fleur d'orange, and watching an opportunity to slip out and dress herself in a petite robe de percale, and a bonnet à barbes, that she had prepared for the particular occasion; and which were not only becoming in themselves, but so appropriate that even the Doctor and the nurse must, she thought, be struck by her wonderfully good taste in dress. ”

“ Janet, he must be in love with Rachel, and all this change is her doing."
"I should not be surprised," said Janet shaking her head sagely. "When people are in love, they are so very benevolent, at least, so I have always heard, of course I know nothing about it. But I am sure there was something very interesting in that long talk he and Rachel had in the garden the other day, Charles has been a different man ever since. But now, Rose, it is time to dress." ”

“ Hopkinson said, such a lady-like disguise, that she made her entry at Pleasance without becoming unusually red in the face, and the quiet kindness with which she was greeted, and the unaffected gaiety of her hosts, put her quite at ease. Seated at dinner next to Lord Chester, who exerted himself to amuse her, Baxter and the footman lost their terrors, and her delight was great when Dr. Ayscough glided into the chair at her side. "I really think it is high time John should begin to be jealous of that man," she told her daughters afterwards. ”

“ But, Aunt, as you don't want to have the Hopkinsons at your parties, and they don't want to come, why not let things remain as they are?"
"For a thousand reasons," said the Baroness, pettishly. "It would be a great advantage to those girls to appear at my parties, and I like to do a good-natured thing." Rachel raised her glass and took a steady view of her Aunt, it seemed as if she wished to study her in an entirely new character. "And if they really sing well, they might make themselves of great use to me." ”

“ Now, just consider, Blanche; you began this week by throwing yourself into a fever because Arthur was to leave you, on a mission that may be of great future advantage to him. He is to be away only three months, and is as much grieved as you are at the separation it involves. You immediately assert that he is going for a year, at least, that he is to forget you instantly, and fall in love with any and every other woman he sees."
"No, only with that woman with the unpronounceable name that he used to dance with; a very dangerous woman, Aunt Sarah." ”

“ Janet was the shorter of the two, so at every return from his voyages he found out she had grown considerably, and as Rose was pale, he dwelt much on her blooming looks. Now that they burst upon him dressed, thanks to Madame Justine's supervision, in very becoming costumes, excited by the amusements of the day, and flushed with the delight of seeing him—he looked at them with the profoundest admiration, and when they left the room to take off their finery, he turned to his wife and said, "Well, old lady, those are not bad looking girls, by any means. ”

“ Hopkinson added, after a pause, "you don't mean to say that poor Willis will ever look up again after his sad loss—that he will ever think of a second wife. To be sure, I have no right to speak; I had been a widow only two years when I married your father; but then I was young and gay, and between ourselves, children, my poor dear first was not a man to grieve for long. Eh, dear! we all have our faults, and he certainly had a good many. ”

“ Then Arthur's fond letter came, and after that matters mended considerably. There was the house to shew to Aileen, and the garden to investigate, and all sorts of red and gold barges came careering up the river, with well-dressed people, looking slightly idiotical as they danced furiously in the hot sun. Aunt Sarah and one or two intimate friends drove down, and envied Blanche her shady trees and cool river, and even insinuated that Arthur was very lucky to have obtained such a good appointment. But there Blanche drew her line, she steadily refused that comfort. ”