Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“ I can't bear the idea of these two young men throwing Lady Anne's faults in the teeth of Helen and Georgiana, dear, affectionate children, who love both you and me, Palmer, so dearly."
"God bless the woman! what nonsense she does talk! neither of 'em would think of such a thing."
"No, they would not think of such a thing, I grant (noble-hearted creatures as we know them to be) ; but they might do it in their pets, you know. Does not every man (and woman, too) say things, in their anger, they never intended to say?" ”

“ I ask no other power, no other pleasure than to live for him, attend upon him, nurse his ailments, bear his petulance with patience, and divert the sorrows which memory may revive by every contrivance my love and imagination may suggest—yes, yes, other people may talk of my large fortune, but I know that it is my dear, good husband, which is Heaven's best boon."
As she spoke thus, in the language of awakened sensibility, Mary became sensible that her heightened colour, her rapid utterance, and the brilliancy of her eye betokened disorder beyond what she had apprehended. ”

“ You must not cherish your sorrow; she begged you would not, for my sake—I ask you not to do it for hers; it is better to encourage no surmises, to recall no memories of the past."
"My remaining life must consist only of recollections," said Glentworth, flinging out of the room and the house with an air of utter recklessness; but, ere he had gone many yards, his heart smote him, and he returned with rapid steps, and, running into the room he had left, found Isabella, with her head laid on the table, weeping bitterly. ”

“ I shall be delighted to have dear Mary for a neighbour. I always loved her, and pitied her, too; but that's all over now. She has married a worthy man, and will be a happy woman. Courage, sister; now you have got one lord, who knows but you may get another?"
Helen became crimson, but it quickly receded, and left her pale as snow, but her expression was that of happiness in Mary's altered situation.
"I was just thinking it possible I might, as you say, get another nobleman for another daughter. ”

“ Isabella approached the couch, knelt down by it, and drawing the hand nearest to her, covered it with kisses and tears. "You have been to blame for not telling me, dearest, because you planted in my bosom jealousy and suspicion, which are now vanished, therefore I can bear my share of your trouble; and on your part some of my surprise and bitter mortification must be endured also. If you can give me the history of this poor lady, do. If it will affect you too much do not attempt it, but say at once what you desire me to do." ”

“ The language of Margarita was the reverse of that of the mother; she yet loved with unbounded tenderness—"In my love for you I have found a new life, not less sweet because it is dashed with sorrow; forsake me not, I beseech you, for my existence is bound in your's; when you leave me I should die, but for a constant correspondence, by which your heart may be moved to give all possible attention to the truths I may be inspired to lay before you—or, if your judgment refuse conviction, your love will be led into farther compliance ”

“ You need not to blush so, Mary, but I must say it becomes you amazingly."
"Don't jest on that subject, Isabella, I beseech you; I can better bear the severity of Mr. Glentworth, than a joke, even from you."
"Dear, dear sister, I would not trifle with your feelings for the world; and I am sure you believe neither Lord Allerton nor any man living would dare to trifle with Glentworth, either respecting his sister or any other subject?"
"I don't suppose they would; he is the last man any one would play with in a serious matter." ”

“ Such were the lineaments on which he had gazed in passionate admiration, dwelt on with tender devotion, and lamented with sorrow, the more deep and abiding in that it was silent and unsuspected, nourished and fed, despite of the wealth which offered every other treasure, and even of the young, innocent, and ardent love of Isabella's virgin heart.
The long companionship of years, the interchange of thought, the gradual unfolding of affection, ripening ripening by degrees, until the whole being is absorbed in one object, and holds existence as tending to one end. ”

“ I am your one wedded wife, and I need not say, the pure, innocent, young wife, whose eye has never lingered on another form, and who trusts she will give to your fond caress, and to your future guidance, another innocent creature, perhaps more dear, but not more loving than herself. I am no child—no girl—no silly miss: I am a wife who may be trusted, and claim confidence, not adulation?"
Glentworth was astonished by the energy, the eloquence, and the truth, with which she spoke; for truth, simple honest truth, borne out by conduct, will have its effect. ”

“ I have undoubtedly tried to put the best construction on your husband's conduct; and when you did so yourself, were you not much happier than you are now? and was it not more consistent with the obedience you have promised, the honour in which you hold him? Surely, you do not wish to hold out Mr. Glentworth to the world as a man who would, in so short a time, degrade himself by deserting the young wife so lately married for love. ”

“ In fact, if ever it was possible to outgrow, by care and wisdom, by affection and good principles, the evils threatened by an ill-assorted marriage, himself and Isabella were the couple who would do it; but he was also deeply, and, for his young wife, happily impressed, with the belief, that she had thus far made the greater sacrifices, and showed the more active disposition to that end; and he said to himself, "Really I love that poor girl better every day! I have been singularly fortunate in having so sweet a young woman to be the mother of my son." ”

“ When at a distance, he contemplated Mary, as she had been depicted to him, pale and shadowy, lovelorn and sallow, carrying in her face signs of that silent, eating sorrow, which writes on the brow what the tongue refuses to utter: he felt as if it were his duty and privilege to soothe that sorrow, and restore that health of which she had been deprived, and that his justice and pity would suffice for love ”

“ Lady Anne fixed her eyes, which were become very large looking ones, upon Georgiana, elevated her brows, and, in a measured tone of voice, indicative of extreme contempt, said, "You are my daughter! granted, Miss Georgiana Granard; and Mrs. Glentworth is my daughter, true! but how can you be equally my daughters, when the husband of one can lay down a thousand pounds, yes, at least a thousand pounds for every hundred the intended husband of the other can produce. Will any body venture to say, that any comparison can exist between two men so differently situated? ”

“ My dear Isabella—My whole existence has been a tissue of mystery and misfortune, to myself as well as to others, for the who and what I was only was revealed to me by degrees, and my ignorance having operated as a blight on my own happiness, and must often have communicated a painful influence on those who were willing to love me, I have at length determined, in your person, and for your sake, to end it. ”

“ She was taken from the pressure of a poverty that made itself constantly felt, to all the comforts and pleasures of wealth in its best gifts and most luxurious indulgences—from the taunts of a mother who upbraided her for supposed personal deficiencies, and gave grudgingly her barest necessities, to a husband who considered her youth as beauty, or admired her as possessing that description of it to which he had been accustomed long, and preferred much, and on which he lavished freely whatever could enhance its merits, or awaken the gratitude of its possessor. ”

“ But a man may idolize a wife (which Glentworth did not) , and yet not find her a companion, save as a pupil, which term indicates inferiority. A great disparity of years places two people in two distinct areas, as to the history of their country, their connexions, memory, and their feelings, for them to enjoy the friendship of marriage, the fellowship of opinions. At that period, when enthusiasm and romance is natural and even graceful in one, it has subsided in the other, and the genuine eloquence of imagination, the vivid burst of feeling, may elicit a smile ”

“ Turning to Georgiana, she said, "Don't be jealous, my dear, but I really do love Helen almost as well as you, because she loves you so dearly. I shall never forget how pale that poor girl looked when she thought my brother would be angry about the ring, her heart throbbed not a little for you. Ah! it is a sweet thing to see 'sisters or brethren dwell together in unity.'"
Just as her foot was on the step of the carriage, she gave Mrs. Palmer a carte blanche to get what ever might be wanted from Meersbrook for her own use or that of Lady Anne. ”

“ At twenty, young men call money dross, but at thirty they know it to be the staff of life; therefore, do not subject yourself to further inconvenience, I beseech you; it is sufficient mortification to any woman to look as old as her mother, which you certainly did when we parted; and I greatly fear the sirocco winds and the blazing suns of Italy have made you resemble a parchment threadpaper at this time."
"Well or ill, near or distant, mamma is all herself to me at least," said Mary, as she put this amiable letter into Isabella's hand. ”

“ Georgiana burst into tears, which became hysterical sobbing.
"Really, mamma, you are very hard on poor Georgiana, who is just come from a long journey, and has of late suffered so much; nobody owes Mr. Glentworth more than I do; nobody loves and honours him more than I do; but I cannot see how," said Mrs. Penrhyn.
"You see! how should you see? people whose eyes are blinded by city fogs, city occupations, even city wealth, are not likely to see into any subject clearly." ”

“ The words "writes to me," in a single moment arrested all the fury in the angry woman's breast. "Should she write to her lord, what might she not unfold;" and she saw in an instant how much mischief she must have done in mentioning the affair of Lord Allerton's marriage, since her lord could not fail to know that if she did not assist her niece, she connived at her conduct, to the injury of his sister and his niece. No man less merited such conduct from his wife than Lord Rotheles, for he had been both generous and confiding to an extreme in her case, and deceit was abhorrent to his nature. ”

“ Georgiana did not hesitate a moment, for she generally kissed her uncle when she met him in the morning. Sir Edward, tenderly encircling her with his feeble arms, said, half playfully, half solemnly,
"With this kiss I thee wed, as the representative of my grandson, Arthur, in token whereof, I place on thy finger this ring, intreating thee never to look upon it without remembering that thou art united to him for better for worse, for richer or poorer; can you take it? think before you speak." ”

“ Every face was dressed in smiles—every eye shot bright glances around, either in search of a customer or an admirer, an old friend or a new lover. Happily the sunshine, which of late had been very scarce, shone out most invitingly, and the room soon became full; but it was rather with starers and loungers than purchasers; and the duchess shook her head very knowingly to Lady Anne, who was her opposite neighbour. Lady Penrhyn had desired to be placed near the door, as she said she was one of those people who could not live without air ”