Margaret Capel

“ There is an arrangement which would please all parties."
"I have a great regard for young Haveloc," said Mr. Grey seriously; "and I don't wish him so ill as to force a wife upon him. I never saw any good come of making matches. Margaret Capel is nearer to me than the Trevors, who are only second cousins. She is my own sister's child. She will inherit my property in all likelihood, and then she will find no difficulty in obtaining a husband without the disgrace of going in search of one."
"That's a long speech," remarked Mr. Casement. ”

“ Humphries thanked Harriet, made several gestures expressive of great confusion, and then resumed his dialogue with Margaret.
"Do you think, Miss Capel," he continued, "that anybody can love twice?"
"No, Mr. Humphries," returned Margaret quietly.
"No, Miss Capel?" said Mr. Humphries uneasily.
"I think not," replied Margaret smiling at the question.
"But then, Miss Capel, if one is prevented from marrying one's first love, what can one do?"
"Those who think love necessary must remain, single you know, Mr. Humphries; but most people will marry some one else." ”

“ For three days, Margaret was a voluntary prisoner with Harriet. Every morning after [Pg 124] breakfast, when she was locking up the tea-chest, Mr. Humphries made it a point to sidle up to her, and ask "if she could not make him of any use; if he should not drive over to G——, and get any thing for Miss Conway." He likewise, at the same period, warned Miss Capel against the dangers of attending too closely upon her sick friend.
"It is all very well for a day, you know," he said, "but how any body can stand being shut up in a sick room for so long, I can't imagine ”

“ Well, it is very hard you will not believe any thing I say."
"I was not going to contradict you," said Margaret.
"But you have no idea how transparent your countenance is. It will take four or five years more before you will be able to conceal your sentiments. You did not think, when first I was introduced to you, that I was such a causeur. But, reflect, [Pg 30] my dear Miss Capel, upon the extreme difficulty of keeping up any kind of conversation with my sister Harriet. A single word introduced edgeways, is the amount of any one's share in a dialogue with her. ”

“ Open house was kept in Queen Anne’s Gate, and there was an idea afloat in lower Bohemia that here was the counterpart of the Eighteenth-century salon.
This was the high-water tide of Margaret’s good fortune. She had (as she told Gabriel Stanton in one of her letters) everything that a young woman could desire. The disposition of wealth, a measure of fame, the reputation of beauty, lovers and admirers galore. Why, out of the multiplicity of these, she should have selected James Capel, is one of those mysteries that always remain inexplicable. ”

“ Lucy, love, the Sedleys were not at home; I say, George. Well, if he is not looking at the chestnut's fore foot! I never knew such a fidget about horses. George! how polite you are to Miss Capel."
"Miss Capel!" said Mr. Gage, coming up quickly into the verandah, "I am heartily glad to see you again."
His manner was so much more blunt and frank than before—he reminded her so strongly of Captain Gage, that she was quite astonished.
"Ah, how I have improved him!" [Pg 179] said Harriet, who had been watching Margaret's countenance. ”

“ Gage. "There Harriet. I am sure you don't mind it now, only look at Miss Capel."
But not an inch would Harriet let him stir. Captain Smithson longing for something to drink, made a sign to Mr. Gage, and slipped out. Margaret did not like the idea of waiting there till morning. She remembered that the conservatory commanded a very extensive view that reached to the sea; and she thought how grand that rich expanse of country would look, when summoned into life by each vivid flash of lightning. ”

“ Margaret had laid down the guitar and was standing in the Tudor window, pulling the dry leaves from the geraniums. Mr. Humphries joined her.
"Gage is down stairs with Mrs. Singleton," he said.
"So I thought," returned Margaret.
"They are playing at chess together."
"Are they, indeed!" [Pg 92]
"Do you like chess, Miss Capel?"
"Not very much, Mr. Humphries."
"No more do I."
"Ha! ha! there's sympathy," cried Harriet, leaning back in her chair to gain a full view of them among the geraniums.
Mr. Singleton laughed heartily, and told Harriet not to spoil sport. ”

“ She contracted a secret marriage with the musician. What she suffered in her quick disillusionment can easily be realised. James Capel was ill-bred, and of a vanity at least as great as hers. But hers had justification and his none.
Margaret may have been inadequate as a wife, she had been used to every consideration and found herself without any. James Capel was beneath her in everything, in culture and education, refinement. He said openly that men like himself were not destined for one woman. Their short married life was tragedy, a crucifixion of her young womanhood. ”

“ Always, I assure you, my dear Miss Capel, rambling about with Mr. Gage." [Pg 180]
Margaret smiled at Harriet, who looked half bashful, half mischievous.
"It is very well it has turned out so tolerably," said she; "because I always tell George that you had a great hand in bringing things about."
"But you are quite happy, Harriet?"
"Yes; pretty comfortable. George really did take a house for me—a very pretty house. So that when he is obliged to leave Dublin, I shall let him go, and remain behind; for I like the society very much."
"How independently she talks," said Lucy, laughing. ”

“ I wonder which of us is so very horribly ugly," she continued, laughing, "depend upon it, the man has murdered somebody in his day." [Pg 209]
"Harriet! what horrid ideas you have," said Lucy, leaning back very comfortably, "the notion of poor Mr. Haveloc having murdered any one. Don't you think, Miss Capel, it is a beautiful church?"
"Very," said Margaret.
"She has a head-ache; don't talk to her," said Harriet, decidedly.
Lady Raymond was shocked and concerned; and offered Margaret her vinaigrette and her Eau de Cologne, and reproached herself for undertaking so long a drive in the heat. ”

“ Gage quite seriously. "I am very well pleased; for I have not been used to be ashamed of my sister, and I should care to be ashamed of my sister-in-law; for that I suppose will be the end of it, Bessy?"
"I shall be very glad if it is so," replied Elizabeth.
"He might do worse," said Mr. Gage. "Sailors are so inconsèquent. They often marry the most extraordinary persons—people that one never has heard of. Miss Capel, however, seems highly respectable. But," he added in a low tone, "to put that little doll in competition with such a woman as Harriet! Hubert need not fear me for a rival." ”

“ Mr. Singleton informed them that she was a Miss Capel—very good family—charming girl [Pg 99] —excellent fortune—great friend of Harriet's. Almost all the ladies present disliked Harriet, and were delighted at the opportunity to set up a rival beauty. Had Margaret been poor, this would have been difficult; the men would have called her a pretty girl, and passed on to dance with somebody else; but as it was, Margaret was pronounced the belle of the ball-room, and besieged with requests for her hand from all quarters. ”

“ Warde; "but I must now be going. I have a sick person to visit. Good bye, Miss Capel. I expect you to be wonderfully improved by the time I come again."
Margaret rose, bade the old gentleman good bye, and offered him her best thanks for his kind instructions.
[Pg 30]
As soon as she was left alone, she began to think over all she had heard. She felt as if she had been transplanted into the regions of romance—so strange was it to think that Mr. Grey actually knew somebody who had defended two ladies against an attack of brigands, and been wounded in the contest. ”

“ The Dangerous Age comes to a woman at all periods. With Margaret Capel it was seven years after her marriage and over six from the time when she had left her husband. She was impulsive, and for all her introspective egotism, most pitifully ignorant of herself and her emotional capacity. Fortunately Gabriel Stanton was almost as ignorant as she. But, at least after that Sunday evening, there was no more talk of friendship 183between them. ”

“ I fancy a painter would never be tired of watching him."
"We must get him for Alphonse;" said Harriet musing, "he looks foreign; and he is graceful in his gestures. Then, if Margaret prefers Everard, what a chance for Miss Campbell. Lucy! Ah! stop the carriage! Thompson, a glass of water—there is a cottage—run—Miss Capel has fainted!" [Pg 211]
CHAPTER XII.
Org. Time can never
On the white table of unguilty faith
Write counterfeit dishonour.
FORD.
"It was the heat, Harriet, indeed. ”

“ The fact was, she said to herself, that now her meeting with Mr. Haveloc was over—she had been in dread of it; and though in the same house, they hardly saw or spoke to each other, therefore there was nothing more to fear or hope—no suspense left.
Harriet meanwhile was keeping up a [Pg 249] lively conversation with Mr. Haveloc, at last she said:
"Are you one of Miss Capel's admirers? Every one here thinks her very beautiful."
"Very much so," replied Mr. Haveloc, without looking towards Margaret.
"You knew her uncle very well. I suppose you must have seen a good deal of her at Ashdale?" ”

“ Fitzpatrick, in a tone that thrilled through Margaret, there was in it so much despair.
"We are all half asleep," said Mr. Haveloc. "Shall I ring for candles?"
"Do," said Aveline; "stay! do you see a figure—a shadow—there, in the verandah?"
Margaret heard no more. She turned, rushed from the terrace down the steps to the beach on the sands until the foam of the waves broke over her feet.
"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Hubert Gage, who had hastened after her. "What is it you intend? What are you going to do?" ”

“ Gage was all fur and black velvet, yet her regal figure and magnificent stature could not be mistaken.
She was strikingly like her father, with straight features, light brown hair, and calm, clear, full-opened blue eyes; but although it was impossible to deny to her face the regularity of an antique statue, and the sweetness of expression that almost always accompanies regularity, she possessed one drawback in the eyes of Margaret; she must have been two or three and twenty, at least, an age that to a girl of seventeen seems to approach very near to the confines of the grave. ”

“ Gage and Miss Capel are behind."
He advanced to Harriet, bowed to Margaret in passing, and went on speaking to Harriet.
[Pg 198]
"And you did not come on horseback, Mrs. Gage? I thought from Lady Raymond's account, you were never out of the saddle."
"It is so very warm to-day," said Harriet, "how nice and cool the church feels. But, how very odd! What a mint of money this must have cost!"
"Aye. But one never cares what one spends upon a fancy. I am not so satisfied with the bills my gardener brings me in for plants. I dare say, now, you did not grudge what you gave for your favourite horse." ”

“ People are always bored by good music."
"People, my love, are bored if you sing; but they are enraged if you don't. Choose the least evil."
"Mr. Humphries, Miss Capel will take the first of that fine duet in Norma, 'Qual cor tradisti:' you will then hear the purest mezzo soprano in England."
Mr. Humphries gave a wide smile, and offered his hand to lead Margaret to the piano. Harriet drew a low, easy chair, close to the instrument, wrapped a scarf round her throat, and gave her attention to the singing.
"How greatly you have delighted us all," said Mr. Gage to Margaret, when she left the piano ”

“ Casement managed to teaze Margaret by asking her to play 'The Roast Beef of Old England;' or, 'The Girl I left behind me;' airs that she had never heard of; and by turning into ridicule the names and compositions of Doehler and Moscheles, with whose works she was familiar. And every now and then he looked up from his game, and asked Mr. Haveloc what he was about, that he did not turn over the young lady's book, and praise her music; until at last Margaret left the piano in a great pet, and sat down to her netting. ”

“ Casement passed through the field on his way to the house, and Margaret continued her skating with great eagerness.
Presently a footman was seen running towards the pond followed by the gardener's boy at a little distance; then appeared the fat coachman, and, in the farthest distance, Mr. Grey himself.
The footman, quite out of breath, brought [Pg 35] his master's compliments, and he begged Miss Capel to come off the ice: then up came the boy, grinning, but saying nothing, then the coachman toiled up, and said that master was in a mortal fright lest the young lady had come to any harm ”

“ Mason obeyed. Margaret lingered about the room until she thought dinner was on the point of being announced, and then went quietly into the drawing-room, and sat down out of the way, as she hoped. But Harriet's quick eye detected her in a moment. Leaving her fan in Mr. Haveloc's hands, she crossed over to her directly.
"Child! what have you done to make yourself so beautiful," she asked. "You are all steeped in lilies and roses." ”

“ Margaret looked vexed and undecided. She thought there was but one way to put a stop to his assiduities; and although [Pg 188] with great reluctance, she resolved to adopt it.
"You compel me to be very plain with you, Mr. Hubert," she said; "but I cannot see any other means of convincing you that we can be no more than friends to one another. I am engaged to another person."
"Engaged! How is it possible? How can I believe it? You so young—and living so retired. May I ask if Mr. Grey is aware of this engagement?"
"He is," said Margaret.
"Why then it is Claude Haveloc!" ”