Montanvert

“ As to the young ladies, I find they are frequently to visit their mother, but I shall avoid them as much as possible, for they are so much changed since we played together as children of the same family, that there is no longer any affection probably between us—I shall be despised as the daughter of a country curate; and though, I hope, I am not proud, I do not love to be despised......Ah! Montalbert, it is your partiality that has, perhaps, taught me to feel this sensation more than I ought to do. The little rustic thinks that she is preferred by Montalbert, and forgets her humility. ”

“ Oh! I dare say, (replied Miss Vyvian) ; and now I recollect, Miss Lessington, I think you used to be fond of drawing, and had some lessons when you lived with us. But, Mr. Montalbert, since this lady has no occasion for your instructions, do tell me what it is you do with yourself? Do you know, that out of the few people I have seen, at least a dozen have asked me, what is become of my gay and gallant cousin? Some have affected, (added she, with a very significant look) , that you are married, and others, that you are become melancholy mad for the love of some rural beauty ”

“ It is possibly to me, to my rash folly, that Montalbert owes much of his present uneasiness: his mother may have driven him from her with reproaches, with anger—he may, on my account, be loaded with a parent's curse!——Dreadful thought! I dare not dwell upon it.
"I cast my eyes round the high and gloomy room where I sit: all is silent and forlorn; cold and faint, my heart seems to sink within me, and I listen, with even a degree of eagerness, to hear the slow footsteps of Cattina, along the apartments, bringing me my evening meal. ”

“ This extraordinary discovery was a frequent topic of conversation between her and Montalbert as they pursued on their journey; and they often canvassed the circumstancs that would, if the narrative of Mrs. Vyvian had been less authenticated, have given rise to incredulity.—Montalbert, when he first heard it from Rosalie, had remarked these circumstances—"It is strange (said he) that the account you have of your father's present situation is so vague, so indistinct, that you have no clue to guide you even to the certainty of his existnece, none by which you can identify yourself to him. ”

“ Vyvian and Rosalie was no sooner repeated to Montalbert, than it served as an additional argument to enforce the consent he had been so long soliciting. Montalbert was of a warm and impetuous temper: though he had never yet been emancipated from the government of an high-spirited and imperious mother, he was not the less bent on pleasing himself, than are those who have never been contradicted. ”

“ Montalbert, who remarked with indigination this insolent behaviour, and who saw a faint blush of grief and regret wavering on the pale cheek of Mrs. Vyvian, was tempted to express some part of what he felt, but he checked himself, and had determined to go, when Miss Vyvian, casting a malicious look at the drawing-table, and then at Rosalie, who sat by it unoccupied, said, "Oh! I see now, Mr. Montalbert, from whence it happens, that your friends in town complain that they never see you——you have found employment here in teaching some of the fine arts." ”

“ When he saw that I was a little restored, he approached me, and, in a voice hardly inarticulate, said, 'Most unhappy young woman, this is no time to flatter—destruction hangs over you, and it is only in your own power to escape it; for without your own efforts, nobody can save you. I will not decieve you, Miss Montalbert—I will tell you what I really believe, that if your father was assured of what you have now entrusted me with, the life of Mr. Ormsby would be insufficient to satisfy his vengeance—though he would be the first victim......Heaven direct me for the best! ”

“ Every day has appeared more melancholy than that which preceded it; for every day and every hour diminishes my hope that Montalbert is engaged in seeking me......Alas! could his vigilant love be deceived, or would not Signora Belcastro betray herself, had she been questioned?—Ah! fool that I am! I recollect that he could not question her; that he certainly could never know from her that Rosalie exists—Alozzi too is interested in deceiving him—perhaps we shall never meet again.....Montalbert! ”

“ Had I been sure that such a destiny awaited me as I have since experienced, I should, perhaps, have been more than indifferent, and have implored some friendly stroke which might have ended mine and my child's life.....Alas! for what are we reserved?
"I looked at the group, which was assembled in the same room, with alarm infinitely greater than what I felt from the tempest without, violent as it was. I have seen paintings, Montalbert, representing such people; but in England we have no such faces, at least I never saw such! ”

“ I do not know, Montalbert, whether it is her being so nearly related to you, or the memory of her past kindness, or both, but to me there is an attraction about Mrs. Vyvian that I never was conscious of in any other person. The eminent beauty she once possessed is gone, and its ruins only remain, but the delicacy, the faded loveliness of her whole form, is, perhaps, more interesting than the most animated bloom of youth and health. ”

“ Rosalie, though delighted with her journey, and acquiring new ideas at every step, was impatient to proceed, because she dreaded nothing so much as that the mother of Montalbert should discover, by his protracted stay, that he had been to England; while he, more solicitous for the health of his lovely wife, than influenced by any other motive, regulated his journey rather by her convenience, than by the necessity of appearing in proper time for his supposed Sicilian voyage, leaving his friend, the Prince of ——, the care of keeping up appearances for him as well as he could. ”

“ Claudine, on the first appearance of Montalbert, whom she had never seen before, had listened at the door of the room, which was left half open; she heard this terrible speech, and, shrieking aloud, ran up stairs, but before she reached the door of her lady's room, she fell down in a sort of fit, sobbing and screaming aloud. This was not wanting to terrify the unhappy Rosalie; for tremblingly alive to every alarm since her child had been torn from her, there was seldom any thing passed in the house to which she did not listen. ”

“ His mother may no longer be there, or, if she be, it is more than possible that pride and pique may be lost in general calamity, and that at such a time."
"You think then, (said Rosalie, eagerly interrupting him) , I am sure you think that her son, that Montalbert, is lost—or what other calamity would reach her?"
"You exhaust your spirits in vain, my dear Madam, (replied Alozzi) ; to yield to vague fears can avail nothing. If any evil has befallen my friend, your destroying yourself cannot recall him—if he lives, as he probably does, you owe it to him to preserve yourself and his son." ”

“ But this is, indeed, difficult, Montalbert!—The poor solitary Rosalie has no human being to listen to her complaints, or to strengthen her resolution. Day after day she wanders round the deserted apartments of this melancholy house; she sees the faces of two servants, mean, ignorant, and without pity, who perform, in silence, the common offices of life, but seem totally insensible of the state of mind of their wretched prisoner: even the beauty of my lovely child does not plead with these people for him, or for me! ”

“ Montalbert, who felt none of this violent grief at an absence, the duration of which would, as he thought, depend on himself, consoled her with views of future prosperity and uninterrupted happiness.
Alozzi had a few days before left Messina, and was gone to Agrigentum, where he intended to remain for some time. Montablert, therefore, who had no doubt but that he should return within five or six weeks, felt no uneasiness at the thoughts of leaving to frequent interviews with his wife, in his absence, a man whom all his reason did not enable him to see with her, in his presence, without pain. ”

“ She heard the stopping of a carriage, the entrance of a person into the parlour, and soon after the voice of Montalbert, uttering the dreadful sentence—"I have killed him!"—struck her ears; then the shrieks of Claudine, who seemed to be immediately at her door—desperation lent her strength. ”

“ It is night.—I go to my window and look at the stars, which, in this clear atmosphere, are singularly brilliant. I seek the north star, because, Montalbert, I believe that you are in England—an idea that sometimes torments and sometimes sooths me; yet I encourage it even when I am most pained by it, for you have returned thither, perhaps, if not to seek your Rosalie, to weep with her mother for her supposed death.....That dear mother!—ah! ”

“ WHILE Montalbert felt himself highly gratified and obligated by the care his friend had taken to provide every thing in their new abode that could render it convenient and agreeable to Rosalie, she was never weary with contemplating the beauty of the scenery around her. A garden, which even the false Italian taste could not spoil, arose behind the house, and its orange trees fringed the foot of a hill, which would in England have been called a mountain. ”

“ Prepossessed with an idea that Montalbert was in England, the offers of this gentleman seemed to be directed by the interposition of Heaven to convey her to him. The tumult of her spirits were too great to allow her to reflect on the hazard she might incur by putting herself into the power of a stranger; the hopes of being conveyed to England, and Montalbert, by his means, absorbed at that moment every other consideration: but the more delightful the prospect was, the more she dreaded its vanishing, and this she know would happen if Cattina discovered her talking to any one. ”

“ Vyvian was extremely distressed by this intelligence, which she carefully avoided communicating. Though she loved Montalbert extremely, she had many doubts whether in affairs of love he had more honour than other gay young men. She had reason formerly to believe his principles were very free, and she could not but fear, that he might consider his marriage with Rosalie, celebrated as it had been contrary to the laws of England, as an engagement so little binding, that he might break it whenever ambition or the love of variety might induce him to it. ”

“ A stranger in Naples, and without the means of inquiring of any one but Alozzi, who saw her only for a few moments every day, she continued to torment herself with vague and fruitless conjectures as to the fate of Montalbert, of whom she incessantly spoke to the Count, entreating him to make every inquiry, and, above all, to visit Signora Belcastro, his mother, as the probability of Montalbert's safety could be guessed at only by calculating the time of his departure. ”

“ Montalvo is a good sort of fellow in his own fashion, but he is an extravagant man and a desperate gambler, with a queer history, I fancy--at least, nobody knows much about him, not even his brother officers. If you ask them they shrug their shoulders and say that Spain is a big kettle full of all sorts of fish. One thing I do know, however, that he is over head and ears in debt; indeed, there was trouble about it down at The Hague. So, cousin, don't you play with him more than you can help, and don't reckon on that thousand florins to pay your bills with. ”

“ To Walsingham he was unknown; but Rosalie immediately recognized Mr. Blagham, who, not at all abashed by seeing a stranger with her, pranced up to her, exclaiming, "Ah! my sweet sister-in-law, I have met you then at last! Long-parted friends, you know, (continued he, familiarly saluting her) —with this gentleman's leave, who, I suppose, is your spouse."—Rosalie, covered with blushes, answered coldly, "No, Sir—that is not Mr. Montalbert;" and then asking after Mrs. Blagham, she invited him in, though heartily wishing that he might not accept in the invitation. ”

“ But the appearance of the two Miss Vyvians had another effect on Montalbert. These ladies, young as they were, had been early initiated into the world. They were no longer diffident and unassuming, but had all the confidence of women of middle age, without their judgement; were careless of the opinion of all the world as to any thing but their beauty and air of high ton, and rather inclined to provoke censure, by their singularity, than to conciliate by civility, or engage by gentleness. They had already learned that disdain of all inferiors which belongs to people of the very first world ”

“ Then moved by a common impulse, and by a common if a secret fear, with the single exception of Lysbeth, every person present, yes, even the cautious and far-seeing young Van de Werff, echoed "We agree."
"Friends," said Montalvo, "those simple words carry to my mind conviction deep as any vow however solemn; deep, if that were possible, as did the oath of your hostess, upon the faith of which I felt myself justified in acquitting the poor creature who was alleged to be an escaped heretic." Then with a courteous and all-embracing bow Montalvo sat down.
"What a good man! What a delightful man!" ”

“ Montalbert, how different are your manners from those of the people I am condemned to live among!—Dear and amiable patroness of my happy infancy, little did you imagine, when you were so tenderly kind to your unfortunate Rosalie, that you were laying up for her future years insupportable mortification!—Had I never been blessed in your society, had I never known those who are related to you, I should not now be perpetually making comparisons so much to the disadvantage of persons among whom it is my lot to live, and I should then have been as happy as my sisters. ”