•Mw ■' i -^..^>pM>3-'^^n ■ .:o; .Iti J4o85ff ut.;. • V>^' c . t>p >■• JOHN. WEST. A.D.I854. L V" -^L I 5 R A R Y OF THL UN I VER.SITY or ILLINOIS 823 G82.6W- V. I I UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN The person charging this material is responsible for its renewal or return to the library on or before the due date. The minimum fee for a lost item is $125.00, $300.00 for bound journals. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. Please note: self-stick notes may result in torn pages and lift some inks. Renew via the Telephone Center at 217-333-8400, 846-262-1510 (toll-free) or cirdib@uiuc.edu. Renew online by choosing the My Account option at: http://www.library.uluc.edu/catalog/ WS^' [? WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? OR, NUPTIAL DISCOVERIES. IN THREE VOLUMES. By MRS. GREEN, AUTHOR OF GOOD MEN OF MODERN DATE, THE FVOITIVE, ROMANCE-READERS AND ROMANCE-WRITERS, REFORMrST, FESTIVAL OF ST. JAGO, CARTHUSIAN FRIAR, ROYAL EXILES, ^e. Ifc. She's a woman of a noble resolution. SIR JOHN VANBRUGH. VOL. I, LONDON: PRINTED FOR A. K. NEWMAN AND CO. LEA DEN H ALL-STREET. 1822. WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? ^^■»^*-»»^.^*.»~f.»**^** ^^f^* CHAPTER I. ^^r.^the^s fey his gay friend, whom he had known from a boy, the lively sir Lucius Torring- ton. The large fortune and accomplish- ments, with the elegant person of Mr. Ays- cough, made him a welcome guest at all the routes and galas of this modern Cai?- thage; and frequently meeting the Ash- ton family, he became the constant sha- dow of Miss Ashton. Lady Ashton had an earnest desire^ as she expressed herself, for him to speak put^ and put the question at once ; for she was sure WHO IS THE BR|D]EGIlOOM ? 37 sure he was over head and ears in love with her Bessy; and to be a nabobess, with sitch a fortune, was better nor all the ladies of quality put togither. This re- mark she would make in confidence to her maid, who told it to the housekeeper, who told it to Miss Ashton's maid, with what additions she pleased to put to it ; and Miss Ashton only turned up her scornful lip, and exclaimed — " What a ri- diculous old woman my mother is !" A grand route was given by the curious a^ enterprising lady Netterville; to which the Ashton family received cards of invi- tation; and in order to discover some- thing more of what she had heard through the medium of her own searching and pe- netrating eyes, Mrs. Horton and Mr. Ays- cough had also their separate cards of in- vitation. Lady Netterville knew well how to be silent when she had any favourite point to carry ; and it was a very extraordinary circumstance, that, much as Mrs. Horton visited 88 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? visited about, as well as Mr. Ayscough, they had never been in the same room since their being at the British Gallery, where Mr. Ayscough certainly saw nothing of Mrs. Horton ; and she began almost to fancy that her sight had been deceived, and that lady Netterville had misunder- stood the name, though that was a very singular circumstance, of the gentleman introduced to her ladyship by sir Lucius Torrington. What various emotions now flushed her cheek, and swelled her throbbing bosom, when she saw Ayscough, almost as hand- some as when in the bloom of youth, and stationed behind Miss Ashton's chair, seemingly delighted with his situation, and looking love unutterable with his fine eyes ! Oh ! what would she not have given to have had one eyebeam of the many that fell on the fine form of Miss Ashton ! The rooms, according to the prevailing fashion of want of comfort at all modern parties, WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 39 parties, became so crowded, that the con- queror of Mrs. Horton's heart was, at times, quite obscured from her searching view ; but as a call to the music-room caused a jostle among many of the well- dressed throng, to change the overcharged atmosphere for the diviner airs of music, Mrs. Horton and Mr. Ayscough came in such close contact, that she was thoroughly convinced the well-known form was no ghost ; while he, in the plump figure and rather rubicund brown face of Mrs. Hor- ton, was obliged to call his recollection to his aid, to assist him to recognise features he was sure he was well acquainted with. The lady however soon refreshed his me- mory, by pressing his hand with her usual freedom ; and with a jocund kind of laugh, she said — " And so, my dear fellow, you are really alive ! What could possess the people to spread a report of your death at M- ? Come, you seem as if you really did not recollect your old friend, Mrs. Horton." Ayscough 40 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? Ayseough could not, in common polite- ness, forbear expressing himself glad to see Mrs. Horton, though in fact he was not. He handed her to the music-room, where she was going merely to follow the stream, for she scarce knew a sonata from an Irish jig ; but Ayseough was an enthusiast in music. The two Miss Ashtons played uncommonly well, and it did not require much persuasion to draw Miss Ashton to the grand pianoforte, as the marquis of Rainsbury offered to accompany her on the violoncello ; and Sophia bent her ele- gant form over the harp: she did not, however, play with quite the science of her sister; therefore lord Rainsbury, who was a complete musician, seemed to pay his sole attention to Miss Ashton : of course. Miss Ashton had not a word for Mr. Ayseough, who was now obliged to listen to all the frivolous flirtation of Mrs. Hiorton^ who, at length, as the crowd in- creased round the fashionable musicians^ gave a soft sigh, and a look at Ayseough, which WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 41 which she meant to be very captivating, and said — " How hateful are these crowds where two hearts wish to communicate ! Ayscough, I have much to say to you;" and giving him her card with her address, she added — " At home to no one else, at two o'clock to-morrow afternoon." She then, without giving him time to reply, mingled in the crowd ; and her carriage being called, she departed home. Had Ayscough been inclined to profit by his good fortune, as the French term it, and he had reason to believe Mrs. Hor- ton might be had on very easy terms, yet she had lost all her powers of captivation. He had heard of the violence of her pas- sions ; he was a quiet, correct character, and he dreaded their influence; he wa§ uneasy at the idea of keeping the assigna- tion she had appointed, and he planned various excuses to avoid it ; but then he thought again it might be best to see her, for sooner or later she would compel him to it ; and he had been on too great terms of 42! WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? of intimacy with her late husband, to shake off all communication with his widow in a moment. Those beauteous and expressive dark eyes of Miss Ashton's were now only direct- ed to lord Rainsbury, to whom every look was accompanied with a smile so sweet, that Ayscough could never have imagined would ever embellish her haughty counte- nance ; his admiration increased, but it was embittered by all the torments of jealou- sy. He endeavoured to attach himself to Sophia, but she was remarkably pensive that evening, and he looked on her as ra- ther an insipid kind of character ; yet he certainly thought her one of the prettiest young creatures he had ever beheld. He however began to think, what was in part true, that they were rival sisters, and each angling for the heart of the handsome young marquis. It was evident to see that lady Ash ton, though she nodded her head quick at a slow movement, and waved it slowly at a sprightly gavotte^ was anxi- ous WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 43 ous when her Sophia did not strike the chords of her harp with that brilUancy of execution with which Miss Ashton struck the keys ; but her eyes brightened when Sophia was called on to sing a certain fa- vourite Italian air, in which she was known to excel. She sang it this evening so sweet- ly plaintive and tender, as to touch every heart. A tear trembled in the fine eyes of the marquis ; he quitted his station by the now-mortified Miss Ashton ; and lean- ing over the seat occupied by Sophia, he seemed afraid to breathe, rest he should lose the sound of one of those precious notes to which her sweet voice and de- lightful manner added so much real har- mony. The impassioned Ayscough now drew near the object of his admiration, but the smiles and graces had fled; she had no looks but for lord Rainsbury and her sister, and they were now of the most malevolent kind. To all that Ayscough could say, she was totally deaf; and though she had be- haved 44 WHO IS THE BUIDEGROOM ? haved to him all the evening with polite- ness, she now turned from him, nor would vouchsafe an answer to any thing he said to her, though lady Ashton often whis- pered — " Betsy, I wonders at your un- politeness." Mr. Ayscough, completely mortified by Miss Ashton's conduct, and truly cha- grined at his rencontre with Mrs. Horton, repaired home at five in the morning; and after writing twenty apologizing notes, to declare a prior engagement to Mrs. Hor- ton, and destroying them all, he at length determined to face the storm at once, and break with her if he found that she laid too close siege to his heart, so as to resolve to attack it, not in due form, but rather with- out form. Ayscough did not reflect that there " is no fury like a woman scorned." Ordering his chariot, a few minutes be- fore two, he set off for Portman-square, where Mrs. Horton now resided. He was received by that lady in a boudoir, where all the grandeur and luxurious voluptu- ousness WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 45 ousness of the East were displayed in pro- fusion. On a superb ottoman of pink sa- tin, in a morning- dress of studied negli- gence, and displaying a very pretty ancle, rather higher than delicacy should allow, reclined the form of Mrs. Horton, half- sitting, half-lying. The sight of the man she passionately loved gave additional brilliancy to a pair of naturally-fine eyes, and heightened the colour on her cheek, where rouge had not been forgotten. Modesty ! thou powerful charm in a female, how great are thy attractions, when even the semblance excites admim- tion ! The good and unsuspecting Ays- cough hoped he now saw it visible in Mrs. Horton, as he beheld her blushing coun- tenance, not remarking the " sly and lurk- ing devil in her wanton eye." He took a seat near the window, through which a demijour only was seen through a painted transparency.—" Are you afraid of me, Asycough?" said she. "Come and sit by me." Common 46 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? Common politeiTess called on him to express himself in something like a flat- tering compliment, so challenged; but this only increased the lady's tenderness, who, leaning her head on his shoulder, burst into tears, exclaiming — " Oh, Ays- cough !" "Compose yourself, my dear Mrs. Hor- ton," stammered out Ayscough ; " why are you so agitated ?" " Why !" almost screamed out the im- passioned fair one — " why ! Oh, cruel man ! can you forget, when, waving every decorum due to my sex, I wrote Oh, Heavens !" added she, covering her face with her hands, " I wrote the fond con- fession that I loved you ; and do you think," continued she, as she looked lan- guishingly on him, "that a flame so ar- dent, which made me break through all established rules, could be so soon extin- guished ? Ayscough, I know you are too wealthy to be tempted by pecuniary considerations; but I have wealth to be- stow, WHO IS THE BRIDEGEOOjVT ? 47 stow, and a heart that never felt a spark of love for another." Ayscough was silent, and his counte- nance evinced more of disgust than grati- tude at this plain declaration. As to the decorum enjoined her sex, Mrs. Horton had long broken through that ; and now she talked of flames and fire, as if it was an overflowing from mount Vesuvius or Mtna. At length all the softness she had endeavoured to throw into her coun- tenance was succeeded by rage that total- ly disfigured it, as her lips uttered execra- tions against the unfeeling nature of Ays- cough, and her mouth literally foamed, as she vowed to hurl her vengeance on the scornful beauty that she plainly saw had led him captive. In vain Ayscough en- deavoured to falter out a few unmeaning expressions of polite gallantry ; and when he had succeeded in calming her wrath, he gently took her hand, and said — " Mrs. Hor- ton, I know you are good-natured, and I am sure you are generous ; therefore I do not fear 48 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? fear to act candidly by you — my heart is irrevocably engaged " ** Do not let me hear the word," inter- rupted she. " Say, if you please, that you cannot just now return my love ; but do Hot drive me to despair by telling me you love another." " My dear Mrs. Horton, this trifling," resumed Ayscough, " will not do. You have promised to hear me, and you must, and shall- — if with patience and temper. Well ; but if again you interrupt me with passion, or with any allusion to the sub- ject I insist upon having dropped for ever between you and me, I quit your house instantly, and we never meet again. If you are willing to accede to terms of friendship, you will never find a sincerer friend than Edmund Ayscough ; but I tell you again, that my heart is irrevocably given away, and that it never will beat with love in any way responsive to yours." Mrs. Horton uttered not a word, but her countenance was terrific. On it were depicted WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 49 depicted, in fearful array, the direful in- fluence of th^passions. She rose, and walk- ing with dignified step, she pulled the bell with violence ; and on the entrance of a servant, she uttered, as calmly as she could — " Order Mr. Ayscough's carriage imme- diately." Ayscough, happy to be so dismissed, rose and took his leave ; he saw not the storm that was preparing, for he thought Mrs. Horton too good-natured to medi- tate the malevolent scheme she had now in mind. VOL. I. D CHAP- 50 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? CHAPTER IV. Manoeuvring. Lady Ashton had suffered much when she lost her amiable and worthy husband, and she certainly bewailed his loss in a parti- cular manner, because he had been snatch- ed away before she had presented him, to use her own words, with a young harrow- knight. Her grief, however, at his death, was violent and sincere, without the above consideration ; and the floods of tears she shed on the occasion brought on an inflam- mation in her eyes, which sensibly dimi- nished, for a time, their former brilliancy. But people do not weep for ever. Rich, still very handsome, blessed with two beautiful daughters and excellent health, lady Ashton, though her once-radiant eyes never WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 51 never recovered entirely their former lus- tre, had nevertheless sufficient charms of countenance left to evince that she had once been extremely handsome ; and be- ing a truly-aifectionate parent, she began to transfer all her tenderness, with a mo- ther's conscious pride, on her daughters. Her highest ambition, and the cherished wish of her heart, were to see them mar- ried to men of title and fortune ; the ho- mage she received from those who crowd- ed the parties she gave, convinced her that abundance of the latter is certainly pre- ferable to the former, when both cannot be obtained ; for what being can be more needy than a needy peer? Soon after lord Hainsbury had accom- panied her ladyship and her daughters to the British Gallery, he paid a morning-vi- sit at her house in Berkeley-square ; and on the entrance of his lordship, lady Ashton happened to be alone. " My lord," said she, after some usual slight observations on the weather, being D 2 now LIBRARY UMIYERSITY OF MUf^m 52 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? now resolved, in her own mifid, to sound him, " my two daughters will be here di- rectly ; they are only gone up to clean themselves for the day ; for we are going, for a wonder, to stay at home this whole evening, because I has some business to derange with my stew art ; and oh dear ! that girl Sophy is the most clever- est one at figures you ever saw! Pray, my lord Raspberry, which of my daugh- ters do you think the prettiest now ?" His lordship blushed and stammered out — " It is almost impossible, madam, to say : the two young ladies are both beauti- ful ; but their beauty is of quite a different kind." " True," said lady Ashton ; " and if I was a young man, 1 know" very well w^ho would please my taste best ; but then that does seem a little vain, to be sure, be- cause Sophy is reckoned so like me." " I am sure your ladyship," said the agitated marquis, " must have been, in person, when at the age of Miss Sophia, exactly WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 53 exactly what she is now in outward ap- pearance'' Lady Ashton was not slow of compre- hension, and there was so singular a stress laid on the words person and outward appearance, that she did not much like it; but wishing to make his lordship speak more plain, and reflecting that per- haps she might not have so glorious an opportunity again, she said — " Why, to be sure, my lord, I never was such a scollard as Sophy, nor was I, nor never shall be, so witty as my Betsy." " Miss Ashton has, indeed," said lord Rainsbury, " more wit than any young lady I know." " Come, come," thought lady Ashton, " he has admired her beauty ; there is no finding out these here young men ; he was, all the morning on Tuesday last, about Betsy; and perhaps, with all his loving looks, he may be only making a cat's paw of Sophy." Such were the elegant thoughts which, D 3 rapid 54 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? rapid as lightning, were passing over the mind of her ladyship ; and she said aloud — " Why, to be sure, all the gentlemen seem to think Betsy the greatest beauty of the two." The expression of" pardon me!" was just about to issue from his lordship's lips ; but, fearful of betraying himself, when he knew his hand was promised to another, he said — " Yes, the beauty of Miss Ashton is striking and commanding ; no one can avoid feeling its power; but " " But what — but what, my dear lord?" said lady Ashton. " Now make haste, for I expect the girls to come down every minute." " My dear lady Ashton," said the mar- quis, with a smile he could not suppress, " Miss Sophia, I was about to remark, has all the softness expressed in your own countenance." Her ladyship drew up her head, endeavoured to look more soft, and his lordship continued — " Her nose is, like your ladyship's, according to the most correct WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 55 correct rules of beauty ; and her mouth j> The marquis could expatiate no longer, as the two young ladies that moment en- tered, both habited in elegant home cos- tume — a style of dress, which, from its re- tired simplicity, best sets off the charms of a beautiful female. Rainsbury politely addressed both the sisters ; but he durst not trust his eyes to rest for a moment on the lovely Sophia ; but taking the hand of Miss Ashton, he led her to a Persian lounge, and sat down by her. Lady Ashton again drew up her head, and Sophia blushed deeply; while, had she been alone, a tear-drop would certain- ly have trembled on her long eyelash, for Rainsbury never even looked towards her; she seemed evidently hurt, for her countenance always owed its peculiar charm from being her mind's index ; fair was the page on which it was written, and chaste, unsullied, and elegant, was the trea- sure to which that index pointed. D 4 Lady 56 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? Lady Ashton shewed some outward signs of vexation, such as driving her spa- niel from the fire, and ringing the bell for the servant to take away an Angola kit- ten; for the two brutes worried her to death that morning, she said, with their monkey tricks : and lady Ashton was vex- ed ; for, ce^jtainly, though she would scarce own it to herself, she did love her Sophia best ; and she did earnestly wish that lord Rainsbury would, in spite of parents pro- hibitions, lead her youngest daughter to the altar. It is also certain that both those daughters regarded the marquis with very partial eyes. His fine person, his truly-accomplished manners, were suf- ficient to move the heart of any young woman in his favour; in that of Sophia it was gentle and virtuous love ; but the passion of Miss Ashton had in it more of ambition than of a softer inclination. She longed for the coronet of a marchioness to encircle her brow; and she knew that when that was her own by a marriage with WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 57 with the wealthy, the fashionable, and handsome lord Rainsbury, that she should be the envy of almost every female be- longing to the court of Great Britain. Her fine, large, dark eyes were now ani- mated by his attentions, till they appeared to emulate the lustre of the sun ; the most good-humoured smile played round her well-formed mouth, as flashes of wit issu- ed from it, original, keen, yet properly tempered, as she knew his lordship loved not ill-natured satire. This agreeable wit gave charms to all she uttered, and Rains- bury at that moment was too much pleas- ed with her conversation to avert his eyes from her faultless countenance, to fix them on her sister, who, though her home desha- bille was elegant, and though it was sel- dom that she looked otherwise than love- liness personified, did certainly not appear to advantage that morning ; for she had not a word to say, and appeared more like an awkward girl from the country, than a young lady who had, for nearly two years, D 5 been 5S WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? been admired, in each fashionable circle in London, as the most bewitching and un- obtruding young beauty that had yet ap- peared in the changeful hemisphere of modern life. • «- Painstaking cares are iKt bestowed, and seldom it is that they aid the powers of beauty. The two young ladies had re- tired to dress long before lord Rainsbury came in. The pleasing intelligence that his lordship was below reached in a mo- ment the two separate dressing-rooms of the rival sisters, who had sent their sou- bi^ettes to find out the visitor whose ser- vant's knock they had heard at the door. Miss Ash ton looked always well in pink ; and her home dress was a muslin pelisse robe, lined throughout with pink ; and on her head w^as a most tasteful and becom- ing cornefte, in the Mary Stuart style, of the finest Mechlin lace, crowned with half opening roses. Her cheek flushed with joy as she contemplated her own at- tractive appearance in the Psyche mirror before WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 59 before which she stood. She made no aU teration whatever in a dress that seemed incapable of improvement ; but, fearful of the power of her sister's elegant simplici- ty, and what it might produce, if she came in some time after her, when, of course, new compliments must be made, she re- solved that they should go down together ; and in that etiquette which is still preserv- ed amongst the correct nobility, she knew, as the eldest sister, lord Rainsbury would speak to her first, and remain by her, perhaps ; but if she went down alone, he would quit her for Sophia as soon as she came in. Never was Sophia before so long in dressing. Her dress was a beautiful Indian muslin, made partially high, and elegant- ly, but not profusely, trimmed with lace. She had never yet worn a cap, except when slightly indisposed with a cold ; and now, over the luxuriant tresses of her beautiful brown hair, she had placed, on the left side, a simple half-wreath of D 6 heartsease. 60 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? heart'sease. She fancied it did not be- come her ; she twitched it off, and deran- ged the beautiful manner in which her hair had been disposed ; she tried to twine the ringlets as they were before, and de- scend without any ornament. She essay- ed, however, first, a half- wreath of jessa- mine ; she could not bear to look at her- self with it ; the hair became again in dis- order; and so much so, that now some- thing was absolutely requisite to cover the dishevelled curls on the left side ; and she found a kind of pastoral coronet of rosebuds and jessamine; these were put together with infinite care and taste alrea- dy ; but that was not enough ; they were tortured and twisted in twenty different ways, till one-half of their petals came off. This headdress was however adopted ; and while little curls of hair concealed the deficiency of the flowers, those that were perfect roguishly peeped through others ; yet there was too much art to make it "look like accident," though to a scien- tific WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 61 tific observer in the toilet's art, nothing could be more beautiful than the dispo- sal of the flowers ; but they did not add one atom to the beauty of the wearer. Her sister, when she joined her in the dressing-room of that lady, was almost tempted to tell her, that her head looked like that of a well-dressed doll; but Miss Ashton chose rather quietly to lay down her book that she had been reading, and while she felt a kind of triumphant joy, she said not a word. The impressions however made by So- phia were not easily done away. She was in the same room with the marquis of Rainsbury, and he could not purposely, as it would seem, keep his eyes from some- times turning towards her. On an arch remark made by Miss Ashton concerning some fashionable morning amusements, he turned, as he laughed, to her mother and sister. A smile embellished the pensive countenance of Sophia, and his lordship, rising from the seat he was then occupy- 62 Who is the buidegroom ? ing, placed himself beside her ; and though their conversation was merely desultory, he yet quitted her more delighted with the little she had said to him, than by all the brilliant sallies that had flowed through the lips of her sister, and found himself more in love with his Sophia than ever; while vanity was busy in whispering to his heart, that she had felt rather hurt that he had not devoted more of his time and attention to her that morning. CHAP. WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 63 CHAPTER V. A Visit to the Exhibition, In a few days after the visit of lord Rains- bury to Berkeley-square, the Ash ton fa- mily, accompanied by Mr. Ayscough, de- voted a fashionable morning to the pur- pose of seeing the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. The rooms were much throng- ed before their arrival; and it was with great difficulty they could obtain a cur- sory view of those paintings, which, either from the pencil of Wilkie, or of those who have imitated his manner, require a near and close investigation. Amongst many who were pressing for- ward to attain the same end was seen Mrs. Horton. She politely saluted the Ashton family, whom she had frequently met 64 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? met in public, and at different fashionable parties; and she gave a cool and distant bow to Mr. Ayscough, which he return- ed with some embarrassment, as the scene in Mrs. Horton's boudoir was still fresh in his memory ; and he appeared in evident agitation, which the penetrating eyes of Miss Ashton did not fail to observe as she held his arm ; but the visible and myste- rious embarrassment of Sophia was yet more astonishing. She turned from red to pale, and the ashy hue again became of a higher effulgence than the damask rose, as she met the eyes of the female on whom Mrs. Horton was condescendingly lean- ing. The young woman was pretty, but there was a deceptive and languishing air on her visage, that would not cause a professed physiognomist to decide in her favour. Her dress was more smart and fashion- able than good in materials, and she ap- peared to be in the light of an humble friend to the proud and gorgeously-attired lady WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 65 lady who hung on her arm ; over which floated part of the drapery of a real Cache- mere shawl, of the finest texture and cost- ly pattern, while a portion of it swept the floor, made dusty by the influx of pe- destrians, who had that morning strolled in to view what may be justly styled the pride and glory of British talents. Lady Ashton caught a glimpse of the female that accompanied Mrs. Horton ; she gave a start, and audibly exclaimed — " Lauk-a-daisy me !" while poor Sophia trembled like a leaf, as her mother regard- ed her with visible anger, and endeavour- ed to drag her away from the spot that those before-mentioned ladies occupied; but, as like many other handsome females who live at ease, lady Ashton had become, in her declining age, rather corpulent, she found it a more difficult task than she had at first imagined, and she became almost stationary with her daughter, whom she held as tight to her as she possibly could, and whom she kept scolding in bitter whisperings, 66 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? whisperings, till the tears started into the dovelike eyes of the gentle Sophia ; and she was so near fainting, that it was judged expedient to quit the crowded scene, and promise themselves a second visit to So- merset House, when there might be a pro- bability of their having a better view of the pictures, which were that year re- markably interesting, and in the inspec- tion of which they had promised them- selves so much pleasure. " Your sister is, I fear, not well," said Mr. Ayscough to Miss Ashton. " Oh ! she is in remarkably-good health !" she replied; " it is only owing to some little difference between my mother and her. Sophia is rather obstinate as well as my lady." This indifference of Miss Ashton to- wards her sister did not altogether please a mind of so feeling a turn as that of Mr. Ayscough, though he could not much approve of the strange kind of manner he saw in Sophia that morning. The hum- ble WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 67 ble companion of the forward Mrs. Hor- ton seemed to have a kind of intimacy with the youngest daughter of the late sir Edward Ashton, which was not quite correct; because it seemed not only un- sanctioned by her mother, but displeasing to her. Many stolen glances of much sig- nificance seemed passing between the two young women, whose lot in life seemed so widely different ; and in the looks of Mrs. Horton's companion might be read those of an adept in intrigue and art. Presently he observed her to hold a letter under her scarf, which she wished to convey to So- phia, who shook her head, as if it was im- possible for her then to take it. They were now near the door at which they were about to make their exit, and Mrs. Horton and her companion followed close behind. Lady Ashton was heard audibly to exclaim — " Sitch good-for-no- thing husseys 1" at which the young wo- man reddened, but apparently more with anger than modesty ; while, just then, over the 68 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? the expressive and lovely countenance of Sophia were diffused that pity — that sweet glow of benevolence, as seemed, in an in- stant, to convince Mr. Ayscough, that, whatever was the mysterious connexion of Sophia with this young woman, it had for its basis only what must be praise- worthy. As they were just on the point of de- parting, the marquis of Rainsbury enter- ed the antiroom. — " What ! going so soon !" said his lordship, casting his eyes, in a particular manner, on the animated coun- tenance of Sophia, who, from her late agi- tation, and the blush he had excited by his presence, looked peculiarly and beautiful- ly interesting. Yes, my lord," said lady Ash ton ; there is such a conquest of people this morning, that we are going away without seeing nothing, as I may say." Then, vexed with herself, she said — " Come, So- phy, come — I ar'n't angry with you now ; let these good people pass. How are you ?" " Much WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 69 " Much better, my dear mamma," said she, with naivete ; and she spoke the truth. The eyes of lord Rainsbury spoke rap- ture and dehght ; he had beheld, with in- ward joy, the glow on her finely-turned cheek at his entrance, and he gazed with transport on her intelligent countenance. — " Could you not, lady Ashton," said he, " endure the crowd for a short time? It will soon be thinned, depend upon it. I am so constant a visitor here, that I can lead you, I am sure, to every painting that is particularly worth dwelling on." " My dear mamma," said Miss Ashton, with assumed softness, " let us return to the great room." " Who can possibly resist such a plead- er?" said his lordship, gallantly, while Miss Ashton triumphed; she recollected his attentions the last time she had seen him ; she how held the arm of the hand- some and wealthy Ayscough ; his intelli- gent conversation had pleased her, and she resolved on making, as she thought was ^ in 70 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? in her power, his lordship jealous : she therefore turned away from the compli- ment, with a kind of silent contempt, to- wards the gratified Ayscough, and lavish- ed on him a most benignant smile ; while lady Ashton, delighted with seeing the love-darting eyes of the marquis of Rains- bury directed to those of her darling daugh- ter, said to her — " Well, child, do you think you shall be able to bear being wedged again in that there crowd we have just left?" " Suppose," said the marquis, " we go into the room of drawings ; that is never so much crowded, and we can afterwards go through these rooms." The party all willingly consented, and his lordship escorted lady Ashton and So- phia, while the happy Ayscough had an opportunity of breathing out many tender professions in the ear of his haughty fair one. When the party gained the room where the drawings are exhibited, they all thought (at least those who knew the la- dies) WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 71 dies) that they had got rid of Mrs. Hor- ton and her companion ; but as So- phia was separated from her mother and sister, and was regarding the portrait, in crayons, of a celebrated actress, she felt a piece of paper suddenly put, or rather at- tempted to be put, into her hand. She started, turned round, and beheld the young woman, to whom, in a half-whis- per, she spoke, as if with the most agoniz- ed feelings — " Oh, Elinor ! how you dis- tress me ! I cannot take it. Direct — you know where — my mother sees us." Ayscough and Miss Ashton lost not one word, and lord Rainsbury, who had the most decided aversion to all mysteri- ous and clandestine dealings, felt almost ready to shake off the delicate arm he held locked in his own, and to which he had given, once or twice, a tender pressure; that arm, and the whole of its owner's ele- gant form, trembled exceedingly, as she saw her mother coming towards her from a party of ladies she had just been speak- ing 72 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ing with, and her ladyship's countenance was marked with severe anger; so that Sophia, being unable to take the note that touched her hand, it fell to the ground ; and two or three parties pressing forward to look at the portrait she had been con- templating, the fatal billet seemed destin- ed to be trampled under foot, and so torn that nothing thereby might be discover- ed. But the marquis kept his eye upon it. Actuated by a curiosity he knew not how to suppress, he politely, after' they had quitted that spot, begged the la- dies to excuse him for a moment, as he saw a gentleman he wished to speak with. That he did see an acquaintance is most true, but he did not just then wish to speak with him, as it happened to be his uncle. He made himself master, however, of the paper, which was unsealed, and al- ready much mutilated, before he did speak to lord Pyr water. " It reflects great honour," said the earl, with a sneer, " on the marquis of Rainsbury, WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 73 Rainsbury, to be conversing in public with that madam Slipslop the Second, lady Ash- ton ; but I suppose it is that pretty toy, her youngest daughter, that attracts you. Take care ; this is no place to speak on those matters; remember your engage- ments to you^ cousin, lady Diana." " I do, my lord," said Rainsbury, " and am willing instantly to fulfil them ;" and the marquis, at that instant, spoke with sincerity. Yet with the nice feelings of honour by which his principles were always actuated, he asked himself if he was not doing wrong in withholding a strip of paper that belonged to another, even though it was no more, and without a seal. These scruples were however driven away by an uncontrollable curiosity, which love, that he feared was now never likely to be re- turned, might in^some means justify. That he was wrong to give way to it, there is no doubt ; but lord Rainsbury was but 4 man, and not a model of perfection. The VOL. I, E reader 74 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? reader also must recollect, that he was, by his late father's will, destined to be the husband of lady Diana Wentworth, unless she refused positively to ratify a treaty which she had never evinced any disposi- tion to break. If, on the perusal of this paper, he should find any thing that might lead him to think the heart of Sophia Ash- ton engaged, he resolved instantly to pro- pose to his uncle, who he knew would joyfully accept the offer, to marry his cou- sin immediately, and thereby forget his loved Sophia in the society of a female so every way her opposite. There seemed a mystery, he thought, this morning, in the conduct of Sophia, that appeared to him unfavourable ; and being rather a disciple of the Lavaterian school, he thought the appearance of the young woman against her ; nor did he ad- mire the seemingly high-fed and luxuri- antly-dressed lady who leant on her arm , he thought he saw design lurking behind the smooth exterior of a good-natured, but certainly WHO IS THE BllIDEGROOM ? 75 certainly meretricious kind of counte- nance — an eye whose glances were studi- ed, and as if roving in search of conquest, and a free and licentious demeanour. However, on the declaration of his ne- phew to ratify his engagements with lady Diana Wentworth, lord Pyrwater's frown was changed into a smile of satisfaction. He had never heard him speak so deter- minedly before on the subject of his pro- jected marriage; indeed he had always evaded it, saying, when the earl started it, that it was time enough. " Come," said lord Pyrwater, "go, take your leave of the widow and her hand- some daughters, and come and dine with me. I shall go home in a few minutes." " Pardon me, my lord," said the mar- quis, " common politeness obliges me to perform the promise I have made to point out, to the party you saw me with, a few of the best pictures in this fine collection." " Ah !" said the earl, peevishly, " you are finely hooked in with those Ashtons." E 2 The 76 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? The marquis reddened from various sensations; at length he stammered out — " And — then — Mr. Ayscough, sir-—" " Ay," interrupted the earl, " he is a very fine young man ; his birth and for- tune are good, and his family very highly connected." " And," said lord Rainsbury, " his cha- racter is irreproachable." " Oh ! I know nothing about that," said the earl, with a sneer. " He seems to be mightily taken with that eldest girl. I wonder where his eyes afre ; for if he must choose an Ashton (which Heaven keep any one of my family from making such a choice in the way of marriage !) it should have been that sweet little creature So- phia." As his lordship finished the sentence, he regarded the countenance of his ne- phew with a very scrutinizing eye. The agitations that pervaded the mind of the marquis at that moment deprived him of succeeding in his efforts to assume an air of WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 77 of indifference; he hastened, in visible confusion, from the presence of his uncle, who repaired home ; while the nephew, somewhat relieved by his departure, has- tened to join the Ashton party. Joy flushed the cheek of Sophia at his return ; the females who had so distressed her were gone; and being by nature sprightly, she chatted with the marquis, with all her wonted ease of manner, and made those apt and intelligent remarks on the different paintings, which disco- vered a real knowledge of the rules be- longing to that charming art, and a taste that enabled her to point out and to feel their various beauties. Often was Rainsbury on the point of giving her the paper that he had taken up ; but as often was he restrained by the strong desire he had of solving the mys- tery which perplexed him, and in which he seemed to feel that his own future des- tiny was concerned. — " She is," thought he, " either all artless innocence, or she is E 3 the 78 WHO IS THE BRIDEGIIOOM ? the most deceptive young creature in the world; and this I will know, as I think I have it now in my power." These reflections crowding on his brain gave at times an inattentive coldness to his behaviour, and a restlessness that in- timated a desire to be gone. Lady Ash- ton perceived it, and said — " I am afeard we are taking up your lordship's time ; I am sure we are perdigiously obliged to you for having bestowed so much upon us ; indeed I believes it is time we were all gone." The marquis gladly acceded to the pro- posal ; and handing lady Ashton and her daughter Sophia to their carriage, they, accompanied by Eliza and Mr. Ayscough, took their leave of lord Rainsbury, who thought every step a mile, till he arrived in Grosvenor-square. CHAP- WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 79 CHAPTER VI. Moie Particulars concerning the Ashton Family, Sir Edward Ashton was a wealthy baro- net, of very ancient standmg; his person was handsome, and he was endowed with a mind stored with the most virtuous principles ; and his fine understanding was highly cultivated with every accomplish- ment that could adorn the scholar and the gentleman. It might however be said of the good baronet, that he was « -only weak against the charm Of beauty's powerful glance — " — a very pretty young female — indeed she was truly lovely, and was such a kind of beauty, in outward form and face, as is E 4 very 80 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? very seldom to be met with among the la- borious class of females in the country; and though ignorant, as may well be sup- posed a farmer's servant would be, whose office consisted in carrying butter and eggs to the great houses in the country, yet her unshaken principles of virtue and chas- tity would confer honour on a diadem. Sir Edward had often beheld this far- mer's handmaid in all her native beauty of unsullied innocence ; and he indulged himself in contemplating the charming picture, till to admiration succeeded a love approaching almost to idolatry. He was at that time his own master ; for, at an early age, he had been put in posses- sion of a very immense fortune with the baronetcy, to which he had not long suc- ceeded, by the death of a father, whose highest happiness was in conjugal felicity, and to which topic his conversation often reverted, generally to the great annoy- ance of the fashionable wedded pairs of the present day: he had been the only husband WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 81 husband of one valued wife for three-and- twenty years, and her death certainly ac- celerated his own. The precepts that sir Willmm Ashton had inculcated in his son Edward took deep root in a mind that was the seat of every virtuous principle: l^l|^ purity of that mind never caused a thought or a wish to come across it, that prompted him to endeavour to seduce the object of his affection ; he therefore proposed nphour- able marriage to the astonished and de- lighted girl, who admired the handsome harrowknight, as she called him, more than all the men she had ever seen in her life, and often wished herself a princess for his sake. Lady Ashton certainly adorned the rank her husband had raised her to by the ex- traordinary beauty of her person ; but she could neither read nor write. Sir Edward was her master, and the reward of a fond embrace, when she performed her lessons well, was a spur to her progress in learn- E 5 ing. 82 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ing. She was not very apt ; and no pains,' however assiduously taken, could be re- paid by any refinement in her language, though, with care, she made it pass off to- lerably well in the country, where they chiefly resided, after the first introduction of the bride to see the lions in the metro- polis. Her beauty gained her numerous suitors among the fashionable libertines; but the most angry repulses to some, and a good box on the ear to others, made the beaux at length desist firom attempting such savage virtue. But lady Ashton was a truly chaste and virtuous woman, from real principle, and loved no one but her dear sir Edward ever in her whole life. Two lovely daughters blessed this dispro- portionate alliance — both beautiful in per- son, but very different in disposition. Sophia, the youngest, at an early age, evinced some symptoms of declining health; and the indolence generally attend- ant on dehcacy of constitution, caused the faculty WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 83 faculty to recommend change of air, and a more emulative kind of education than that she received, in common v^ith her sister, from a governess and masters at home ; she vs^as therefore sent to a board- ing-school a few miles from Exeter. Possessed of a heart warm and enthusi- astic as her father's, Sophia was not long in forming one of those hasty friendships which are generally contracted at boarding- schools. This friendship often, from the extreme youth and inexperience of the parties, is too often misplaced. Sophia thought she had found a congenial soul, in an artful and romantic girl, who, older than herself, taught her that true friend- ship ought to brave every thing for its ob- ject, and should prefer disgrace, and even death itself, to preserve it. Thus poor So- phia, who frequently bestowed almost all her handsome allowance upon the daughter of a country gentleman, who kept her very short of cash, bore the reproaches of lady Ashton on her extravagance, without a E 6 murmur, 84 WHO IS THE BEIDEGROOM ? murmur, scorning to speak of her own generosity, or to betray her friend. There was a slight acquaintance between sir Edward Ashton and Mr. Hawthorn, the father of Elinor, the female friend in question ; but the two gentlemen were so unlike in disposition, that it never amount- ed to any intimacy : their estates lay con- tiguous to each other, and at the holidays the increasing friendship of the young la- dies rendered them inseparable. Lady Ashton was not without a certain share of penetration ; and without pretend- ing to the science of physiognomy, a word which she knew not the meaning of, she was seldom mistaken in the ideas she formed of the face being a true index to the mind. She always said of Miss Haw- thorn, that she could never abide the looks of that sly-looking slut ; and she wonder- ed what her Sophy could see in her to be so bewitched with her. In the very height of this school-day friendship, a more important incident call- ed WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 85 ed forth all the feelings, and all the regret, of the Ashton family. The good sir Edward Ashton was attacked with an alarming and dangerous illness, and, in the pride of health and manly beauty, he was called to the abode " appointed for all living." Sophia's health had been for some months perfectly re-established, and she was immediately, on this sad event, taken from school ; and the inconsolable widow and her daughters quitted, for a time, that delightful mansion and its beautiful sur- rounding scenery, which only served to awaken saddened remembrance, and re- tired, during the first year devoted to mourning, to another estate belonging to the late sir Edward Ashton in Wales, and which, with another valuable one in Cornwall, he bequeathed, in a particular manner, to his widow, to be solely at her disposal. Sophia Ashton and Elinor Hawthorn wept floods of tears on each other's bosoms, and 80 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? and promised to remain unaltered friends^ and be true to each other for ever. Lady Ashton and her daughters repair- ed to the beautiful retirement of Llanloeh Castle, in South Wales, where her fond af- fection for, and gratitude to the best of men, were recalled by every object, and where she had passed the first months of her wedded life. Her eyes were conti- nually suffused with tears ; and her exces- sive weeping, and true internal grief, brought on an illness, for which the wa- ters of Bristol were ordered as a restorative to her health, that seemed to be in a dan- gerous and precarious state. Her daugh- ters however bound her to life ; and after the year had elapsed, which she was re- solved to finish in Wales, she judged it her duty to introduce her girls into those circles which their birth and fortune gave them a right to mingle in ; and she had been a widow about five years, at the time we first presented her to the notice of our readers. ■It-.. The Easter recess before that year in which •^HO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 87 which lady Ash ton and her daughters were seen at the exhibition of the Royal Academy, had been passed at the ancient family-seat belonging to the Ashtons, in Devonshire, and which, in default of male heirs, had become the joint property of the two coheiresses. Miss Hawthorn had irretrievably of- fended her father, by running away with a young gentleman, of very libertine prin- ciples, who basely deserted the female he had seduced, under the most solemn pro- mises of marriage, and then departed for the East Indies, leaving the unfortunate and imprudent girl to " think on what was past, and sigh alone." Like the pro- digal child, she endeavoured to obtain the pardon of her father, by requesting to be taken back to his home, though only as one of his hired servants. He refused her admittance, declaring she nevey should darken his doors again. A sum, how- ever, was transmitted to her quarter- ly, enough to keep her in very humble mediocrity. 88 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? mediocrity. She knew not from what hand it came, though she suspected it was from her father. Sophia Ashton, who resolved never to forsake her, especially in her distress, secret- ly afforded her pecuniary assistance, wept with her over her fallen virtue, and de- plored her father's inflexibility, but again solemnly vowed never to desert her, nor ever betray the trust she had, or might, at any time hereafter, choose to repose in her. Once or twice the stolen interviews of Sophia and her friend Elinor were disco- vered by lady Ash ton, and severely re- probated by her ladyship, who, though she might be called a dragon of virtue, yet chastity in her was no affectation, or excess of prudery. Lady Ashton too was right in her endeavours to put an end to an intimacy and friendship which were not at all proper for the daughter of sir Edward Ashton to cultivate. If lady Ashton had any partiality to one daughter WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 89 daughter more than to the other, it cer- tainly was to Sophia; and when she be- held her, blooming with health and youth- ful vivacity, often diverting her with re- lating her schoolgirl's innocent frolics, her ladyship would instantly check the wish, as it was rising in her bosom, of — " Oh that my darling had never gone to a boarding-school, to form a friendship with an imprudent and artful girl !" As the good sense of Sophia increased, she saw that her mother judged wiser th^n her; but yet she could not resolve to break off the now-highly-improper con- nexion, especially as her excellent and af- fectionate heart taught her, that a friend in distress had a tenfold claim on her ten- derness and bounty. At the same time, this misplaced friendship began to be a heavy yoke on one who dearly loved her mother, and whose duty and love to her parents always went hand in hand. She could not bear to offend her; and her frank and open mind detested the neces- sity 90 WHO IS THE BRIDEGllOOM ? sity she was under of deceiving her. But could she then forsake the distressed and fallen Elinor? Would not such conduct prove her to be one of those worldly and unfeeling friends who withdraw them- selves when the clouds of sorrow and indi- gence darkened the bright sun of prospe- rity ? Her mind was somewhat relieved, after her arrival in town, by a letter from Elinor, brought to her by her maid, and whom she had been obliged to make her confidant, while Miss Hawthorn directed the letters intended for Miss Sophia Ashton under cover to the waiting-woman. In this letter Sophia was informed, that her friend had obtained a situation that would be at once respectable and lucrative ; it was that of companion to a rich widow, yet in the prime of life. Happy to hear of Elinor's good fortune, Sophia, though a pensiveness hung over her countenance, the result of her late agi- tations, which rather added to, than dimi- nished her beauty, nevertheless felt the charming WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 91 IJ charming equality of her usual cheerful spirits return ; and she seemed as if she had escaped from a fetter that was conti-- nually galling, for she now hoped she * should never have occasion again to de- ceive an indulgent parent : but often fatal to future peace of mind are ill-assorted and hasty connexions. CHAPTER VII. Astonishment Breathless with impatience, as much as with walking at an unusual quick pace, lord Rainsbury attained his dwelling. Twice did he, when seated in his library — twice did he begin to pen a note to Miss Sophia Ashton, to enclose to her the fatal paper, and to assure her, on the sacred ho- nour of a man, that it was untouched ; then 92 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? then again he resolved to preserve that honour, and reject his curiosity, by throw- ing the note in the fire. It lay before him on the table — it had been trodden under foot — it was dirty, unsealed. — " Would Sophia, if he returned it to her, ever believe that he had abstained from reading it ? A word caught his eye — he lifted up a corner of the paper. — " Ever rely on my secrecy," was the sentence, he perceived, that followed; he could with- hold the impulse no longer ; he snatched the paper, opened it, and read as follows : — " The scheme on which we con- versed almost ensures success. Fear no- thing. The child will be thought mine, and never doubt your faithful Ellen ; for I shall love the sweet little infant for its young mother's sake. It reminds me of you every time I behold it, and I think I see your own sweet coral lip — your own speaking eye. Secrecy, you know, my dear WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 93 dear Sophia, and constant friendship, form the bond that unites us. I trust in yours, and you may ever rely on my secrecy. " Elinor." "There are more Sophias than bhe,** thought the marquis ; " this letter cannot have been intended for Miss Ashton;" but turning it, he saw, on the reverse, that it was addressed to Miss Sophia Ashton. He leant his head on his hand, while his heart felt bursting with agitation. He knew not before how much he loved the charming Sophia ; but how keen was his disappointment, as he reflected how un- worthy she was of that love ! — " Perhaps," thought he, " all that sweet vivacity, the very symbol of innocence, may be only a varnish of artlessness spread over a licen- tious mind ; and her often-downcast eye and blushing cheek, only the symptoms of guilt ; and her seeming gentleness and timidity, but the fear of detection : and I am," 94 WHO IS THE BEIDEGllOOM ? am," thought he, " to meet this bewitching syren at lady Amelia Stapleton's rout next week, and again at a masqued ball at the du- chess of Arlington's, the week after. I will apologize — 1 will not attend either; I will never see the captivating Sophia more, if I can help it ; yet I should like to detect her in the full security of her deceptions, and watch her arts, till I can, to her utter shame, produce this damning proof of her guilt ; then quit her for ever, by obtaining leave of my uncle to go on the Continent, till the time that my hateful marriage is to take place. But why should I call it hateful ? Dear cousin Diana, you are no deception ; your conduct is open as the day, and you are virtuous ; you are no pattern of pre- tended purity, that disgraces her family in secret, and entrusts the offspring of her guilt to the hands of a friend, who, if I may judge by appearances, bears the marks, on her countenance, of being no better than the deceptive Miss Sophia Ash ton. No, I will not go abroad. I ^ will WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 95 will hasten my marriage. My cousin lady Diana will, I am sure, love me well enough to retire with me, for a while,r*to some foreign land ; or should she refuse, duty wall teach me, when I have made my vows at the altar, to guard my heart against the destructive arts of the enchan- tress Sophia." Full of this idea, his lordship lost no time in dressing and repairing to his un- cle's dinner : but when he arrived at the earl's mansion, his heart failed him, and he could not utter one w^ord concerning the celebration of his marriage with his cou- sin ; indeed, he was in a very ill-humour with the earl, who expatiated much on the beauty of the youngest Miss Ash ton, at whose very name an universal trembling shook the frame of the marquis ; so that, as soon as he had taken a hasty dinner, and more wine than he was in general ac- customed to, he went home, and tossed out a night of feverish anxiety. The morning arrived of that day, at the close 96 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? close of which, or rather nearer to the hour of midnight, he was to attend lady Amelia Stapleton's rout. His general em- ployment, ever since he had found it, was, every morning, to read this note, so fatal to his peace. He penned, and destroyed again, above twenty apologies to lady Amelia, stating that urgent business would call him out of town ; and after re- solving and re-resolving, he determined to keep his engagement, and speak, if possible, daggers to the deceitful fair one, and to shun, in the interim, every place where it might be likely for him to meet her. He saw her once at the opera, but he scarce returned her salute, as she slight- ly bowed her head ; and he turned instant- ly away from the box of lady Ashton, descended to the pit, and after remaining a few minutes in Fop's-alley, quitted the theatre, to the great disappointment of both the young ladies, and indeed of lady Ashton, who had often thought what a charming couple her Sophy and the young WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ^7 young marquis would make. — " And what a pity it was, he was to be thrown away on that bouncing hoyden — that mannish lady Diana Wentworth !" After revolv- ing these ideas in her mind, she turned to her daughters, and elegantly remarked — " Why, sure the markess of Raspberry is as blind as a bat to-night ; he must have seen us when he was in the next box." Miss Ashton reddened, bit her lips, and tossed her head. Sophia, who had been seated in such a way that lord Rainsbury could not possi- bly have avoided seeing her, could scarce restrain a tear from mounting to her eye. Love, with the most minute precision, draws together every circumstance, every little incident, unmarked by the eye of indifference. Conscience also is busy in reflecting, and asking itself whether the beloved object may not have penetrated into something faulty — something deserv- ing of blame, in conduct and behaviour ; and thus fear of being thought unworthy VOL. I. F is 98 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? is added to the certainty of experiencing neglect. We will pass over, however, these anx- ieties, and bring our hero and heroine to- gether at the rout of lady Amelia Staple- ton. Never before did the marquis be- hold his Sophia looking so lovely. Her fair and sylphlike form was enveloped in soft white gossamer satin, elegantly and lightly ornamented with silver and fine blond; mingled among her lovely nut- brown tresses were a few half-opening ro- ses, and sprigs of the Catalonian jessamine ; while a comb, ornamented with pearls of the finest water, fastened up her long hair. Miss Ashton, assiduously attended by Mr. Ayscough, looked and moved like a beautiful sultana; but the gentlemen who attended this splendid rout, excepting the rich East-Indian, had no eyes but for So- phia; and the marquis could not resist the opportunity that offered of placing himself by her side. — " And, oh !" though t he, after conversing some little time with her. WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 99 her, " surely she is innocent as an angel ! if not, she is more deceptive than a ser- pent. Is it possible that there can be de- ceit under so much artless demeanour — in such seeming candour ?" The conversation, by a manoeuvre of the marquis, now turned on friendship. Sophia was enthusiastic on the subject. The marquis insinuated, as he watched her downcast looks and rising blushes, that there were friendships between young people, which were often disproportionate, and sometimes highly improper to be con- tinued. " Sure, my lord," said Sophia, with a faltering accent, " you have been talking with mamma ; for that is exactly her opi- nion, and what she is continually repeat- ing to me." " No, my dear Miss Ashton, the opi- nion is entirely my own." " I would die sooner than betray a friend !" said Sophia, with energy. " That idea," said lord Rainsbury, F 2 gravely. 100 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? gravely, " though it does honour to the excellence of your heart, may be cherish- ed improperly ; and giving way to it too implicitly is often the cause which makes the friendships of young people little else than a guilty compact. Tell me, my dear Miss Ash ton, would you still preserve a friendship for any one that had been ac- tually guilty of any thing bearing on it the stain of criminality ?" And he fixed his dark penetrating eyes on her blushing face. " We are all subject to error, my lord," said Sophia. " The faults of a friend should always meet with commiseration and even indulgence: there are circum- stances too which materially alter events." " You think then," said his lordship, " that a person should continue the warm friend of another^ even when the conduct of that friend is faulty ?" " Undoubtedly, my lord." " Because," said Rainsbury, rather sar- castically, " you would expect the same indulgence yourself." " I have WHO IS THE RRIDEGROOM ? 101 " I have before told your lordship," said Sophia, ** that I would never forsake my friend ; the virtues of a friend merit our highest veneration, and his or her er- rors demand our lenity ; but as I am not accountable to any one for my individual opinion, so neither do I wish you, sir, to adopt it. As we think very differently on the subject of friendship, and as I do not desh'e to be converted, nor to make a con- vert of your lordship, we will drop the subject." " This girl has more spirit than I ima- gined she had," thought the marquis to himself " Ah ! when a woman once gives way to a too great tenderness of heart, and suffers her passions to lead her astray, how soon she loses that bashful meekness, which makes her so loth to maintain her opinion with obstinacy, that she hardly dares to affirm that she has one !" He now left her, to join his cousin, lady Diana Wentworth, whom he found F 3 himself, 102 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? himself, at length, able to accost, from a temporary space having been effected through the well-dressed squeeze. ^ — " My charming cousin," said he, " are you but just arrived ?" Her ladyship gave him an arch look of astonishment at the unusual freedom of his address; but after giving him her hand, in something of a coachmanlike style, she said — -" No, I have been here some time ; I have been watching you and tlie little Sophia Grave-airs, and T was thinking what a charming couple you two would make, and how much better your sentimentality and her prudery would agree, than that same sentimentality with my madcapism ; you know coining words is one of my hobby-horses." *^ My sweet cousin," said the marquis, ** do not speak to me of any other wife than yourself; let us ratify the wishes of our parents as soon as possible." " Now, are you really serious, Henry ?" asked the fashionable dame. " Most WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 103 " Most truly so!" said the marquis, with a half-suppressed sigh. She noticed the sigh ; she thought she perceived in his lordship some desperate effort struggling against inclina,tion. She assumed a serious, indeed a solemn kind of air, that forcibly struck lord Eainsbury. — " Mark me, my lord," said she ; " not one hour before you tell six-and-twenty will I give you my hand in marriage ; for then I can make you free to reject it, and then * I will a tale unfold,' which, when you hear, and then choose to take Diana Wentworth for your wife, 'tis well : I promise you faithfully never to wed ano- ther." " But sir Lucius Torrington," said his lordship ; " modern gossip has long ago given him to your ladyship." " Trust me," replied lady Diana, " sir Lucius Torrington will never be any thing to me." Lady Diana's carriage being now ready, the marquis handed her to it, and accom- F 4 panied 104 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? panied her home, highly to the satisfaction of the earl of Pyrwater, who had come in at a very late hour, and had not witnessed the long conversation between his nephew and Sophia. His wrath was however kindled when he heard of lady Diana's determination of not wedding lord Rains- bury till he was six-and-twenty. He said, however — " Ply her well, boy, to give her consent sooner; but she is a d d ob- stinate hussy, and when she takes a thing in her head, the devil himself, I believe, would not turn her from her resolution." CHAP- WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 105 CHAPTER VIII. The Temptations of Grandeur — Suspi- cion and Jealousy. The reverend ecclesiastic who had been smitten with the beautv of Miss Ashton found, however resplendent that beauty was, many more charms in her nume- rous thousands than in her bright eyes and faultless countenance, or, indeed, in all the brilliant and witty sayings that flowed from her ruby lips, in satire so si- milar to what he himself indulejed in. He was a man of good family, but very poor; and with the most expensive no- tions, though he had a tolerably-good living in Yorkshire, he was likely still to continue so ; for he was devoted to the pleasures of the metropolis, and kept a curate in the F 5 country. 106 WHO IS THE telDEGROOM ? country, to perform that duty which he was very capable of doing himself; and he was employed in preaching charity- sermons in London, or doing *duty alternately with another clerical buck in a fashionable chapel, which little emoluments defrayed a great part of his curate's salary. Not the most ardent lover — not the re- nowned Werter himself, could evince more outward love than the handsome di- vine did towards Miss Ashton ; she too most cordially returned his love, and they had both come to some mutual declara- tions, when the munificent Ayscough, rolling in wealth, stepped in, and acted as a very powerful temptation, and actually succeeded in withdrawing the favoiu' of the haughty Eliza from manly beauty, learn- ing, and fashionable accomplishments, un- gifted by the precious gifts of Phitus, and in fixing her thoughts on that pomp and modern eclat she so highly estimated. Lady Ashton, in certain points, did not want resolution ; her infatuated husband, though WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 107 though he left his property in the care of trustees till his children came of age, yet appointed her ladyship sole guardian of those children. Miss Ash ton knew well that her mother did not like her clerical lover ; her ladyship always said he was a mighty pretty parson indeed; he ought to have his gown stripped over his ears— a good-for-nothing rake of a feller ! Miss Ashton knew too that her mother was empowered to withhold what she pleased of her fortune, if she married imprudently, and diametrically against her consent. Miss Ashton was therefore too ambitious not to prefer riches to poverty and love, and she wisely reflected that to be the wife of a poor and very expensive clergy- man would never accord with her lofty ideas; she therefore lent a willing ear to the suit of Mr. Ayscough, which he press- ed with ardour, and, to the great delight of lady Ashton, she consented to share his immense fortune ; the one-half of which, together with the whole of her own, he F 6 generously 108 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? generously settled on his future bride; and it was agreed that preparations should immediately take place for the wedding, which was not, however, to be celebrated till after the duchess of Arlington's mas- querade. This festive scene was delayed by her grace having been thrown out of her cur- ricle at Epsom races, and she was so dreadfully bruised, that she was likely to be confined for some weeks to her own chamber. The enamoured Ayscough became im- patient ; and after much entreaty and per- suasion, the blushing mistress of his heart, no less impatient to display her new car- riages, new liveries, diamonds, and gorge- ous articles of female paraphernalia, con- sented to give her hand where her heart had but little share. Sophia, though she found a visible change in the manners of the marquis of Eainsbury towards her, was yet truly hap- py ; for her heart was formed by nature to WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 109 to rejoice in the happiness of another, especially in that of a beloved and only sis- ter ; and she beheld the splendid prepara- tions for Eliza's marriage with gratification and delight, anticipating her future hap- piness as if it was, in perspective, her own. Ayscough, now admitted to the playful intimacy of a brother, often found in So- phia that interesting naivete, that sweet- ness of disposition, and innate tenderness of heart, which formed a female model nearly approaching to perfection. The beautiful tyrant he had chosen for life tried his temper, and often shewed her power, by tormenting him with her fancies and caprice ; so that he was at times tempted to ask his own heart what it had been about, when he was first introduced to the sisters, as he made his choice ? But Miss Ashton was certainly more strictly hand- some than the fascinating Sophia ; and a smile from the proud fair one, a conde- scending instance of familiarity, and a took, indicative of tenderness, from a pair of eyes. 110 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? eyes, which she had practised to do what she pleased with, would soon banish every feeling from the heart of Ayscough but the consciousness of her despotic sway, and her undisputed empire over him. It happened, one evening, that he was engaged to accompany the two sisters to the play, which lady Ashton having seen before, declined going to; and as Miss Ashton had promised, the next week, to name an early day for her wedding, and she being now considered by all the fa- shionable world as the bride-elect of Mr. Ayscough, there could be no kind of im- propriety in his being the only escort of the young ladies. Just before dinner. Miss Ashton was taken with a violent headache, to which, from a child, she had been subject ; and both she and her mother so strongly ur- ged Sophia to allow Mr. Ayscough to ac- company her alone, that she was at length prevailed on to accede to their wishes, as she was an enthusiastic admirer of Bra- ham, WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? Ill ham, and it happened to be the last night of his performing before the approaching close of the season. Soon after the end of the first act, she observed a lady, who was seated a few boxes below her, intently watching Mr. Ayscough. She strove in vain to recol- lect her features, till Mr. Ayscough caught the eye of the lady, from whom a distant bow, and contemptuous kind of smile, dis- covered to her Mrs. Horton. What rendered this meeting truly un- pleasant to Sophia was, that Mrs. Horton was accompanied solely by Mr. Haw- thorn ; and that he, from time to time, re- garded Sophia with a sneer, then whisper- ed Mrs. Horton, who seemed unable to conceal her immoderate laughter behind the sticks of her fan. Ayscough began to feel a dread of Mrs. Horton, he knew not why ; and the agi- tation of Sophia, with the heat caused by a most crowded audience, made her faint away. The feeling heart of Ayscough was 112 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? was deeply wounded ; he knew not how to act, as to quit her in her present situa- tion was impossible, and it would be very long ere the carriage would be ready, as a Vkew farce, possessing uncommon interest, had determined them to stay to the end of the performance. He dreaded to take her into the saloon, for fear of implicating her character; and while he applied her vinaigrette to her nostrils, she reclined on his bosom in so deep a swoon, that she ap- peared to have ceased entirely to breathe. After the conclusion of the act (which was fortunately almost over at the time Sophia fainted), INlrs. Horton entered the box ; and every one willingly making way tor a lady of her appearajice, she seated herself beside Sophia, and tendered her services in the most polite manner, say- ing, that as she did not mean to stay the farce, her carriage had been kept in waiting, and her servants were then, no d^Hibt, below, or in the vestibule : if Mr. Ayscough would take the trouble of speaking WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 113 speaking to one of her footmen, be would order the carriage to draw up immedi- ' ately, and she would, in the meantime, take charge of Miss Ashton, who now be- gan to recover from her swoon ; and Mrs. Horton, with a restorative volatile she had always carried about her, since her residence in India, applied it to the temples of So»- phia, and she soon became perfectly reeo»- vered, though very anxious to quit the theatre, where she had become the gaze of every one. The anxious Mr. Ayscough soon return- ed ; and Mrs. Horton and that gentleman accompanied Sophia home in Mrs. Horton's carriage. This rencontre was extremely perplexing to Mr. Ayscough ; the good- nature and kind attention of Mrs. Horton called on the Ashtons to shew her every possible acknowledgement of gratitude ; she became established as an acquaintance, and the penetrating eyes of Miss Ashton fancied she discovered a mutual embar- rassment whenever the gay widow and Mr, 114 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? Mr. Ayscough addressed each other. Mrs. Horton was, however, more capable of concealing what she felt than Mr. Ays- cough ; but her having gained a kind of footing in the family that gave her a li- cence to be familiar, seemed irksome to all parties. Lady Ashton always said she could not abide her ; " and though," she said, " she thought her a good-natured cr^^^r for taking such kind care of her So- phy, yet she had just, for all the world, the look of a woman that was no better nor she should be." Miss Ashton was, in a small degree, jealous, though that de- gree was heightened more by vanity than love ; for Mrs. Horton was always talking of her long acquaintance with Edmund, or Ayscough, as she always familiarly called him by one name or the other ; and she would often remind him of their sports on board the ship that carried them out to India ; while Ayscough would redden, and endeavour to wave the subject, though she kept him to it, and seemed as if she wished WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 115 wished to insinuate that there was some- thing more in their former intimacy than ' what just met the ear. One morning, Mrs. Horton had the effrontery to ask him if he recollected how jealous the poor, dear, old defunct was of him ? That day, Miss Ashton assured Mr. Ayscough, when they were alone, that she never would give him her hand till he had cleared up his myste- rious connexion with this woman. Ays- cough had too much delicacy and genero- sity towards a female, ever to betray her or dishonour her name ; he therefore as- sured Miss Ashton, that Mrs. Horton was a female rattle, and that it was only her indiscreet babbling, which, he must say, he had hoped would have been succeeded by a more prudent conduct as she grew older. It was her giddy and trifling man- ners that rendered her late husband, the general, so jealous, but not of him more than any other gentleman ; on the contra- ry, it was well known at M , that the governor-general Horton had always treat- ed 116 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ed him with marked civility and kind- ness. Sophia longed to ask Mrs. Horton a few questions relative to Elinor Haw- thorn, but could never find an opportu- nity ; and Mrs. Hortori, calling in, a few mornings after, and finding Ayscough, as usual, at lady Ashton's, and as Mrs. Hor- ton sought every opportunity of wreaking her revenge on him, said, very audaciously -*-" Well, we never ought to judge by appearances ; for if I had been asked which of the Miss Ashtons my old playfellow Ayscough was going to be married to, and I had not known, I would have said, without hesitation, to the youngest cer- tainly — to Miss Sophia Ashton." " And why so, madam ?" said lady Ash- ton, indignantly. " Some people thinks they can see a great deal, and so can I sometimes see what I doesn't like." Lady Ashton*s face at this time glowed with the effulgence of the damask-rose ; but it was pale to that of Ayscough. Miss Ash ton WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 117 Ashton looked scorn personified, and glanced contempt, by turns, at Mrs. Hor- ton and her lover ; while Sophia, assailed by various emotions, trembled from her e;Kcess of feeling, and blushed for Mrs. Horton more than for herself. '^ Oh," said the undaunted Mrs. Hor- ton, " had you seen them at the play ! it was indeed a scene too tender for my vo- latile powers to paint : the poor, little, feinting dear lay reclined on the bosom of Ayscough, while he looked unutterable Ithings, tried to restore her by his sooth- kigs, and pressed his balmy lips on her fair forehead." " It is false !" exclaimed Ayscough, un- able to contain his speech within those bounds vv^hich respect towards a female demanded. "Oh fie^r said Mrs. Horton, "what an uncivil monster ! If I did not still re- gard you, from the remembrance of our former attachment, I would never forgive you." "That 118 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? " That is immaterial, madam," said the angry Ayscough : " when a lady forgets herself so much as to utter such indeco- rous untruths, the injured gentleman may be excused if he swerves from the eti- quette of common politeness." Then turning to Miss Ash ton, he said — " Be- lieve me, my beloved Eliza, when I as- sure you that your sister's person is hal- lowed in my presence, as if an angel visi- bly guarded it ; and do you think it pos- sible I would take such a freedom in a public playhouse ? Fie, Mrs. Horton ! fie on you ! That Miss Sophia Ashton sunk against me when she fainted, is most true ; ought I inhumanly to have shaken her off? Her vinaigrette lay with her opera-glass and fan on that part of the box whereon she had been leaning : I endea- voured to make her respire the contents of the vinaigrette, and tried, by chafing her hands, to restore her to animation: your friendly aid, madam, succeeded better; but WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 111^ but your insinuations are now exceeding- , ly improper." " Lauk /" said lady Ash ton, " what do you make such a fuss for, sir ? Pray don't make no more apologies. Don't I know, sir, you are a gentleman, and would al- ways, I am sure, behave like one? I doesn't want nobody, ma'am," added her ladyship, turning to Mrs. Plorton, " to come here to talk a pack of nonsense, and make mischief, and disturb my family's peace." Mrs. Horton, fearing she had gone too far, began to treat the whole as a jest, add- ing — " Why, now surely you are not se- rious ? My dear lady Ash ton, you don't know what a madcap I am. Ask Ays- cough ; he knows it well." " You was a very young lady when first I knew you," said Ayscough, some- what sarcastically. Mrs. Horton looked rather mortified; but recovering herself, she resumed — " I took a female companion lately, who, till she 190 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? she began to find me out, took all I said for matter of fact but " Here the ser- vant threw open the door, and announced the marquis of Rainsbury. His lordship seated himself opposite to Sophia, and close by the side of Mrs. Horton. Lord Rainsbury was gifted with that kind of penetration which is seldom deceived ; and he soon saw that there was something on the tapis, that seemed to have agitated every party except the bold-looking Mrs. Horton ; to whom his lordship, in order the better to observe the Ashton family, thought best to direct his conversation, especially as he associated in his mind the companion of this lady and the mysteri- ous and strange kind of letter he had in his own possession concerning a young child. — " The pleasure that I always de- rive," said he, turning to Mrs. Horton, " from hearing sentences flowing from lips of coral, through teeth of pearl, makes me regret that 1 have not the power of rendering myself invisible." Mrs. Hor- ton's WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 121 ton's teeth were remarkably fine, and she did not fail to shew them at this compli- ment. " I heard you speaking, madam," added he, " as I came in, and I must beg you will not suffer me to be an interrup- tion." " Oh, my lord," said Mrs. Horton, " I was merely stating that I am still a sad madcap, almost as much so as when my old acquaintance, Mr. Ayscough, first knew me, a romping young hoyden in India. But, my dear lady Ash ton," add- ed she, turning to her ladyship, who looked in a very ill-humour, " my com- panion, who knows your family very well, poor, little, simple thing ! absolutely took me at first, I believe, for a mad woman." " Was that the young lady I saw with you, madam, at the Exhibition ?" inquired his lordship, looking at the same time at Sophia, while his words were addressed to Mrs. Horton ; and the face of poor Sophia became suffused with a blush of the deep- est crimson. VOL. I. G " Yes," 122 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? " Yes," answered lady Ashton, in an- other cross-purpose way ; " it's her as is Mrs. Horton's companion, as your lord- ship saw ; but she's none so simple nor in- nocent — not she." " Indeed, my lady, the young woman has been slandered," said Mrs. Horton, with assumed gentleness. " Don't tell me," said lady Ashton ; " I knows what I knows ; and all the village knowed it too afore she corned up to town." *' We should all have charity," said Mrs. Horton. " Poor girl ! if she has erred, she has one of the best hearts in the world ; and in friendship," added she, fixing her bold eyes on poor Sophia's Wushing face, " she is a model for the whole universe to copy after. Her secrecy, even if she knew her friend was highly bkmable,is inviolable; and her affection nothing can destroy." " Hang sitch friendship, say I f" said lady Ashton. " It puts me in mind of what Sophy's schoolmistress used to say, when WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 123 when she and I used to advise together about my girl's being so intimate with that hussy, Miss Hawthorn — that there are friendships often extracted between young people, foolish simpletons ! that are more liker confectionary than friendship; however, I thank you, ma'am, for not bringing her here, for she shall never dark- en my doors ; and Sophy has promised (don't cry, child) never to have no more correction with such a forward puss." " Yet there is a tie," said Mrs. Hor- ton, somewhat spitefully, " that I am sure no one can take resolution enough to break. IMiss Sophia understands me, I am sure." Sophia was silent; but a pearly tear fell on her rosy cheek, and lord Rainsbury could not forbear, as she timidly lifted her humid eyes towards him, to regard her with looks more of pity than of anger.— " However," resumed Mrs. Horton, " Miss Hawthorn will very soon be in a si- tuation to set malice at defiance. My house has been very fortunate to her ; she is go- G 2 ing 124 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ing to be married to a gentleman of large fortune." Sophia hastily dried her tears, and her intelligent eyes brightened at hearing of the success of her friend. Lady Ashton, like many other ladies of strict virtue, would often wound the ear of delicacy in her philippics against vice; and she hastily remarked — " What! and deceive him, I suppose, by passing her- self off for a virgin r " I don't understand your ladyship," said Mrs. Horton, pretending to blush. " Miss Hawthorn will deceive no one. Poor girl! she is the victim of keeping the secrets of a friend who now moves in the highest circles, and is universally thought a pattern of purity." The marquis gave a sigh, almost amount- ing to a groan ; and Sophia, with down- cast eyes, sat trembling like a leaf, and turned from red to pale alternately. Miss Ashton was not wicked as she was vain; and though she sometimes envied her WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 125 her sister, she always loved her. She , rose majestically from her seat, and darted a contemptuous look at Mrs. Horton, which caused her glaring eyes to fall. — " Our new acquaintance," said she, with emphasis, " deals in riddles this morning. My dear sister, our morning-visitors will excuse us for retiring." Then, extending her hand, with a smile, to the gratified Ayscough, she said — " Good-morning, my dear friend ! Be assured, Eliza Ashton can never be influenced by evident malice, however ambiguously expressed ;" then bending her body gracefully, and casting a dignified look round the room, she took Sophia by the hand, who, timidly bowing, quitted the apartment with her sister, and the moment they attained Miss Ash ton's dressing-room, poor Sophia found relief in a violent flood of tears. The morning-visitors now took their leave; and lady Ashton declared to her daughters, after dinner, that she never would be at home to that mischief-making G 3 moll-violent 126 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? moll-violent woman, Mrs. Horton ; " she could see," she said, " well enough, that though she pretended to be so charitable to people's failings, yet she could spread calomel as well as any one " " Of the faculty," said Miss Ashton, laughing, for she could not withstand it, though at her mother's expence. " Ay," said the lady, laughing too in her turn, " you're right enough, Betsy ; for I thinks the faculty be, in general, the greatest gossips in the world ; witness our village apothecary in Devonshire ; I am sure he deals more in tittle-tattle and scandal than any one I know ; I wishes he was married to lady Netterville.'* CHAP- WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 127 CHAPTER IX. An Anonymotis Letter^ and its Result Miss Ashton, in spite of what she had said so generously to Ayscough, which we recorded in the preceding chapter, if we must tell the truth, she had uttered it more to gratify her own spleen against Mrs. Horton, than from any conviction in her own mind of his innocency. She pondered deeply on what her pe- netration had discovered that morning. She perceived plainly, for it was but too palpable, that Mrs. Horton loved Ays- cough ; but whether he ever had or did now return it, she could not fathom; yet she felt assured that some illicit inti- macy had existed between them in India, and that he had now forsaken a woman G 4 that 1^8 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? that a character like his could certainly never esteem. There was something in that of Mrs. Horton that inspired her with horror ; for she plainly saw that she was possessed of a very revengeful temper, that would stop at nothing to satisfy her vengeance, and would not mind re- sorting to the most diabolical means ; why then, she asked herself, should she, M^ho felt but verv little real affection for Ayscough's person, though she admired his principles, subject herself, by a mar- riage with him, to become the victim of as lighted woman's revenge? It argued too a libertinism of conduct in the man to whom she was about to devote herself for life, to have been on such familiar terms with a woman, and afterwards to " cast her like a loathsome weed away." This proceeding but ill accorded with her own principles, which were noble and virtuous, though a too-fatal predominance of a love of fashion, luxury, and show, with an excessive vainglory of her wit and WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 129 and beauty, spoiled the fair promise of her many brilliant qualities, " I am sure," thought she, as she sat meditating in her little boudoir, " that Mrs. Horton has some malevolent design against my sister ; but Sophia has closed her heart against me, to embosom her se- crets elsewhere, and I scorn to ask a ques- tion of her that can lead to what she seems to know, I suppose, concerning that mean- spirited Elinor Hawthorn ; for as to So- phia herself, she is all purity and artless innocence. Sweet, unsullied blossom ! who shall dare to breathe the poison of slander against it ? What a pity it is that she is the victim of such a false system of friend- ship ! To-morrow — oh ! to-morrow, I have promised to name the day when I shall irrevocably bestow my hand on Ays- cough ; he is certainly a worthy man ; but do I love him well enough to barter my peace, and subject myself to Mrs. Hor- ton's revenge ?" She was in this frame of mind, and felt G 5 fully 130 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? fully resolved to put off her marriage with Ayscough for a short time, when her maid came in, and brought her a letter, saying — " It is private business, ma'am. A very fine gentleman gave it me in the street just now, as I was coming back from tak- ing your lace scarf to be cleaned ; and when he gave me the letter, he popped two bright sovereigns into my hand, and was off like a shot, before I could refuse them. He told me, ma'am, that the letter was of the utmost consequence, and that I must give it you when you were quite alone." "I have no secrets from my mother," said Miss Ashton, haughtily. " I dare say you were pleased enough that you could not return the bribe; and as you have been so well paid for your being secret, you may as well remain so, at any rate, till I have read my letter." " La, ma'am ! I would not betray you for worlds. I am sure, when I lived with lady Ketterville's niece, who was the rich cheese- WHO IS THE BUIDEGROOM? 131 cheesemonger's daughter, and who mar- ried the lord mayor's third cousin, who's so 'mensely rich " " Hold your tongue !" said Miss Ash- ton, " with your nasty butter-and-cheese gentry, faugh ! and your trumpery city honours! You learnt a pretty deal of scandal in mother Netterville's family, I know ! But begone now, and let me read this precious morsel, for which the fool of a writer, whoever he is, has paid so much. However, leave me now to myself" The moment the soubrette was gone, who. Miss Ash ton knew, was prudence per- sonified, and could be secret as the grave, the young lady turned the key of her boudoir, and read as follows :— " In pity to one who has watch- ed your footsteps, and who has lived for days, weeks, and months, on only one of your angelic smiles, grant to an unhappy and despairing man one single request, be- G 6 fore 132 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? fore you bestow your hand on him you are about thereby to render for ever happy. Oh, matchless Eliza ! it is but a trifling boon in itself I have to ask, though of the utmost importance to me— to me, who once thought that you returned his love. Oh, fool! vain dolt ! how could I imagine such feli« city to be the lot of him whom fortune frowns on, but whom I once thought Eli- za would not disown ! But let me not trespass on that time, the precious mo- ments of which are devoted to the happy, happy Ayscough ; I hasten, therefore, to inform the charming Miss Ashton, that the duchess of Arlington is likely now very speedily to recover ; and her masque- rade will take place immediately on the fiat of her physician, who has pronounced her a complete convalescent; he suffers her to go out, and is expected to-morrow finally to take his leave. " You cannot, 1 am sure, be ignorant who the writer is who now addresses you ; and if ever I was dear to you — if ever that WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 133 that noble heart beat with one pulsation in my favour, I beseech you now to grant the last request I shall ever make you : it is, to defer your marriage till after the du- chess of Arlington's masquerade ; and do not, by appearing there as the bride of the man who is actuated more by ambition and vanity to hail you by that title than by real tenderness, plunge a dagger in the breast of, and reduce to some fatal act of desperation, " Your own ** Clericus." Miss Ashton had little doubt in her mind as to the person who had penned this letter, particularly from its being sign- ed Clericus; but how different was the style from the elegance of his ! and why, when writing to her, should the reverend gentleman disguise his hand ? However, as to the change of style, much excuse might certainly be made for a man she had reduced 134 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? reduced to a state of despair ; and having almost before resolved in her own mind to put off her marriage, she was fully deter- mined to postpone it till after the masque- rade. After dropping a few tears to the me- mory of her first love, and wishing she had never given her consent to receive Ays- eough as her future husband, she clothed her face in smiles the next morning, when the anxious and enamoured lover called to entreat his proud mistress to name an early day, and he hoped every thing pro- pitious from the smile that embellished her features, and irradiated her truly-beau- tiful countenance, as she presented him with her hand on his entrance ; while lady Ashton said — " Come, now, my own Bet- sy, that's something like. La! I say, what sirmijies making a fuss, and standing shill-I-shall-I, when things are agreed onr >» Not so fast, my dear mamma," said Miss Ashton, her countenance becoming rather WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 135 rather cloudy at this nonsense ; ** the im- portant situation I am about to enter into requires much consideration." Ayscough looked anxious ; and Sophia, actuated by her native kindness of heart, ventured to remark — " But, my dear Eli- za, have you not already given it consider- ation ? therefore do not trifle with good Mr. Ayscough, but make him happy by naming an early day." " Sweet pleader !" said Ayscough, " my more than sister ! how infinitely do I feel obliged to you ! for, surely, my Eliza will not suffer an only sister to plead in vam." The cloud on Miss Ashton's brow now increased. — " Sophia," said she, " I am astonished at you ! Surely, in what is to stamp my own future happiness or misery, I may be allowed to think and act for my- self!" Here a pause ensued, and Miss Ashton, forcing a smile, said—" Mr. Ays- cough, I must crave your indulgence ; we have all promised to be present at the du- chess 136 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? chess of Arlington's masqued ball, and that even our recent marriage should not pre- vent us from attending. Now I have an unconquerable aversion to appearing there in the character of a bride, for at supper we shall all unmask ; therefore I beg to postpone our wedding till that fete is over; and then, Ayscough, you shall not say I am ungenerous, for you may name your own day." " Lauk, Betsy !" said lady Ash ton, " I am ashamed of you ! Why that there masquerade may not take place till next winter; for sitch an ugly accident as her grace met with may keep her confined yet for some months." " I have been informed, from credible authority," said Miss Ashton, " that her, grace is perfectly recovered, and has been out." Fie, Betsy !" exclaimed lady Ashton, how can you invent such abomination fibs, when you knows, very well, that the last bulUand-ten said, the duchess of Ar- lington WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 1S7 ,^ lington was in a confirmed state of count- valency, but not yet allowed to go out! Pray, Miss Ash ton, where did you get your intelligence ?" When lady Ash ton addressed her daugh- ter by the title of Miss, and wore a scru- tinizing frown on her brow, Eliza knew she was not only displeased, but in a de- termined humour to investigate the truth ; the young lady therefore blushed, stam- mered, and said her maid had furnished her with the intelligence, and that it was true enough. " Let her be called up then," said lady Ashton, " and let her give up her author ; I wonder what that poor literate creature should know." Lady Ashton meant illiterate, and which word she generally substituted for ignorant, and vice versa. " Dear mamma," said Miss Ashton, " what nonsense is all this ! Did not both you and Mr. Ayscough give me free li- berty to choose my day ? therefore I now declare, 138 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? declare, that, whether the duchess gives her masqued ball in three weeks, or not till three years hence, my determination is, not to give my hand in marriage till after that fete is over." So saying, the haughty Eliza left the drawing-room, not one thinking proper to detain her. Lady Ashton at length broke the short silence that followed her departure, by ex- claiming — " Here's a pretty kittle of fish now !" Ayscough, though he severely felt the caprice of his fair enslaver, yet he could not but make some allowance for the love of sway, so often prevalent in the female breast during the short empire of court- ship, when, by all that he had observed amongst his acquaintance, he found the fair tyrants always determined to assert their rights as long as the power remain- ed. He was therefore compelled silent- ly to bow to the commands of his idol, though he had resolved that her rule over him should never be diminished by her WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 189 her marriage. To satisfy his own mind, however, he made the most diligent inqui- ries after the health of the duchess of Ar- lington. He found that she was indeed perfectly- recovered, and that her physician had taken his leave, but with strict charge that she should not yet go out ; and that she must be extremely careful of sharing in those revels to which her grace was so extremely partial. She admitted morning- visitors ; and though her levees were more crowded than those of a prime minister, Ayscough ventured to make his bow at them. One morning, as he was there before the greater part of the throng had arrived, the duchess beckoned him, and desired him to sit near her. — " My masquerade, Ays- cough," said she, "will now very soon take place ; I shall send a circular round, as they call it at the Treasury, to in- form my friends, that the tickets already sent will admit them. My nephew, sir Lucius 140 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? Lucius Torrington, sent you one, I trust." On Ayscough replying in the affirmative, her grace remarked — " Ah ! you will bring a very lovely bride there ! you will be the envy of many a modern beau." " That is not unlikely," said Ayscough ; " the rare endowments of my bride-elect may very well excite envy against her des- tined husband : but ye are all beautiful ty- rants, and Miss Ashton has an uncon- querable aversion to appearing as a bride at your grace's masquerade ; she has there- fore positively refused giving me her hand, till after your brilliant fete is over ; I have therefore a twofold interest, my dear lady duchess, in praying that you may soon be sufficiently recovered for it to take place very shortly." " Well, my good fellow !" said the du- chess, " you may make yourself easy on that head ; it will be celebrated in a very short time, you may rest assured ; for I shall point out to my physician the trou- ble WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 141 ble that will be taken off my hands by one , of the best creatures in the world on that night ; and my own certain recovery now enables me to tell you, that the masque- rade will undoubtedly take place in about three weeks." At this pleasing intelligence Ayscough quitted her grace in high spirits, and con- tinued his frequent visits to lady Ashton's, by whose eldest daughter he was some- times received with haughty disdain, and sometimes with the most smiling good- humour. CHAP- 142 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? CHAPTER X. Lady Netterville. Lady Netterville may, perhaps, from the slight manner in which we first introduced her to our readers, appear too insignificant a personage to occupy any larger portion of our canvas; it is true, in some respects, she might be called so, and we shall al- ways dismiss her as quick as we can ; she is nevertheless an important character in this history. She was the only daughter of a very wealthy carcase -butcher in Whitechapel ; indeed there were very few men who could count guinea for guinea with Mr. Springall ; and his daughter's fortune was estimated at two hundred thousand pounds, for he had long been a widower, and his darling child was his only WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 143 only heir. One hundred thousand pounds were to be paid down on the day of her marriage, fifty thousand more on the birth of her first child, and the remaining fifty thousand at the day of the old gen- tleman's death. Mr. Springall had retired from business for some years, but he resolutely persisted, in spite of his ambitious little daughter's constant teazings, exhortations, pou tings, and persuasions, concerning taking a house at the west end of the town, to take up his residence in a very handsome house at Mile-End; because it was no great distance from Whitechapel, and he could go occa- sionally there, and observe the markets, and the fluctuations in the price of butch- er's meat, which was still his hobby-horse. The fluctuations indeed were not many, for he found that, for several succeeding years, the butchers were resolved to keep up the price of this requisite and nutri- tive article; and he regretted sometimes that he had not remained in business a little 144 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? little longer, when he might have had a fair chance of retiring at worth alirost half a million. Miss Springall was rather short in sta- ture, but she was pretty, and her wealth gained her the appellation, before her fa- ther quitted trade, of the little beauty of Whitechapel. She was afterwards the little beauty of Mile-End ; but she panted to be the beauty of St. James's, while her inflexible father resolved to stay where he was. Miss Springall however figured away at every city feast, and has danced with the royal dukes and foreign princes at the lord mayor's ball, and been particu- larly distinguished at the lady mayoress's rout ; at the latter she met with a gay and thoughtless young nobleman, who had danced with her at the Easter ball, and who then attached himself to her for the evening. There are times when even young wo- men who are only tolerable in person look captivating. Miss Springall was very pretty ; her eyes shone like two stars, and she WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 145 she looked this evening peculiarly love-. ' ly. The young handsome lord was also much attracted by her wit and spright- liness, as she gave him, in an arch and playful manner, the history of most of the city ladies; and though a considerable share of scandal seasoned the tale, yet her youth and beauty seemed to render it par- donable. Lord Rivers would have shrunk from the bare idea of marrying a butcher's daughter, had she been even tenfold more rich and beautiful than she really was; but he felt himself irresistibly drawn towards her, and he cultivated the acquaintance of her father, and fell in with all his humours, adapting his courtly language to that of Whitechapel, and making himself so ami- able, that Mr. Springall declared he was the pleasantest gentleman he ever met with in his life, and that he was something like a lord ; for however the independent tradesman may affect to despise rank and title, yet he generally plumes himself on VOL. I. H the 146 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? the notice taken of him by my lord or my lord duke. Mr. Springall too lived in a style of magnificence that many lordvS cannot equal ; his dinners and his wines were excellent, and in profusion ; but it grated sadly on the ears of the elegant lord Rivers, when his hospitable host, in recom- mending a fine sirloin of beef, or a neat's tongue roasted with spices, and basted with red port, would tell his lordship, that he, Mr. Springall, had seen it cut out, his own self, out of as fine a beast as ever came to Smithfield-market ; and that he had all his meat still from the old shop in Whitechapel, which he had once occupied himself, and which was the very house wherein his Polly was born. This was a cruel stroke to Miss Spring- all, who always entreated her dear pa' to call her Maria, and which request he daily promised his darling to grant, and as daily forgot. The blush raised on the cheek of Miss, when the odious name of Polly struck her WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 147 her ear in the presence of lord Rivers, added to her beauty; and in that state of early youth, when a first strong im- pulse of passion is mistaken for love, his lordship felt for her, and thought nothing wrong that his Maria could wish, and every thing right, however silly or censo- rious, that she uttered. — " What pity," thought he, " that I should love where it is impossible I can ever think of marrying ! Good Heavens ! could 1 ever bear to call a butcher my father-in-law? However, it matters not; I have, as yet, made no professions of love, and I will endeavour to cast off this degrading fetter, however precious in sterling gold, that will not compensate for the mixing the ancient blood of my family with such a plebeian current." A card just that moment arrived, with Mr. SpringalPs and his daughter's compli- ments, requesting his lordship's company, the following week, to partake of some ve- nison. The resolutions of lord Rivers H 2 were 148 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? were all put to flight, especially as the card announced there would be " nobody but themselves'' This was what lord Rivers had frequently requested, from a twofold motive : the one was the meeting with those people, though tlieir wealth was al- most a passport anywhere, yet they were such with whom he had never been in the habit of associating — were most of them low-born, and all of them of obscure origin ; next, his lordship wished to have the goddess of his idolatry entirely to him- self He reckoned now much on the pleasure he should enjoy, at this venison dinner, in the company of his beloved. The happy day arrived; and the claret, after dinner, soon set old Springall to sleep in his easy-chair. His lordship soon stole up stairs to his Maria, who was waiting for him, with the coffee, in the drawing- room. He had time, before her father awoke, to press his suit with ardour ; and Miss Springall had not the thought or re- flection to observe that he never mention- ed WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 149 ed marriage. She was really in love ; she , felt overjoyed at finding that love return- ed, and the private correspondence was agreed on, to which succeeded the stolen interview, till the indiscreet beauty of Mile-End surrendered her honour to the rnan who loved her, but whose family- pride prevented his marrying her. He was at length candid enough, or perhaps the word cruel might be better applied, to tell her so ; and the fatal consequence of her imprudence was now likely to ren- der her shame public ; and she also feared, when her father came to hear of her folly, that he would be inexorable. " My dear, dear Maria," said lord Ri- vers, " be assured of my unalterable affec tion, but it is impossible for me to marry you. My father and mother are devoted to family-prejudices, and would never see me more, were I to think of such an al- liance." Though Miss Springall had a scandal- ous little tongue, she was not then ill-na- H 3 tured ; 150 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? tured ; she had no idea of making her fa- ther a partizan in her cause, even though she had not dreaded his anger; though, indeed, she well knew he would condemn her, for she had been as willing as her lo- ver, on whom she yet doted ; but truth compels us to say, that his lordship's affec- tion had vanished with possession. " I will tell you what, my dear girl," said he, " all I can do for you, to save your re- putation, is to find you a husband, and one, who, though not old, you may think appears too much so, that will ever be kind to you, tender, and indulgent" Poor Miss Springall burst into tears, but they were the last she shed for a per- jured and faithless lover; for he soon im- parted comfort to her ambitious mind by what followed. " Lovely Maria," resumed he, "do not weep; you are not formed to waste out your beauty and accomplishments in the city. The gentleman on whom I wish to bestow such a treasure will take you from a scene WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 151 a scene and society by no means suited to you ; he will bestow on you title and rank, for he is a baronet of very ancient family. Suffer me, my love, to introduce him to you, and allow him to solicit your father for your immediate marriage ; thus fame and fortune will be preserved, nor can any one cast a slur on the reputation of my beloved Maria." Such was the language of fashionable depravity held out to a young creature whom his lordship had ruined, and whose principles he had gradually undermined by his sophistry. A collector of, and a dealer in scandal- ous censure from her cradle, Miss Spring- ^11 saw that many a lady, guilty of many di faux -pas i yet lived honoured and caress- ed, if favoured by rank or riches ; and that their care was not " to leave it undone^ but keep it unknown'* The poisonous counsel of her lover sunk deep into her mind : we shall not go through the de- tail of his persuasions or her objections, H 4 which 152 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? which became fainter and fainter, till at length she yielded, overcome with the idea of being a lady, of living far away from the city, and no longer being subject to the envy of the city dames. Lord Rivers, after her acceding to his proposal, lost no time in waiting on the needy and depraved sir George Netter- ville. Sir George was a baronet of about two centuries standing; but he had long ceas- ed to sport the bleeding hand on his car- riage, for carriage he had none. Indeed, he had sold all his beautiful cornelian and agate seals, impressed with his armorial bearings, and pledged the last spoon and tankard, embossed with the family-crest, so that he had no tax to pay for those ho- nours. The truth is, sir George Netter- ville was born to a good estate, and re- ceived it, unencumbered, with his title, at the death of his careful father; but the young man had a vice, of all others the most destructive and incurable, and which saps WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 15S saps all property, however immense, espe- cially when a man has that constant run of ill luck which attended sir George, and which one would imagine would, of itself, be sufficient to cure the most infatuated gamester ; but the fatal idea he imbibed, that fortune must one day favour him, urged him on till he lost every shilling of his property, and the most heavy mortga- ges loaded his neglected estates ; he then cursed the cards and dice, and gave them up for ever. Broken in fortune and con- stitution, he sold every thing he had of value, and fitted himself out for India; but entering there into every species of extravagance and dissipation, he found himself alike despised by the profligate and the prudent, and he returned to Eng- land poorer than he went out. Of specious manners, gay, handsome, and insinuating, he resolved to try to re- trieve his fortune by marriage, but his po- verty acted as a powerful bar against his success ; he tried the desperate venture of H 5 entrap- 154 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? ping the heart of some old dowager, but they were too cunning for him, and soon found him out. As his favour declined with the ladies, the males took him under their protection ; for they rather dreaded his personal attrac- tions, in spite of all they had disseminated to his injury: and in the course of our knowledge of the world, we have found quite as much envy and jealousy among men, towards each other, as is, often false- ly, imputed to females. Sir George Netterville, on his return from India, was about six-and-thirty ; his experience in every haunt of dissipation completely qualified him for the task he undertook, which was that of Mentor to young men of fashion, or we might rather use the term Anti-Mentor; for, instead of wisdom, he taught them folly and vice. He was also well paid for being a very convenient friend, on occasion, which, when we call things by their right names, is more properly denominated pimping. Many WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 155 Many a young nobleman owed his know- ledge of the resorts of fashionable licen- tiousness to sir George Netterville. The baronet was however shunned at St. James's, and, to use a vulgar saying, bet- ter known there than trusted; and his protectors were not fond of being seen with him in public. Lord Rivers, the eldest son of the then duke of Arlington, was one of the favour- ite disciples of sir George ; the young lord was the very soul of generosity, and the baronet never wanted a guinea while lord Rivers had one to give him; and his lord- ship knew he could do with his needy friend just what he pleased. Sir George was not known in the city, particularly in the precincts of Whitechapel. Lord Ri- vers knew that he could be almost fasci- nating when he pleased; and that he could be all things to all men. His lord- ship therefore accosted him in the follow- ing manner, the morning after his having the dialogue with his Maria, recorded H 6 above 156 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? above. — " Have you a mind, George, to gain a hundred thousand pounds ?" " Ay, indeed," said the baronet ; " even if I was sure of gaining such a sum, I would break the solemn oath I took, ne- ver to touch a card or shake a dice-box again." " I would not wish you," said lord Ri- vers, gravely, ** to falsify so solemn an oath as you took over that fatal vortex which swallows up the peace, fortune, and health of so many. But hear me : I can bestow on you a fine, plump, lovely young fy'ivl, with a fortune of one hundred thou- sand pounds." " My dear Rivers," said sir George, ** why should you invent a lie to tantalize your friend ? why make him suffer, like the starving cats in the fairy tale, who con- stantly saw the alluring bait dangling be- fore them, which they could never reach ?" " I solemnly declare," said his lordship, '' that what I tell you is literally true; and to-morrow, after you have listened to my WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 157 my instructions, and promised to square your behaviour by them, I will introduce you to your future bride. The young lady is the daughter of an eminent but- cher in the city, but long retired from bu- siness.'* " I would say, d — n the city !" said sir George, " was not the butcher's meat such devilish Ji7ie weight; and were she the daughter of a chimney-sweeper or a sea. venger, her hundred thousand pounds would make me consent to sweep chim- neys and streets for a week myself, to be rewarded with such a prize." " Now, what say you to fifty thousand more?" said lord Rivers. "Whew!" whistled sir George; "and with something, perhaps, better born than the butcher's daughter, but as ugly as Sin, and as wicked as Job's wife. No, I think I will be content with the hundred thou- sand pounds, which, pardon me, dear Ri- vers, I believe is as much in the clouds as the additional fifty." "No 158 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? " No such thing," said lord Rivers ; " it is all down in the butcher's book, and it is T that have gained you this additional fif- ty thousand — your own merits must do the rest" . His lordship then explained ; on which the baronet, looking rather glum, said— " The pill is somewhat bitter, it is true, but it is so highly gilded, that were it ten times more bitter, and m6re repugnant to swallow than it is, I would gulp it down, my dear fellow — yes, that I would, and father all ypur other illegitimate children, past, present, and to come, for half the money." Mr. Springall thought he never could have enough of the company of lord Ri- vers ; there was about him that charm of fashionable life which universally pleases, and his fascination was that of nature: but he never thought of him as a son-in- law ; and though his daughter, he knew, admired him, yet he did not believe that she was in love with him^i Lord Rivers could WHO IS THE BRIDEGKOOM? 159 could not come too often, and he and sir George set off, one morping, on horseback, for Mile-End, where lord Rivers told his hospitable host, that he had come to, dine with him, and had brought a very dear friend, who had long teazed him to intro- duce him to Mr. Springall, and to his ami- able and accomplished daughter. Sir George was greeted by a cordial shake of the hand, and many grateful ex* pressions of the honour done him ; and sir George grasped the fist of the butcher, as he afterwards called it, with mutual ap- pearance of friendship. Miss soon made her appearance, and the baronet started, as he gazed, in affect- ed astonishment, whispering loud enough to his friend to be heard by every one — . * Oh ! fehe is fair as painting can express?, Or youthful poets fancy when they love;" and the young lady herself, though she certainly preferred the more youthful lord Rivers, yet did not think her destined husband one whit less handsome. '•'■ Sir 160 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? Sir George Netterville completely won the heart of Mr. Springall, as when, over the bottle, he said, it had been his constant hobby-horse to attend the markets in Smithfield; though it would have puz- zled the baronet, whose London perambu- lations seldom extended farther than from Pall-Mall to the end of Bond-street, how to have found his way beyond Cow-cross, where, we believe, he never was in his whole life. Sir George gave an audible sigh, as he lifted the glass to his lips, when the health of Miss Springall was proposed ; and after he had swallowed it, he exclaimed— "What a treasure !" ' "Ay," said Mr. Springall, " and so you would say, sir George," winking at lord Rivers, " if you knew what a fortune I can give her." Ah, sir!" sighed out sir George, your lovely daughter is above the hopes of those who are not possessed of equal wealth !" «Ah! '* WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? l6l " Ah ! now there you are wrong — quite wrong," said Mr. Springall; " though my Polly is perhaps the best fortune in the city, and the prettiest girl on this side Holborn-bars, yet, if I could but meet with a man who is a gentleman, and who thought the same as myself, and who would be always good-natured and kind to my little Polly, I would not care, d — n me ! if he was as poor as Job." Lord Rivers now gave his friend a kick under the table for him to speak out at once ; but sir George knew the world better ; he did not think it would appear well for him to make a formal proposal of marriage at his first visit, especially as it was easy to see that, by the old gen- tleman's having pushed the bottle so briskly about, he was pretty far gone in the service of Bacchus. His guests were perfectly cool, for they could beat any cit in London at a good set-to over the bot- tle. Sir George Netterville's drift was to make 162 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? make the father himself offer his daughter to him ; and so well did he suit his beha- viour to the manners and inclinations of his future father-in-law, that Mr. Springall did actually one day say to him — " Sir George Netterville, you are the honestest man alive ; and if you can love my daugh- ter, she is yours; she has money enough for you both, and therefore I do not care if you have not one farthing; all I require of you will be, to settle the half of her large fortune upon her, and no more." Sir George fell on his knees, kissed the hand of the ci-devant butcher, and swore, before Heaven, that he would do as the bountiful Mr. Springall desired ; and we must do him the justice to say that he religiously kept his word. He was soon accepted by the beauty of Mile-End, for she was in great haste to legitimatize her child; and she gave her hand with blushes of virgin modesty, be- ing ignorant that lord Rivers had inform- ed sir George of his being the father of that WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 163 that child that was to procure an addi- tional fifty thousand pounds to his needy friend. Russellrsquare had not then been long in the state of beauty it now boasts, and already its best mansions were not only occupied by the most opulent East and West Indians, but also with some few noble families, who have now quitted it, as being not sufficiently contiguous to the court, where they had the advantage since of holding the most lucrative places. Sir George was cautious of removing his bride to the St. James's end of the town ; he saw she was very fond of gossip, and gi- ven to censorious prattling, and he had no doubt but what some of his former shifts might come to her ears ; he there- fore took a spacious house in Russell- square, after the expiration of his honey- moon, and his lady was highly delighted with its great contrast to the city ; and the sdciety to which she was introduced being of the first order, she implicitly be- lieved 164 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? lieved what he told her, that it was the best end of the town. Her affected coyness and pretended in- experience, knowing what he knew, com- pletely disgusted him, and made him dis- like where he would wish to have loved ; yet his vanity caused him to be jealous, and he flew to the bottle as a last re- source. There never was, we will venture to affirm, any woman who had a censorious tongue, or was an enemy to her own sex, but what was of an intriguing disposition, and who would scruple not herself to step aside from the straight path of virtue. Lord Rivers had lately succeeded, by the death of his father, to the dukedom of Ar- lington. Lady Netterville would have given the world to have had her lover re- turn to her, now that he was graced with a ducal coronet ; but his grace was proof against all her allurements: all that she could obtain (and that was by the threat of an anonymous letter, informing the lady WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 165 lady he had elevated to the rank of his duchess of his city intrigue) was to allow her to be distinguished at hergrace's parties, and to appear to the world as if in habits of the closest intimacy with her. By these means she hoped yet to gain her end in some unguarded moment; for she thought nothing of violating her own marriage- vow, nor that of him who was her firsts and had he been her only, love, she might yet have been virtuous. But, oh ! had not he who first seduced her virgin affections been the first who taught her depravity of conduct? Yet he behaved like a man of real honour to the friend he had never deceived, and he ventured at times to advise him to quit the pernicious habit which was hur- rying him fast to the grave ; sir George promised, but amended not. His wife had been delivered of a still-born child, which accounted for its appearance rather before its time, and it was called a mis- chance; but the infatuated father-in-law of sir George Netterville paid down the additional 166 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? additional fifty thousand, because his daughter had promised an heir, though fate had ordered it otherwise. This seasonable addition came in a very acceptable time; the hundred thousand, on each side, was fast diminishing, for " madam lov'd pleasu?^e, and the knight lov'd wine." Sir George was good-natured; and when he was not stupified with liquor, he re- flected that he owed all the comforts and luxuries he enjoyed to his wife : in pro- portion as his dislike towards her increas- ed, so increased his gratitude and affection to the truly good-hearted Mr. Springall. Age and good living, however, brought the father of the Mile-End beauty to the verge of the grave ; dissipation of every kind, aided by that insidious foe to man's life, hard drinking, threatened a speedy termination to that of sir George Netter- ville ; while the still-thoughtless duke of Arlington was the martyr to his early vices; audit was a remarkable coincidence, that WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 167 that these three above-mentioned expired on the same day, within a few hours of each other. The remaining fifty thousand, with a few more, and the whole of Mr. Spring- all's considerable property, in land, plate, &c. &c. rendered the widowed lady Net- terville almost the richest dowager in the whole metropolis. She had, since her mar- riage, led the life of a female rake, and she resolved to keep her money to herself, and never marry again. In the meantime, what with the year she was obliged, rnalgre elle, to give to mourning, and the subse- quent years of private intrigue, the bloom on her once-attractive countenance was gone, which she supplied by spreading i^ouge over her haggard cheeks. As no one was able to entrap her into a second marriage, and as with waning years her personal charms very perceptibly decay- ed, except the brilliancy of a pair of bold black eyes, her lovers fell off; but her wealth and title procured her admittance into 168 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? into the first of the fashionable circles, of which, however, she was the secret scourge by her censorious tongue. The once fashionable and rich heiress, Miss Torrington, aunt to the present sir Lucius, and now duchess of Arlington, always invited lady Netterville to her par- ties, because she had been noticed by her grace's husband's cousin, the late duke, and been seen in public with his duchess, at his grace's request. The present duke knew nothing of her secret history ; for to lull the jealousy of her husband, ladyNet- terville's gallantries had been conducted with extreme caution. She had been the idol of Russell-square, where she continu- ed to reside for some years after her hus- band's death ; but she was, nevertheless, at the head of every scandalous coterie in every part of the metropolis. CHAP- WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 169 CHAPTER XI. Mystery. Lady Diana Wentworth, who was sel- dom known to weep, who, to compel for only a few minutes to be serious, seemed to be an Herculean labour for any one who should attempt the task, was, on a sudden, as if seized with a settled and unconquer able melancholy. Her eyes were frequently swelled and red, as if with weeping ; her bloom faded, and her appetite was gone. To Sophia Ashton she continually endea- voured to attach herself; but, received with distant coldness by the mother, and superciliousness , by the sister, she fppnd it impossible to divest her bosom of ajsecret with which it. seenied l^abouring, ajid i-which she longed: tQt^ppait in-fb^.g^^itle io VOL. J. 1 breast 170 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? breast of Sophia, whose enthusiasm in friendship charmed her, because it was so unusual to find a real friend in modern life. Lord Pyrwater trembled for her declin- ing health ; he urged her to render his ne- phew happy, without delay, while she only replied by a sigh, as if her heart was bursting — " Wait but a little, my lord," she said once to him, "and all will be well, perhaps before my cousin Henry attains his six-and-twentieth year; and after I have said so much, I will be urged no more." She then gave the earl her hand — a condescension she had never shewn him be- fore ; and as he looked on her pallid cheek and languid eye, even his iron heart felt a momentary feeling of tenderness shoot across it. The marquis of Rainsbury pondered frequently on the last words lady Di- ana had addressed to him, namely — " I will then a tale unfold," &c. ; but when she WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 171 she made use of that expression, she was wild as the antelope, and playful as the unweaned lamb. She now deeply inter- ested his heart ; he felt for her all the powerful claims of kindred : but when he came closely to examine that heart, hefound he felt no more — Sophia still clung round its every fibre. " And what or who is this child ?" thought he ; " it cannot possibly be hers ! she is all purity ; it is some poor infant, perhaps, that she has taken un- der her protection, unknown to her mo- ther." But then again he read the note, and the fatal expression seemed to admit of only one interpretation. — " I shall love it," wrote the crafty Elinor, " for its young mother's sake; it reminds me of you every time I behold it, and I think I see your own sweet coral lip — your own speaking eye,'' " If," thought he, « at the duchess of Arlington's masquerade I have an oppor- tunity, I will, by virtue of my disguise, bring the artful Sophia to make some cori- I ^ fession. f i; 172 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? fession. I shall never know peace of mind till this affair, so truly destructive to it, is cleared up." As he had not seen the duchess since he had received her circular, as she called .it^ which fixed her masquerade for that day three weeks, lord Rainsbury tried to dissipate his harassed feelings by paying a morning- visit to her grace ; and instead of finding her encircled, as usual, by a crowd of fashionable flatterers, he found her pensively reclining on an ottoman, with an open letter in her hand. " My lord marquis," said her grace, " yoii are the very person of all others I wished to see ;" and ringing her bell, she said to her footman — " Not at home to any one. Now,'* added she, addressing the marquis, *' my dear lord Jlainsbury, do clear up to me this mystery, iif you can." She then preseiiieci^ to him*ni§le?ter, and, to his lordship's great surprise, he read as follows ; — *!* .. WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 173 i' k " MY DEAR DUCHESS, " A3 I^atn sure you have many young friends you would wish to oblige, I hope your grace will not be offended that I return the ticket you honoured me with for your approaching masquerade. Circumstances of the most imperious na- ture oblige me this evening to set out for Falmouth, whence I shall sail with the first packet for Lisbon. That the fete I am obliged to forego will be most elegant, there can be no doubt; I wish you and the noble ejuests assembled to celebrate it much mirth ; and your grace, at all times, happier hours than even those once enjoy- ed, but which can never again return to her, who is " Your grace's devoted, and " Most obliged, humble servant, " Diana Wentworth." The marquis was in a tremor as he read; his agitations at this mysterious deal- I3 ing 174 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? ing in his cousin were violent; he knew not how to act, and he thought it his duty to follow her to Falmouth, and prevent her from taking a voyage alone, or, as he justly imagined, accompanied only by the favourite female servant of her mother, who had been brought up with lady Di- ana, and from whom she had no secrets. As the marquis sat deeply pondering, the duchess awoke him from his reverie, by saying — " Give me the letter again. I never was so disappointed in all my life. What is a private masquerade without lady Diana Wentworth ? Her independ- ent spirit, her wit, her brilliancy, and truly lively temper, always used to render the motley scene enchanting through her pre- sence alone ; for she adapted herself to all characters, and actually made others witty, by the repartees she gave birth to herself, as she imparted her ideas to others : she is _^ really an extraordinary young crea- ture." While the duchess was bewaihng the loss WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 175 loss her masqued ball would sustain by the absence of lady Diana, the thoughts of the marquis were very differently employ- ed, and he resolved to shorten his visit, and consult with his uncle concerning this extraordinary flight. " Are you dumb?" said her grace, after a silence of some minutes had succeeded to her lamentation. " I only tell you, if you, as lady Diana's bridegroom elect, take her absence so in dudgeon as to disappoint me of your company, I never will forgive you." *' It is not my intention, dear duchess," said lord Rainsbury ; " my cousin, lady Diana, has however alarmed us all lately, by a very sudden change in her manners and appearance. 1 am anxious for her health, and I hope she will find benefit from the salubrious air of Portugal, She is never accustomed to consult any one, and I imagine her physician has permitted her to make one great effort, whereby she has torn herself from the bustling scene of I 4 pleasure. 176 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? pleasure, in which she always took a very active part, in order that she might reco- ver the inestimable blessing of health." " You know her ladyship well," said the duchess, with a smile ; " the husbands will say, perhaps, that it is a pity all are not as well acquainted with the disposi- tion of their future brides." " But," said the marquis, " how are we to know the real disposition of such a compound of delightful variety as your sex, * when to their changes half their charms we owe ?" " Well," said the duchess, with fashion- able familiarity, " I have thought, Rains- bury, that you and the independent-spirit- ed Diana Went worth were not at all form- ed for each other ; and if I have any pe- netration, I think your lordship has disco- vered a predilection to another, and that your heart has escaped to where I have often seen your looks directed ; your cou- sin has seen it too, as well as myself, and I must say, with more archness than jea- lousy ; WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 177 lousy ; but nHmporte, you will be a truly- modish couple." The embarrassment of lord Rainsbury was much excited during part of the duchess's speech. — " Nay," added her grace, " you need not blush ; you have evinced much taste in your choice; for no one need be told that it is Miss Sophia Ashton that has led you cap- tive. Lord Pyrwater himself is not blind to it, I am sure. What a pity it is that lady Ashton is such a Mrs. Slipslop ! in- deed she beats that famous soubrette, for I never in my life heard any one rhangte English in such a barbarous manner." " It is indeed wonderful," said the marquis, " that the well-bred and well- educated sir Edward Ashton could never improve his lady's speech or manners ; and indeed it is equally astonishing, that mixing always in the polite world, as does her ladyship, who is by no means ill-man- nered, and continually in the society of her truly-accomplished daughters, that she still maintains such a violent outrage ii' 'i'.'. : -. J«;OIi O 1 5 against 178 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? against all grammar and pronunciation ; and then her affectation of using hard words is truly diverting. I believe," add- ed his lordship, smiling, " that sir Ed- ward so idolized his lady, that he could not support the idea of her changing to any thing from what she really was. We have all our weaknesses, yet I have been told that he was one of the best-bred and most refined men in the world ; but there is no accounting for tastes. He lived much in the country after his marriage ; and there is a certain infatuation in love," added the marquis, with a sigh, ** that lends to a beloved object every charm, every qualification, which, perhaps, that object by no means possesses." " Prettily expressed !" said the duchess, laughing ; " but what you have just utter- ed will not apply to your Sophia : I am sure her heart does not belie h r outward appearance ; it is the seat of purity and every other virtue. As to her father, sir Edward, he was the most uxorious man .^ breathing; WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 179 breathing ; and the foolish sentences, ut- tered by the most beautifully-formed mouth in nature, absolutely enchanted him, and made them appear in lady Ash- ton's early youth, all artless, rustic inno- cence ; and who shall account for the va- garies arfd follies of fashion ? I have heard my mother say, that when lady Ashton, a young and blooming wife, first made her appearance in London, she was so much admired, that some silly women actually began to misplace their words, and pro- nounce them in the faulty manner that she does, and pretty ignorance became the order of the day." " I know that my uncle dislikes her exceedingly," said the marquis ; " but he told me, as a fact, that a cousin of his, since dead, was one day making flaming love to her, and that the then young lady Ashton gave him such a box on the ear that she knocked him down." " Oh ! I dare say it was true enough," said her grace, " though I would not ven- I 6 ture 180 WHO IS THE BRIDEGllOOM? ture to vouch for the truth of all your sweet-tempered uncle may please to utter where he dislikes ; but I believe," added she, rather sarcastically, " that it was the very savage virtue of lady Ash ton that caused her to go out of fashion with our ladies of principles more free anfdrJiberal." The duchess of Arlington had a thorough knowledge of that world in which she had been brought up from infancy, in the bo- som of unusual affluence and fashion ; but she proved a real ornament to the high station in which it was her lot to move. Charming in person, without being strict- ly beautiful, well-informed, highly accom- plished, well-bred, and possessed by na- ture of a kind and cheerful disposition, she w^as the delight of the young; and those of middle age, to which period she had herself but just attained, consulted her as an able and safe friend, and a pru- dent adviser, in which character she was lb6ked up to as their oracle. Fond of elegant pleasures, her indul- gent WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 181 gent husband, a man of mild manners, and rather of a serious turn of mind, permitted her unbounded licence in the enjoyment of them, and was never so truly happy as when he saw her so. Married for sixteen years, without any prospect of an heir, her affections, next to those which her grati- tude and love gave to her husband, were centered in her nephew, sir Lucius Tor- ringtoi), who, at the time he was a school- boy at Westminster, used to dote on his then very young aunt and playfellow; and this sincere affection grew with his growth, and increased with his years. The duchess only laughed at his fashionable follies, because she knew that under them was -concealed one of the best hearts in the world ; and the duke loved him with the same regard as if he had been allied to him by blood, because he was the favour- ite of his adored wife. Whenever vexation or ennui preyed on the mind of the marquis of Rainsbury, he generally sought conspjation in the lively converse 1B2 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? converse of the duchess of Arlington, whose always equal spirits and continual cheerfulness generally caused him to for- get his melancholy, especially so, at one time, as she was the constant friend and admirer of his Sophia. Drawn on by the various subjects she started, all of which were well treated by this fascinating woman, he had almost for- gotten the intelligence she had given him relative to his cousin ; but suddenly recol- lecting himself, he bade her grace good- morning, as he thought it indispensably his duty to call on his uncle, and con- sult with him concerning the projected voyage of lady Diana. Lord Pyrwater was as much astonished as his nephew ; however, lord Rainsbury ventured to say — " Do you not think, my lord, that I had better set off for Falmouth, and, if possible, prevent her ladyship from taking this excursion?" as the marquis had found, by inquiring at her dwelling, that she had, as he suspected, only taken with WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 183 with her her confidential female servant ; and her ladyship's steward and housekeeper had both assured his lordship, that her stay in Lisbon would be but for a very short time. " You may do as your judgment shall best guide you," said the earl to his ne- phew ; " you may blame yourself, per- haps, if your cousin should be lost in the Bay of Biscay, and you would think you might have prevented it by your interference : but it is my opinion that, whether you go or stay, it will be all the same ; for she is such a d d headstrong, obstinate minx, that nothing will turn her from what she has a mind to do." " And yet, sir," said the marquis, "you are ever urging me to hasten my marri- age with a lady, to whom you have just now ascribed that obstinacy which is the very worst ingredient in the character of a wife." " You are impertinent, boy," said his lordship, "and at the same time you speak like 1^4 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? like a fooL Has she not the best ingre- dient in the >yorld to make jthe bitter pill of matrimony go down — plenty of gold, which will purchase every delight the soul can desire — ay, even a mistress, as fair, as lovely, and perhaps as yielding, as So- phia Ashton ?'* The marquis was thunderstruck. So- phia Ashton, the pride, the charm of cor- rect and polished society, designated by the term yielding! Oh! he feared that what had accidentally fallen into his hands at the Royal Academy was but too sure a proof that all was not right, and that whisperings at her expence had come to the ears of his uncle — that uncle, too, whose libertine ideas and ill opinion of the fe- male sex had often deeply w^ounded the feelings of his nephew ; but they were ne- .yer before so acutely lacerated as at the epithet now bestowed on his yet- beloved Sophia. Against her mother his lordship had been accustomed to hear from his uncle every WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 185 every degrading term, many of which were unmerited by a woman, who, howr ever ignorant, was an ornament, by her unaffected virtue, to her sex ; but never had a word to sully the purity or the pru- dence of the daughters ever before fell from the lips of lord Pyrwater. The pure principles of rectitude were, however, so firmly engraven on the mind of the marquis, that it was not in the power of the abandoned maxims just breathed by his uncle, in contempt of the most sacred engagement, to shake them. Lord Rainsbury had been early taught to hold the marriage-Vow sacred, and to think it equally binding to man as to woman^ his parents had destined him to be the husband of lady Diana Went worth, pro- vided she did not refuse him, or if he, when he attained the ageof six-and-twen- ty, should find within himself an uncon- querable repugnance to the match. Now, since he feared he was deceived in the fond opinion he had formed of her to whom his heart 186 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? heart was irrevocably given, he resolved to hasten the fulfilment of his parents' will; and though lady Diana had told Kim, that she was resolved not to be his till he was six-and-twenty years of age, yet he almost made a vow to think on her alone as his future wife, and to urge her to retract her declaration. He felt no pe- culiar repugnance against her, and he flat- tered himself that the masculine follies she had adopted would soon pass away, and lose their favour with a female so emi- nently endowed and accomplished ; in him, he was resolved, she should ever find an indulgent as well as a faithful protector. He now therefore hastened to take leave of his uncle, who appeared also in a kind of restless state, and rather seemed to wish him to take his departure. The meeting this morning had taken place in lord Pyrvvater's dressing-room, which was contiguous to his library. As the marquis opened the door, for he had gone thither on foot, and therefore it was not WHO IS THE BRIDEGUOOM ? 187 not requisite to ring for a servant to order his lordship's carriage, he saw a female suddenly make her retreat, as if she had been in the act of listening ; and she dart- ed off, as quick as possible, into the library. The form and style of dress, always in the extreme of fashion, immediately brought Mrs. Horton to lord Rainsbury's remembrance ; and lord Pyrwater, in great confusion, said — " Oh ! that's my house- keeper gone into the library to get a book on gastronomy, that I promised to leave out for her." The marquis, who well knew the good homely dame, fixed his dark and penetrat- ing eye very archly on his uncle's counte- nance, and said — " What ! Mrs. Woodley in such fine plumage ! why, she is grown wonderfully smart ! Farewell, uncle ! it is time that I was gone ; I came not op- portunely this morning. You have a fe- ver, sir, like the great Henry of France, which was seen going out in green," al- luding to the smart emerald green pelisse, and 188 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? and the towering plumes, of the same ver-^ dant hue, on the bonnet of the lady he had seen. The earl endeavoured to force a smile, but he laboured under evident embarrass- ment, and he uttered a peevish psha! and a — " Go along, silly puppy ! I wish you a good journey, however, and success. But hear me — I charge you, as you ex- pect my future favour, that you will not fail to be at the duchess of Arlington's masquerade." This order astonished the marquis ; there was a mystery in it he could not fa- thom : that his uncle, who had, at all times, exerted every nerve to prevent his meet- ing with Sophia Ashton, should now insist upon his being at such a scene as a mas- querade with her, where every advantage would be given for the whisperings and protestations of love — all this was an enigma to the marquis : the good and un- jsuspecting are never aware of the plots and combinations of the wicked and revengeful. CHAP- WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 189 CHAPTER XII. ' 'Disappointment^ and awakened Suspi- cions. On his return home, the marquis of Rains- bury ordered four posthorses, and set off for Falmouth, with all possible speed. Arrived there, he learnt, to his unspeak- able regret, that the packet had sailed for Lisbon the day before ; and he also heard, on inquiry, that a lady and her maid had taken their passage on board, and had Sailed with it, the lady appearing very ttiuch agitated, and in a declining state of health. Lord Rainsbury, to dissipate his vexa- *^W, i^^solved to stay a; few days at Fal- mouth, and therefore instantly penned a "tett^b to hteutecte, acquainting him with the ill 190 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ill success of his journey. He rested the first day at the inn he had first put up at, where he did not experience one of the great miseries of human life, by having the " Racing Calendar,'' or " The Far- riefs Guide,'' lent to him, when he asked ' for a book. No, his lordship found vari- ous mental resources in some well-chosen works, but he could not fix his attention on any one ; the image of Sophia Ashton pursued him, blemished by the tongue of licentiousness ; and indeed he feared she merited the stain cast upon her. The book he listlessly held in his hand had sometimes its page reversed ; but whether it was upside down or no, he heeded not : he could not fix his attention to the most interesting matter ; it swam before his eyes ; and at length he found himself obliged to close the volume, and retire early to rest. Sweet and tranquil were his slumbers, and pleasant his dreams; he saw, with the eye of vision, his Sophia looking all that was WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 191 was lovely and innocent. A lanab of snow-white fleece bounded by her ; and as he awaked, he fancied he heard a voice, saying — " She is innocent as the animal that sports beside her." It was the wish to find her so that spoke to his ear — it was Hope, in her gayest attire, that came to flatter his senses ; and his cousin, and the business he came to Falmouth on, were forgotten in his newly-awakened love. To indulge the ecstatic feeling that pervaded his bosom, he ordered a post- chaise, after breakfast, to transport him to Devonshire, to the family-seat of the Ashtons, left at that time under the care of the old gardener and his wife, while lady Ashton and her daughters re- mained in London. By a handsome pre- sent, the marquis doubted not but he should obtain permission to view the house, and to wander through those apart- ments where the feet of his Sophia had so often trod, and which she had constantly embellished by her presence. Arrived 192 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? Arrived at the splendid and delightful- ly-situated mansion, he hastened through the grounds, which were planned in that silvan taste and luxuriance of scenery which brings to the ravished mind all the ideas of the famed Vale of Tempe, or the Elysian Fields of the poets; yet at many ^'step he lingered, because the gardener 'pointed out some plants peculiarly favour- ed by the youngest Miss Ash ton, or some rose-trees, of superior beauty, that she had planted. At the end of the flower-garden was a pavilion, which the sisters had consecrated to themselves, and to which they often re- 'tired to seek improvement in those ac- complishments in which the eldest ex- '^ celled, and in which the youngest had made that interesting progress, that no one wished her to perform better than she did '"already ; for there was a charm, even in * the imperfection she displayed in those branches of education that were ornamen- • tal. WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 193 tal, that pleased more than the real sci- ence of her sister. " While the young ladies are employed here," said the gardener, " my lady con- sults about providing for the table with her housekeeper, or settles business with her steward ; and she often chats with some neighbour, who is main proud of the honour she does 'un ; for my lady never forgets any one she knew formerly, and she still shews a great attachment to the very old farmer and his wife as she lived with when sir Edward first see'd her, and who she set up in the great farm, where they live now with a fine heap of servants about 'un. But if she likes to take her knitting, and sit with the young ladies, while they practise their drawing and music, her ladyship is never excluded from the pavilion. Oh, it is the best- hearted family in the world ! Miss Ash- ton, to be sure, is very proud, and some- times very insolent, even to my lady ; but then she would not do any one an injury VOL. I. K' for 194! WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? for the world. Ah I God keep her, I say f But I often fear that her pride will one day have a fall." " And do you not pray too," said the marquis, " that God will keep Miss So- phia?" scarce daring to trust his voice, and essaying in vain to be jocular. " Do not I [" said the old man. " Ah 1 that I do, night and day ! Oh, sir ! she hi an angel, a perfect angel [ there is not now a poor person in the village, as I may say, and all along with Miss Sophia's bounty. True, Miss Ashton and my lady are not backward in relieving any one, but Miss Sophia, she searches 'un out; and then she is so sweet-tempered, and speaks so kind to the poorest body, that all the villagers bkss the very sight of her." The marquis now turned to the table on which were scattered some drawings, which he took up, one by one ; and the gardener, seeing his lordship amused hy them, gav« him the portfolios of the sis- ters, while he ero|)loyed himself in arran- ging WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 195 ging some choioe pinks and exotics that or- namented the windows and recesses of this fairy retreat. Lord Rainsbury could not but ardently admire the skill of Miss Ash- ton, as he looked over her drawings ; they would indeed have done honour to the first artist by their excellence : iKxldness of design, execution, grandeur, all were com- bined in these works of her pencil ; but when he regarded those of Sophia, they seemed, even setting aside his partiality to- wards her, to interest and speak to the heart. Evincing almost equal skill with her si«ter in this delightful art, the sub- jects were more chaste, simple, and touch- ing. But what enchanted him most was a sketch of himself, in the very dress in which he was first introduced to her at a fancy-ball, on his return from Italy, and at which he had adopted the Neapolitan costume. What delight, what rapture, did this afford to his bosom ! He saw no more : had Guido or Raphael stood then befell him, with the choicest specimens K 2 of 196 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? of their art, he would not have deigned to have looked at them. Again and again he contemplated the striking likeness for many minutes together ; and turning to a pier-glass, he found it bore so strong a resemblance, that it wanted but speech, motion, and stature, to render it a second self; and he mentally vowed that this should be the dress he would appear in at the masqued ball given by the duchess of Arlington. As he deposited the portfolios in the recess from whence the gardener had taken them, he let that of Miss Ashton fall; and a small drawing on vellum, which had es- caped his notice, dropped out of it. The gardener had half-way descended the steps, as he found the gentleman so intensely oc- cupied, and was twining the tendrils of some sweet pease round the trellis- work ; and the marquis, unobserved, fixed his eyes on the lovely, and exact likeness of So- phia, painted by her sister. — " Never," said he to himself, " shalt thou and I be part- ed ! WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 197 ed ! Oh, Sophia ! blameable or innocent, never shall this, thy dear image, quit my bosom !" He then, without any com- punction at being actually guilty of theft, hastily placed the treasure in his pocket- book, resolving, on his return to London, to have it richly set, and to wear the va- luable miniature for ever next his heart. He now looked on his watch, and found he had been above three quarters of an hour in this elegant abode of the arts and graces. Furnished with his stolen prize, he seemed as if possessed of a talisman that would preserve him from every evil ; and, with spirits buoyant and light as air, from what he had seen, and what he had pos- sessed himself of, he requested the gar- dener to shew him the house. " Why, sure and sure," said the west- country god of the gardens, " I do not know whether my lady mought like stran- gers to view the house ; we never have been asked yet to shew it to any one." K 3 « Oh !" 198 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? " Oh !" said the marquis, taking out a weighty purse, " I am well acquainted with your lady, and 1 am certain she would have no objection to my viewing the different apartments of this beautiful mansion." " Why, I don't rightly know, sir," said the gardener, leering at the purse, " but I'll call my old woman ; she was formerly housekeeper to the lady Dye Wentworth, when first that racketing young lady comed to her fortune at eighteen ; but, Lord bless you, sir ! she was so rantipole like, that a quiet body, like my old dame, could never stay with her. But walk this way, your honour, if you please." A tight-looking, little, neat, middle- aged woman now presented herself, look- ing at least sixteen or seventeen years younger than he who had given her the title of old woman and old dame, and who, on being consulted, while she too regard- ed the purse, as she smoothed her milk- white WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 199 white apron, and said — "* Why, sure as I'm alive, if it ben't the young maix][uis of Rainsbury !'* The hat of the gardener, now taken off with both hands, nearly touched the ground, to which his obsequious body also bent, alniost till his head came in contact with its parent earth. The marquis would rather have remain- ed incog, but now every part of the house was pressed upon his view, even to the very stables, dovecots, pigsties, and hen- houses, which latter, together with the dovecots, were not without their interest, and they detained the attention of his lordship for some time, as he admired the beautiful feathered favourites of his So- phia, and which did honour to the care of the gardener's wife, to whom they had been entrusted, by their plump and happy appearance. But how did his lordship's dream rush on his memory, then delighted to recall it, and fancy it truly verified, as he enter- K 4 ed 200 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? ed the dressing-room of lady Ashton, where, exactly opposite the door, over the fireplace, hung a beautiful picture of his Sophia, represented in all the freshness of early opening bloom, sitting on a grassy bank, with her fine-turned arm thrown over the neck of a little frolic lamb ! The portrait was taken of the fair ori- ginal at the age of fourteen ; but the sweet, youthful face had not altered since that period; and any one who had but once seen the fascinating Sophia Ashton, must have immediately recognised the striking and almost wonderful likeness which seem- ed to breathe from the canvas. Smiling and dimpled as Hebe, she seemed to soothe,, rather than to chide, the little sportive favourite that appeared trying to escape from her, yet looked on her countenance as if it knew and loved her. " Ah !" said the loquacious dame, as lord Rainsbury .seemed lost in the con- templation of so sweet a picture, " that's the most charmingest likeness of my young lady, WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 201 lady, Miss Sophia, that has ever yet been taken." " It is indeed," said the marquis ; " it seems as if it was really herself." " Ah, my lord !" answered she, " I think it is the best, for one particular rea- son; and I hope, my lord, you will not be offended with a foolish woman telling your lordship, my lord, why I think so." " By no means," said his lordship. " Well then, my lord, it is because the painter has given her character as well as her likeness ; for I am sure the face is not only the very moral of hers, but she's just as sweet and innocent a young creature as the poor dumb beast beside her, that's looking up in her sweet face," Again the marquis thought on his dream, and the remarkable coincidence of this picture with it ; and though he stop- ped for some time in the tasteful boudoir, belonging exclusively to each sister, and in which their different dispositions and turn of mind were visibly displayed, yet k5 no 202 WHO IS THE BUIDEGROOM ? no apartment drew his attention so mucH as lady Ashton's dressing-room. The gardener's wife took particular pains to point out the family-pictures. That of lady Ashton, when a young wo- man, was so supremely attractive, that his lordship could hardly wonder at the re- fined sir Edward Ashton sacrificing all his former love of polished language and elegant politeness for her sake. He ad- mired the striking likeness Sophia bore to her, though certainly she was not so strict- ly beautiful as her mother; while the sparkling fire of Miss Ashton's eyes ex- actly resembled that which glistened in those of her father, and the same intelli- gence lighted up her countenance, which was noble and commanding as his own. There is a peculiar charm in family-like- ness, even in a domestic circle, the mem- bers of which may be deemed rather plain than handsome: it is delightful to con- template that speaking proof of close kin- dred ; and where this likeness prevails, we have WHO IS THE BRinEGUOOM? 20S have generally found it attended also with a particular degree of kindred affection: it is sweet to see ourselves again repre- sented, in our offspring, as we were in our days of youth and hope ; and this accounts, in a great measure, for the extreme fond- ness shewn by grandfathers and grand- mothers to their children's children. The traces of fond remembrance begin to grow fainter when their own children marry, and remove from them ; but in the loved branches they produce, the grandsires de- lineate, either in reality or imagination, the former family-features, and " measure back their steps to earth again." Long did the marquis remain stationed before the portraits of Miss Ashton and her father, as he contemplated the strong and animated likeness that she bore to the author of her being, when the good dame, who was closely watching him, at length exclaimed — " Ah ! to be sure Miss Ash- ton's a fine young creature ! but if I was a K 6 young 204 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? young gentleman. Miss Sophia, I say, for my money !" ** Oh !" said the marquis, smiling, " Miss Sophia's above purchase /" " I believe so, indeed," said the poor woman, somewhat piqued ; " to be sure, I made use of a foolish expression — very foolish indeed, when I spoke of the rich chorus of my late good master, sir Ed- ward Ashton." " You spoke from the warmth of your heart, my good woman ; and 1 love you for it," said the marquis, kindly taking her by the hand. " Oh, my lord !" said the prim little woman, with a curtsey and a blush, " your lordship is too condescending; but I do so dearly love my youngest young lady, that somehow I can't bear to see any pre- ference shewn to another, even though it be to her sister. To be sure. Miss Ashton does a great deal of good, and she has been verv kind to me and mine \ but then her WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 205 her kindness does not seem to come from the heart, like Miss Sophia's; and then Miss Ashton thinks it beneath her to talk to a poor body, while Miss Sophia is all affability, inquiring into all their wants, and being so affectionate-like to the poor people round about." Delighted with the praises the good woman lavished on his beloved, lord Rains- bury bountifully repaid the honest couple for their trouble, and walked off in high spirits for his inn, which was at some dis- tance from Ashton Park. Amongst the cottages he heard fresh testimonials of the benevolence and active virtue of the charming Sophia, and he walked along in the full conviction that a mind so truly generous must also be pure. He now, who never made his toilet an article of im- portance, laid the plan of the superb Nea- politan costume he meant to adopt at the Arlington masqued ball, where diamonds should supply the place of more simple jewellery, and the richest materials should be 206 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? be interwoven in the place of mixed bul- lion and tinsel ornaments. Oh, man, how quickly does anguish fol- low after the footsteps of delight ! The "marquis, in his ecstatic reveries, perceived not that he had bewildered himself in his way back, and had entered a bye-lane, in- stead of the one he had taken before, and which brought him again nearer to Ash- ton Park than to his temporary lodging. He met a young countryman, carrying in his arms an infant, beautiful as the day, and whose fine expressive features seem- ed, in a manner he knew not how to ac- count for, to be familiar to him ; it was such a lovely babe he could not help ca- ressing it, as he was particularly fond of children ; and even those who were not scarce ever passed this lovely little crea- ture without expatiating on its beauty. " Who does this sweet little angel be- long to ?" said the marquis, while the lit- tle creature grasped tight the finger his lordship had held out to it. " Ah ! WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 207 "Ah ! that's my secret !" said the clown, looking very wise. " Mother thinks I can't keep one, and so she'll scarce ever let me take the young thing out, 'cause she's afeard I shall go to the Park, by reason that I love Sukey dearly, the gardener's daugh- ter there." " So you cannot tell me, then," said lord Rainsbury, " whose child this is ?" " Why mother won't tell me all she knows about 'un; but I've listened, and I've heard a great deal between her and the fine handsome young lady that gave her a power of money, and told her she must be secret as the grave about it ; and then there was the Miss up at the squire's house, she that made the slip, and went off with the officer soon a'ter she left boarding-school. She is now gone, they say, to live with a fine madam in Lunnon ; but, however, I know that Miss Nelly was only a go-between in the affair." It is not in the power of language to describe the agcmized feelings of the mar- quis. 208 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? quis. He looked intently on " the coral lip, the speaking eye," of the infant; and though he could not possibly find any like- ness, yet, as Sophia had such a lip, and eyes of the same colour and intelligence, he scrupled not to associate, in his own maddened imagination, a strong resem- blance to her he thought its guilty mo- ther. — " Speak plainer," said he, in fren- zied rage, " or I will make you." " Noa," says the countryman, " but you won't though ; I can keep a secret as well as any one, for all what mother says, and for all the strappings she gets me from father, for what she calls my inderscreet tongue." " You are a fool," said the marquis ; " but if you would speak plainer, and let me know what you really mean " " Yes, yes," interrupted the rustic; " and pray, who'd be the fool then ? Why, don't you know there's always a mort of folks passing to and fro the Park? and if we should be heard by any one of my la- WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 209 dy Ash ton's people, there would be a fine blow-up. As to pretty Miss Sophy, why, zure and zure, and double zure, she'd ne- ver forgive me, I suppose, while I've breath in my body ; and, by jingo ! if this habhy's father was to know it, zure as I live, he'd follow me night and day, and mayhap be the very death of me !" " But who in the world can hear you about the Park," said the marquis, " which is above a mile off at least ?" Poor lord Rainsbury longed to know the certain truth of what he suspected, but which would nevertheless be death to him to have confirmed ; yet, like the drowning wretch endeavouring to seize a straw, so his lordship clung to every sha- dow of remaining hope that the little che- rub before him might belong to some other mother than her to whom his an- guished ideas had given it. " Why, sir," said the clown, with a loud laugh, " you must forgive me, but I cannot, for the life of me, help laughing at your SIO WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? your honour. Only now just go a few steps further, and there's a back-gate as goes into lady Ashton's stable-yard ; and I doesn't want they gossipping folks to see me with the babby, which mother al- ways takes a different way about, for her own reasons, as she says ; but I suppose she fears the mother might be known ; and she, it seems, is a great lady, who lives in high life, and is thought to be as modest and virtuous as the best young vir- gin in the land. Adzooks ! why I does nothing but think of what my poor old grandfather used to say, that the man who gets hold of a true maid has got a rich prize. Why I shall begin to suspect my own Sukey by-and-bye, when some young ladies, who are mothers afore they are wives, can put on as modest and innocent a face as she does. But let me alone — I know how to keep a secret." " You are a pretty one, indeed, to keep one !" thought the marquis ; and he would, no doubt, have soon learned all that the simple WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 211 simple lad had been acquainted with, if be had not already told all that he did know, when, just as he was inquiring of him if he had any notion who was the fa- ther, and the fellow was looking round, after having mysteriously pronounced the word, '* mum !" a middle aged woman, of very decent appearance, suddenly came upon him, as he cried out — " Ecod ! here's mother !" She snatched the child from him, and she and her son were out of sight in a few minutes ; she having driven him before her, with many a threat of acquainting his fa- ther with his idleness, *' But why," thought the now-wretch- ed lord Rainsbury, " should I wish to hear more? Am I not now, or ought I not to be, thoroughly convinced ? Oh ! who amongst womankind can be trusted? Ah, Sophia ! pure as an angel in outward appearance, art thou not defiled, polluted, degraded ? Ob, yes ! and * Heaven mocks itself!" He 212 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? He now, at a neighbouring cottage, in- quired the nearest way to the inii and hotel; and fatigued with his long walk, on a morning uncommonly warm, and now exposed to all the ardour of a noonday sun, the marquis of Rains- bury gained the inn ; and ordering a slight dinner, which his saddenetj mind caused him scarcely to touch, he ordered posthorses, and set off that evening for London. CHAPTER XIH. An Accident, and a Stagecoach. T^E marquis of Rainsbury, having stop- ped one night at Bath, was impatient to recommence his journey to the metropolis ; he therefore travelled as fast as good re- lays WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 213 lays would let him, and hastened from the vicinity of that place which had imparted so much real suffering to his mind. Whether the old proverb was verified, of " too much haste, the worse speed," or whether the Fates, who watch over mor- tal men, and from whose mandate, some say, there is no appeal — whether those three sisters " who weave life's busy web," had so ordered it to perplex the mind of our hero, we cannot pretend to determine; but the chaise containing the love-lorn marquis broke down, after he had attain- ed about a stage and a half on the London side of Bath. It happened to be the time of the Bucks ball at that celebrated city, and another chaise was not just then to be had for love nor money. The mail-coach, as it darted through the town, was found completely full, and the marquis was glad to take up with the only vacant seat in the Bath light coach, so denominated; but these light 214 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? light day-coaches are often found to be extremely Jieavy in their progress. Seated opposite to lord Rainshury was a lady of very genteel appearance, and who seemed to be a person of high respect- ability ; beside him, and who often eyed him askance, was a gentleman, who look- ed what the world calls a warm man, seemingly a wealthy country gentleman, whose healthful countenance, made ruddy by the sports of the field, bore neverthe- less some purple signs of frequent liba- tions to the rosy god. He appeared to krM)w lord Rainsbury personally, generally addressing him by his title, though his l<«-dship had not the most faint idea of ever having seen him before. The lady (^jposite see4i>ed well acquainted with the country squire, yet there was a distance in thei-r i^anner toward'S each other, though s^netimes mingled with recriminatio». A decent-looking countryman, of farm^- l^e appearance, sat beside the lady ; ^nd s^ the WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 215 the coach only carried four inside passen- gers, they consisted of the persons above*^ mentioned. The marquis of Rainsbury had travel- led, and had about him all that polite ease which is only to be gained by having visited foreign countries; like all gentle- men who have been abroad, he knew how to accommodate himself to all the different characters he occasionally met with; he entered, therefore, into the novel scene of a stagecoach with hilarity and good-hu- mour, and endeavoured to dissipate the ob- truding thoughts that chiefly occupied his mind, by observing men and manners. In the honest countryman opposite to him, he beheld an embarrassed and rather sorrow^ ful look ; he spoke at first but little, and seemed, in some degree, lord Rainsbury fancied, as if dependent on the rixjh fox- hunting gentleman. The marquis directed his conversation chiefly to the lady opposite, whom he found highly accomfdisbed and well read ; there 216 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? there was also an elegance in her manners, which nevertheless appeared studied, and her every movement and expression be- trayed a fear of violating, in the smallest degree, against the rules of good-breeding. Lord Rainsbury thought within himself, that it was however a fault on the right side, and that her preciseness might per- haps be owing to a want of frequent in- tercourse amongst the now very free and easy members of what is termed polite so- ciety ; for though past the flower of youth, she was nevertheless too young to belong to the old school. On her making some very apt remarks on some modern publications the marquis named to her, his lordship paid her an ele- gantly-turned compliment. " Ay, ay," said the fox-hunter, " ply her well at that, my lord ! She can talk with you about books from morning to night, and never, I believe, was her judg- ment or her learning called in question. I wish she was any thing but what she is, that WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 217 that I .might feel more esteem and re- spect for her; but d — n all boarding- schools ! ay, and all them who keep them !" added he. " It is no novelty for Mr. Hawthorn to be personal," said the lady, evidently hurt and confused. " If," said the kind-hearted and amiable marquis, " that is the occupation of our fair fellow-traveller, many of our English mothers may congratulate themselves on the certainty of having their daughters educated in a superior manner." " That, sir," said Mr. Hawthorn, " I do not deny ; I am willing to give ladies who keep boarding-schools every latitude ; for, I suppose," added he, grossly, " they have the same feelings as other women, and have no objection themselves to a pretty fellow, if they could get hold of one." On seeing the blush of indignant mo- desty suffused over the cheek of Mrs. Bancroft, lord Rainsbury said — " Sir, al- voL. I. L low 218 WHO IS THE EIIIDEGROOM ? low me to say that such remarks are not gentlemanlike." " Oh, my lord !" said Hawthorn, ** I meant no offence, be assured. Mrs. San- croft knows that I venerate her talents, and that I have the highest opinion of her manner of educating young females ; but their morals, sir — their morals ! there is the rub. From a number of girls being con- tinually together, and not having sufficient watch placed over them in the hours of recreation, they begin talking of sweet- hearts, and thinking every man that looks at them in love with them ; and thus they contaminate each other, and make the whole future business of their lives a course of love intrigues, and generally fi- nish by dishonouring their families." " Sir," said Mrs. San croft, darting a look of fire at Mr. Hawthorn, " depravity of mind, in certain individuals, may be innate ; it will be found everywhere, but particularly among those unfortunate young WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 219 young girls, who, bereft of that best guar- dian of female honour, a virtuous mother, have ill examples set them at home ; and then," added she, with a look of the most pointed severity, " when a poor young creature errs, how blameable is that pa- rent, who has never given her lessons of virtue, when he obstinately withholds his forgiveness — and to a child who perhaps owes all her frailty to him, who has not only introduced her, when at home, into improper company, but has continually scoffed at morality and religion in her pre- sence ! It is a very difficult matter for a governess who presides over a large semi- nary, to reform what is early impressed on the mind of youth, by those whose max- ims and behaviour nature teaches a daugh- ter to revere and justify. Severity, how- ever, Mr. Hawthorn, be assured, is one of the worst methods in the world to bring that mind back to the state of innocence with which Heaven, in my opinion, has endowed every young person." L 2 " Pack 220 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? " Pack of nonsense !" said Mr. Haw- thorn ; " I dare say, that disgrace to her family, to whom we both allude, is not the only forward young hussy you have turned out of your school." " Perhaps not, sir," said Mrs. Bancroft ; " I have endeavoured to inculcate good morals among my pupils, and I am not ac- countable for their errors after they have left me: but, sir," added she, while her heart seemed swelling with various emo- tions, so as to cause the tears to start into her eyes, and which made the marquis to honour her feelings, " I have had those imder my care who do honour to their sex ; and it will ever be my pride and boast to say, that it was I who helped to form their minds. She who has educated a Sophia Ashton may be excused when she asserts, with the most gratifying con- sciousness, that she has regulated the mo- rals, and improved the taste, of one of the most virtuous and excellent young fe- males of this nation." " Humph !" Who is the bridegroom ? 221 " Humph !" said Mr. Hawthorn, with a contemptuous sneer; " your sex are all very virtuous and very modest till they are found out." " Oh, sir !" said Mrs. San croft, " no one 6ver durst move his tongue against the purity of that amiable young creature.'* Mr. Hawthorn gave a Satanic laugh, and said — " Ay, ay, a very short time will shew who is virtuous, and sly, and mere- tricious." " I appeal to this honest man beside me," said Mrs. Sancroft, reddening with honest i«dignation, " if any one can say aught against the angelic purity of Miss Sophia Ashton; faulty only in the unfortunate friendship she formed, and still persists in, with a person I forbear to name — not, sir, ill pity to your feelings ; for, pardon me, you have convinced me you have none, but fV6m respect and concern towards my own sex." " Indeed, ma'am," said the farmer, his eyes glistening with tears, " I never could L 3 have 222 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? have thought that it was possible for any- one to question the purity of an angel, for she is one upon earth ; and even her de- termined friendship is from an excess of virtue." " Pho ! pho !" remarked Mr. Hawthorn ; " I am sick of the name of virtue between two forward romantic young sluts, one only the more guilty than the other, be- cause she covers her sly tricks with hypo- crisy and mock modesty." ** Fie, fie, Mr. Hawthorn !" said the ho- nest farmer ; " do not let me lose the respect I owe you. I am your tenant, it is true, and you have of late been very merciful to me." " But then, I suppose," said Hawthorn, with a more contemptuous sneer than be- fore, " Miss Sophia Ashton has been more merciful !" " You say true, sir," said the honest man — " Miss Sophia is an angel of mercy ; she saved me from the jaws of a prison, and enabled me to pay my rent to your steward. WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 223 steward, who drove me very hard; but you kindly assured me, sir, it was not by your orders." " No, it was not ; and my conduct to- wards you was totally ^/mnterested ; but you were bound to keep a secret for the other, that I knew nothing of till very lately ; and is not the affair your sister is concerned in, and the charge she is invest- ed with, from a certain young lady of fashion, very dark and mysterious? Answer me that now, if you please." The farmer was silenced; and lord Rainsbury, who had not spoken for some time, being fearful of trusting his voice, from various emotions of mingled fear, hope, and doubt, which, by turns, agitated his bosom; his busy thoughts were di- verted by Mr. Hawthorn saying — " I think, my lord, you are intimately ac- quainted with the Ashton family." " Not very intimately," was the laconic reply. ^t . ** But you have, no doubt, heard what L 4 is 1^24 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? is their general character, sir," said Mrs. San croft ; " and you have met theni, I dare say, always in the first circles." " Oh, as to that," said Mr. Hawthorn, ** the throne itself is no sanctuary against the intrusion of some vicious characters." " True !" said Mrs. Bancroft, with some asperity — ' As whcre's that palace where foul things Sometimes obtrude not V " But I am sure," said the farmer, " this gentleman, if he has any acquaintance with the excellent family of the Ashtons, must know how highly they are reputed for worth, beauty, and accomplishments." « Ha ! ha ! ha !" laughed Mr. Haw- thorn, loudly, " particularly my lady Ash- ton ; she is very highly accomplished too — is she not?" " Her ladyship," said the marquis, look- ing somewhat haughtily on Mr. Haw- thorn, " is a very worthy woman, and does honour, by her virtue, to the high station WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 235 station to which she has been raised ; her daughters are universally and justly ad- mired, and well spoken of everywhere, and your remarks on them, sir, give me leave to tell you, are extremely improper and misplaced." " Oh ! I thank you, sir," said the honest farmer, his eyes glistening with tears of delight, " for thus taking the part of inno- cence and real merit; they are indeed highly spoken of, and well do they deserve all that is said of them." Night had now closed in, as the coach had' set off late in the afternoon, and the rain and hail began to fall in torrents. Every one in the coach, at the instigation of Mr. Hawthorn, which, in spite of his unpleasant manners, gave the rest of the party a very good opinion of his heart, consented, joyfully, to the taking in of a poor Irishwoman, apparently a soldier's wife, who was seated on the outside of the coach, with a little infant, wrapped care- fliUy up in a piece of scarlet cloth, and jL 5 who. 226 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? who, in spite of the pitiless storm, slept the sound sleep of innocence in the arms of its rugged nurse. After a thousand thanks and blessings, uttered in the true brogue of Tipperary, she said — " And sure it is not for myself I thank you ; no, indeed ! sure Katty O'Gallacher has weathered many a harder storm than this; but it is for the young spalpeen here ; and, by the powers ! it sleeps as if it had a mind to say good-bye to a troublesome world — sure and it does!" " Is it your own?" asked Mrs. Bancroft. " No ; divil burn me if I've now one left, out of five childer I bore to Patrick O'Gallacher ! Ah ! many bitter tares are dropt in dear little Ireland, that the big folks think nothing at all at all about ! and then, to be sure, poor Patrick did love a drop of whiskey ; and, God rest the honest soul of him ! he never liked to take the good cra- ter by himself — I must always drink with him ; and it is a great comfort to th^puir^ whm they can get a drop of the real stuff —it WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 227 — it is almost mate and drink too. But poor Patrick lost all his work, and if he got a chance job, the money all went to the shabean house; so, when we had not a copper left to buy the childer a few para- tees, then poor Patrick's heart was quite broken : he left off drinking his whiskey, hecaase he had no money to buy any; and he was ill hecaase of it, and so could get no work at all at all ; and he died bro- kenhearted, and I had not one copper in the wide world to wake him, and two sick ragged childer lying on some dirty straw, which proved to them a hard bed of death. Och ! what was poor Katty then to do ? a lone woman, without a thirteen- er in the world ! two childer and a dead husband to wake, and three barefooted young spalpeens, all crying for a ^ew para- tees, which I had not to give them [ God is above all, and he put it into the hearts of some of my poor neighbours, who were better to do than myself, to collect a few thirteeners ; and so I waked my poor chil- L 6 der 228 WHO IS THE BUIDEGROOM ? der and their father, all three both togi- ther; and after that, I got a morsel when and where I could, for my three young boys ; but I could not hold it long ; and, och ! well are those kept that God keeps ! But, och, your honours ! when they, poor little wretches ! went, one after the other, for want of nourishment, as I may say, and I was well nigh famished myself, I listened to what a soldier in a marching regiment said to me, and, och, poor false- hearted Dermot O'Kay ! he had known me from a child ; so I consented to follow him to the wars, and he was to marry me when we came to quarters in Eng- land; but the wicked spalpeen has not kept his promise, and I've found out that he has a wife in Scotland ; there's a union for you, worse than that of Ireland with England ! I shall soon be after leaving him, v/ith all his blarney, and bad luck to him, say I !" '* Oh !" said Mrs. Sancroft^ " you are an unfortunate woman !" and the good ladv WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? SQfil lady really pitied her, for misery aloild seemed to have prompted her to hav6 formed this connexion. " I suppose," add- ed Mrs. Sancroft, " that this child of yours has for its father this soldier who has deceived you ?" " No, by my should madam !" said Mrs. Gallacher, " and it is none of his or mine ! it is " " Zounds, woman !'* interrupted Mr. Hawthorn, impatiently, " who wants to know any thing about the brat you have got there ? There is nothing wearies me so much as the confounded brogue of an Irishwoman ; so hold your tortgiie, if you please ; do you think we let you in here, out of the rain^ to be stunned with your gossip ?" ** Och, indeed, to be sure ! confounded brogue, said you ? did ye ? Brogue indeed ! when every one knows, as I've heaM the lamed father O'Flaherty say, that the Irish, especially those belonging' to Tip- perary. 230 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? perary, spake the best Englisli of any other people in the whole world." " Hold your tongue, you dirty faggot!" said the enraged Mr. Hawthorn, " and don't wake your brat with your noise, that we may be entertained with that young - bastard's squalling !" " Sir, you might be civil," said Mrs, O'Gallacher, " I think ; and if the child is a bastard, nobody has lain it to you." " If you say another word about it, I will throw you and it out of the coach, you drunken slut!" roared out Mr. Hawthorn. The woman seemed rather frightened ; but as it is extremely difficult to stop the tongue of an Irishwoman, she still went on — " Och, sir !" said she ; " and now your honour does very wrong to caal me drunken, when I took an oath, on my knees, before father O'Flaherty, that I ne- ver would be drunk again in all my born days; and didn't he give me absolution; for all the times I ever had been so before or WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 231 or since? so he did. And as to the poor thing here being a bastard, pray, are there not such things as comrades wives having children, pray now? and do not we do good-natured sarvices to each other in the army, pray now ? and what if this isn't the child of a soldier's wife, now, belong- ing to the regiment I've been in, more's the shame to me ! and which I'm going to leave as soon as I can make up my mind to it ?" " Well, well, good woman," said Mr. Hawthorn, somewhat softened, " it does honour to your heart to assist a comrade's wife; but we do not want to hear any more about you nor your concerns." The woman seemed now completely si- lenced, and not a word could any of the passengers get from her afterwards, except the monosyllables of yes and no. About an hour before daybreak, she was set down at a small, lone house, which stood next the road, on a kind of common, not many miles from London. After ^B WHO rs THE BRIDEGROOM ? After her departure, Mr. Hawthorn, with much overstrained politeness, apolo- gised to Mrs. Sancroflt for having intro^-' dUced a female of such a description into the same coach with her. "I do not find," said Mrs. Bancroft, with the utmost indifference, " any apology rfequisite ; as to the poor creature, I do not regard her as what you have just termed her, a had woman-— -I look upon her as only the victim of circumstances." ** Right, madam," said the marquis, warmly ; " every female who thus proper-^ ly feels for, and defends her sex, convinces* me of her own virtue." " But the lady before you, my lord marquis," said Hawthorn, " carries her le- nity too far ; she would wish a parent to cfeerish a guilty child, who has cast a stairif on her family and honour by producing 2tti illegitimate child, after having been the pride of her parents, and been well and fashionably educated." " Pardon me, sir," said Mrs. Sanc^oft, " there WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 2^t " there is a line to be duawn between fond^ ly cherishing and according forgiveness; we must forgive, if we hope to be for- given, and not shut our doors against a returning penitent." '* Well, madam, the father," said Mr. Hawthorn, " whom you designate, has forgiven, but he owes it to himself, and indeed to her, never to allow her again to enter the paternal dwelling." The conversation now changed to re- marks on the Irish character. The mar- quis was energetic in his praise of that warmhearted and loyal people, spoke highly of their valour, and affirmed them to be the best soldiers in Europe. Mr. Hawthorn d d them all for a set of blunderers, and, in particular, inveighed against the poor woman who had just quitted the coach. « Why, what has she done to you," said lord Rainsbury, " that you should be so bitter against her ?" " According to her own confession^" ^ said 234 WHO is THE BRIDEGROOM ? said Mr. Hawthorn, "she is both a drunk- ard and a " " Hold, sir !" said the marquis ; " I beg you will not make use of improper expres- sions before this lady : however, I look upon her as totally undeserving of the epithet you did bestow, as well as of that which*5iou were about to give her. When famine^ enters the door of wretchedness, where the starved inmate has no educa- tion to guide, or even if she had, the all- powerful animal instinct, which teaches us to preserve life, would yet be sooner heard; and the means this poor woman took to better her existence, however reprehen- sible in another, could not be deemed so in her. As to drunkenness, I am sure it is not a vice natural to her; she has not the appearance of one who indulges in it ; she herself thought it sinful, as you might find by her artless confession of what passed between the priest and herself relative to this vice ; and what little she took to sup- port her in her labour, which she called meat WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 235 meat and drink, seemed as if taken more to comply with the wishes of her warm- hearted and indulgent husband, than from any particular inclination of her own for the pernicious habit." After some little desultory conversa- tion, the coach rattled into Piccadilly, at an early hour in the morning, from whence the different passengers all repaired to their respective destinations. CHAPTER XIV. An extraordinary Incident. As soon as the marquis had refreshed him- self, he repaired to his uncle's, who re- ceived him with unusual complacency, but which lord Pyrwater knew well how to adopt, when he had any favourite point to carry ; the earl, however, much lament- ed 236 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ed that lady Diana had sailed for Lisbon before his nephew's arrival at Falmouth ; and he asked him, with unwonted cordia- lity, to dine with him. This howeyer lord Kainsbury declined, as he found, on his arrival at his own dwelling, several let- ters lying on the table in his study, which' he wished to peruse and answer. Amongst these was a note, directed to him in a female's handwriting, with which he was totally unacquainted. He opened it in haste, and with a trepidation he knew not how to account for. It was dated only the night before, at eleven o'clock ; and he was entreated in it to call at Mrs. Horton's residence in Berkeley-square, as soon as possible after his arrival in town, as some business of a momentous, though private nature, would be communicated to his lordship ; he was earnestly request- ed to destroy the note, and mention to no one his having received it, for what related it) it required secrecy and dispatch. Lord^ Kainsbury, however, did not comply with the p WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 237 the injunction of destroying the note, but carefully locked it up in his secretaire, wondering at this mysterious invitation; but, on looking at his watch, and finding it then wanted but a quarter of an hour to three, he set off, on foot, for the place ap- pointed. Mrs. Horton, who had not forgot the conapliments paid to her coral lips and pearly teeth by the marquis of Rainsbury, when she had seen him at lady Ashton's, appeared now before him in all the stu- died coquetry of a fashionable morning- dress; but the freezing bow and distant demeanour of his lordship towards the wo- man, whose appearance and meanness he had never liked, and whose meretricious principles were easily seen through, made her instantly to proceed to the business she had in view; and she said — "I hope, my lord marquis, you will pardon me for the freecjom I have taken in sending for you," (the marquis coldly bowed) ; " but, my lord," 238 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? lord," continued she, " I know you never would refuse a lady any thing." Here Mrs. Horton gave a look, which she meant to be very inviting, but with which the marquis was completely dis- gusted ; and truth compels us to say, that he, very ungallantly,made no answer what- ever; nay, we believe a frown clouded his noble brow, which evinced his displeasure. " It is," resumed the mortified Mrs. Horton, " on account of a young lady, who is just about to become a bride, that I took the liberty of sending for you ; she is a perfect stranger to your lordship, but she has a particular request to make to you, with which she wishes to trust no one else ; feeling in herself, from general report, the high and solemn trust she is about to repose in the bosom of a man of your lordship's known honour and good- ness." Mrs. Horton then, after this flourishing compliment, flourished also her little, plump WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 239 plump white hand ; and quitting the apartment, she soon returned, leading in a young lady ; she then bade the marquis a good-morning, leaving him and the af- fianced bride together. In the young woman, now dressed in the height of fashion, her fine Indian mus- lin robe, trimmed with a profusion of the richest Mechlin lace, and her generally-pal- lid cheek highly rouged, the marquis had some difficulty in recognising the female whom he had but once seen with Mrs. Horton at the Exhibition, and who, by the fatal paper she had tendered to Sophia Ashton, and which had fallen into his hands, had banished peace and hope from his agonized bosom. The sly, intriguing eye, however, which had then so forcibly struck him, now leer- ed from beneath its long, golden-tinged eyelash, and he could not forbear asking himself, what could Sophia Ashton, how- ever credulous and unsuspecting she might be. 240 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? be, see in this female to make her so firm- ly her bosom-friend ? He found, however, as she began, after some hesitation, to converse with him, that she was not without a considerable share of fascination ; she had art to appear artless; and, with well- dissembled modes- ty and tears, she said — " I know, my lord, that in what I am about to entrust to your care, I may safely confide in your honour. Perhaps you may have heard, perhaps not, that there exists, between Miss Sophia Ashton and myself, that sacred bond of friendship, which time, distance, or cir- cumstances, can never annul ; that, on her part also, there exists a tie, which, by my eternal secrecy, binds our friendship still closer ; there is no fear, therefore, of her violating the solemn treaty that binds us to each other. I am now on the eve of marriage with a man who is immensely rich, with whom I hope to be happy, though my heart has no share in this union, but WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 241 but it has gained me the forgiveness of a father I had much offended." " Is your name Hawthorn, madam ?" said the marquis. ** Mrs. Horton did not introduce you to me." " No, my lord," said the wily Elinor ; " Mrs. Horton is agitated much, because, though I have greatly erred from that se- crecy which I look upon as the most fioly seal of friendship, I am more the victim of another's fault than my own. Yes, my lord, you see before you the unhappy Eli- nor Hawthorn ; she is an outcast, for one error, from the chaste society of those who pride themselves on their correctness; while she — she who has produced a living proof of her dishonour, lives cherished and esteemed, the charm of the polite and vir- tuous part of the world, and is deemed strictly modest, and a pattern of virtue. Oh, sir ! will you take to her a last fare- well from one who must ever fondly love her ?" " What, madam ? who ?" said the mar- VOL, I. M quis, 242 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? quis, turning pale, and his voice faltering, as his eye glanced over the superscription of the letter, addressed to Miss Sophia Ash- ton. " Heavens [*' said Miss Hawthorn, cor- recting herself, with some apparent em- barrassment and well-feigned mortifica- tion, " what was I thinking of! I — I — I declare I know not what I utter ! my mind is a chaos of confusion ! Oh ! no, no ! — Was I about to violate my vow ? — No, no, indeed, my lord. I — I beg you to believe Yes, pray, sir, believe it — that — that — Sophia Ashton is — is — Heaven forgive me ! — punty itself." Here she burst into tears ; and this patching up of what she had just before so plainly insinuated, seemed, to the sick- ened fancy of the marquis, but only an added proof of Sophia's duplicity and guilt; he gently soothed the weeping victim of friendship, and inwardly vowed he would never more trust to outward appearances, or to the deceptive system of physiognomy. "Alas I WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM^ 243 *' Alas ! sir," resumed Miss Hawthorn, ** I must bid this angel for ever adieu ; her cruel mother, who hates me, will not suffer us to meet to take a last and sad farewell ; perhaps it is better that it should be so. I have therefore penned this last sad letter, assuring her of my ever- lasting regard, which, though the billows roll between us, and a distant quarter of the globe will be my habitation, shall ne- ver diminish, nor the secrets that cement our friendship ever be violated by me. See her, my good lord, alone, I beseech you ; for, oh ! should this letter, the con- tents of which concern her so nearly, fall into the hands of her mother, the conse- quence might be fatal to my beloved So- phia." His lordship beginning to urge the probable difficulty of obtaining a pri- vate interview with Miss Sophia Ashton, Miss Hawthorn hastily interrupted him, by saying — " Of that, my lord, I am fuUy aware ; but let me entreat you to carry this important deposit about you ; and if m2 you 244 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? you consent only to give it her the first opportunity that offers, I shall be easy ; for I know I confide it to the care of a gentleman of honour." Lord Rainsbury bowed, and blushed at the recollection of his curiosity, which, in gratifying on a previous occasion, he had destroyed his mind's peace ; and he said — ^" I fear, madam, an opportunity will not occur till the masqued ball about to be given by the duchess of Arlington ; then, perhaps, by virtue of my disguise, and be- itYg first well acquainted with that of Miss Sophia Ashton, I can very easily find an occasion of delivering the letter, which I pledge myself, in one way or other, to get safe to her hands." Miss Hawthorn at this turned pale, and was in evident agitation,— -"Oh, my lord," said she, " I ehitreat, above all things, that this letter maiy be given to her before that masquerade ! Let her be warned, before then, of a plot laid to discover all- 1 beg pardon, my lord; I know not what I fim saying WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 24i5 saying — of — of a plan to destroy her fu- ture peace. To-morrow morning, I think, will afford you a favourable opportunity ; for I am informed, that lady Ashton, Miss Ash ton, and Mr. Ayscough, are going to the review at Wimbledon, and that Miss Sophia has declined going. When I heard this intelligence, by mere accident, I de- termined at first to go in person, and take a last farewell, while I warned Sophia with my own lips of what, I fear, may happen to her when I am gone, and no longer able to watch over—- — But this is straying from the point. I doubt not but what lady Ashton has ordered her servants to refuse me entrance, and I would not wish to add, in the smallest degree, to that un- happiness which, I fear, sooner or later, will be the lot of my misguided and too- tender friend." Here the perfidious Elinor paused, thinking that she had, no doubt, excited the curiosity of the marquis so far as to make him question her concerning Sophia, M 3 for ■o 246> WHO IS THE BRIDEGHOOM ? for she had watched his agonized counte- nance and agitated frame ; but lord Rains- bury was on his guard : he pitied her at first — he felt the sway of a certain kind of fascination in this artful female ; but he soon perceived, under the mask she wore, deep design and cunning. He looked at his watch, made an apology for being obhged to quit her so abruptly, took the letter, and promised faithfully to deliver it privately. But what a trying scene had he yet to go through ! On the following morning, the marquis watched the departure of the Ashton fa- mily for Wimbledon, and he saw the ba- rouche drive from the door without So- phia. He was not slow in repairing af- terwards to pay a morning visit to the mansion of the wealthy widow, and was there informed of what he already knew — that Miss Sophia Ashton only was at home. He sent up his card, and waited a short time in the breakfast-parlour, to learn if the WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 2^47 the young lady would be visible to him. Sophia, who really loved his lordship bet- ter than she would own to herself — indeed much better than she was conscious she really did, was in extreme agitation at this visit. She had never been tete-a-tete with lord Rainsbury before ; yet, whatever feelings at that time pervaded her gentle bosom, pleasure was certainly predomi- nant; and though at first she almost de- termined on not seeing him, as her mo- ther, she perceived, had found out her se- cret predilection for the marquis, yet she justly thought that it would be a piece of silly prudery in her to refuse to receive his lordship, and she ordered her servant to shew him up into the second drawing- room. The blushing cheek, the sparkling eye, the gentle tremor of her frame, all added to the lovely animation of her charming person and intelligent countenance ; never before had lord Rainsbury beheld his Sophia look more captivating. Her morning- dress M 4 iTfid 248 WHO IkS the bridegroom? and half-dishevelled ringlets gave her an air that inspired a degree of friendly fami- liarity, and banished the etiquette of un- meaning ceremony ; so that, instead of the courtly bow, the extended hand of his lordship met that of his fair mistress, and the cordial pressure he gave to it was more than half returned ; and he could scarce avert his enamoured gaze to pro- ceed to the business he came upon ; but it soon crossed his mind, and returned, ** As doth the raven o'er the haunted roof. Boding to ill." As at length he politely began to in- troduce the subject, and Sophia had taken from him the letter, he told her it con- tained the last farewell of a friend she highly valued. " Indeed I most sincerely regard her," said Sophia, with much sweetness ; " that school-day friendship is still the same as it was in the early part of our childhood ; nevertheless, I must say, particularly as it is WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 249 is SO much to her advantage to accompany her husband abroad, that I feel satisfied with her going, though I may never see her again ; for I have been compelled to quit her society, as the world and its pre- judices must, in a certain degree, be com- plied with." The marquis of Rainsbury, correct and excellent in his principles, was yet but a man ; and, oh, man ! the very best of thy sex are apt to regard woman but too lightly ! He heeded not the innocence that hazarded the expression, nor the libe- rality of sentiment that suggested the re-- mark ; but he fancied it proceeded from the licentious wish of defending her own laxity of moral conduct ; his " eye darted contagious fire." He seized her hand — he pressed it with vehemence to his lips and bosom, saying — " How happy I feel to hear the enchanting Sophia Ashton de- clare herself above the prejudices of the world!" The calm dignity of real virtue, which M 5 instantly 250 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? instantly diffused itself over her counte- nance, as she withdrew her hand from his grasp, and as she turned away her blush- ing face from his ardent gaze, made his lordship instantly recollect, and severely blame himself for his temerity. To apo- logize, he thought, might only serve to alarm her, and therefore he only took oc- casion to address her with increased re- spect. — " I know not why. Miss Ash ton," said he, " that your friend requested you would read the letter immediately ; and she seemed to express a wish, that if it should require any answer, that I would take it to her, as she said there was no other safe mode of getting a letter to you, as lady Ash ton had strictly forbidden your correspondence. Now, though I revere you for your duty to a most virtuous pa- rent, who can only have your advantage in view, yet I hope that friendship may also be allowed some claim ; and that to serve two young ladies about to part for a very long period of time, I did not, I trusty WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 251 trust, act amiss in thus giving facility to the warm effusions of virtuous female at- tachment." " I feel myself," said Sophia, " in a very particular manner obliged to your lord- ship;" and handing to him a portfolio, containing some very beautiful specimens of antique engravings, she added — "While you amuse yourself for a few minutes with these, my lord, I will just run over this letter." Lord Rainsbury affected to be very bu- sy with the engravings, but he was, at the same time, employed in watching the <;ountenance of his Sophia ; and as she trembled over the fatal letter, it suddenly dropped from her hand, as she uttered a faint shriek, and sank on the carpet in a fainting fit. The letter had fallen from her hand, but curiosity was not now the prevailing prin- ciple that filled the breast of the marquis ; it was the recovery of his still-fondly-loved Sophia, who now lay senseless before him : M 6 but 252 WHO IS THE BIlID£GROOM ? but then he must — he found it indispens- ably requisite for him to do so — if he call- ed for assistance, he must first possess himself of the letter, which would, if dis- covered, infallibly be productive of every thing fatal to the peace of Sophia. He saw a reticule belonging to Miss Ashton lying on a table; he caught it up, and fortunately found in it her smelling- bottle, containing aromatic vinegar; thus he endeavoured to make her respire, and she began faintly to recover. On a marble table, by a vase of flowers, stood a small cut crystal bottle, filled with lavender water, with which lord Rainsbury plentifully bedewed the forehead, and chafed the tem- ples of poor Sophia, and which timely aid soon brought her entirely to herself She found herself, on her revival, lean- ing on his lordship's bosom ; and as he gently pressed her lovely head yet closer to his panting breast, his eye glanced on the unclosed letter. The following fatal Words met his eyes — " Oh, my Sophia ! that WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 25S that sweet, unfortunate infant, whom, for its interesting mother, I would have ever watched over with maternal fondness, is " Here the letter being half-turn- ed down, he could proceed no farther with that line; but the next ran as follows— " As with a parent's fondness you look upon it, think how often your Elinor has pressed it to her bosom. But what is that ? A stronger tie binds you — you must not abandon it. Nature, feeling — all demand that you should protect it. Consider how sacred is the call, and en- dure all that may follow, for the sake " Here ended the fatal proof; but his lordship could discover no more ; he now felt as if he could willingly throw off his lovely burthen. — " Farewell, farewell," thought he now, " to that sweet security I felt in her virtue, even after proof seem- ingly the most strong of her guilt ! even this morning she seemed to me the very symbol of innocence !" Sophia, however, now quite recovered, felt 2!54 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? felt much embarrassment in her present situation, and raised her head from the pil- low on which she had suffered it so supine- ly to recline. The marquis rose, and bow- ed with the most chilling respect, while he gravely presented the letter to her, which, with a deep blush, she hastily folded up. He asked if it required any answer, to which, having replied in the negative, a violent burst of tears seemed to give some relief to her oppressed heart. His lord- ship again felt love and pity contending in his bosom against what he yet thought per- fect conviction. He said — " It pains me much, my dear Miss Ash ton, to see you in this situation — I cannot bear to leave you thus." " I thank you, my lord," replied she, " for your kindness ; there is much in that letter to distress me, and I hope you will not think me guilty of rudeness, when I now request to be left alone." " No, charming Miss Ashton," said he, ** it is impossible you should be capable of rudeness ; WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 255 rudeness ; I ought, indeed, when I had fulfilled my mission, to have taken my leave." Sophia silently waved her hand, with an air of dignity ; and lord Rainsbury, somewhat abashed, took his departure. He felt astonished, and it seemed to him, in spite of all he had seen, like con- scious innocence and rectitude in the ob- ject of his heart's choice, that she had not, before he left her, requested him to be se- cret on what had happened. — " Guilt," thought he, " would certainly have done so; and oh that I could but find her free from blame ! but, alas ! I fear that is impossible !" The afflicted Sophia retired to her dress- ing-room, fortunately unperceived ; and it was not till the traces of her tears were no longer visible, that her waiting-woman came to assist her in dressing for dinner : her agitation too had passed away, but it had been followed by deep and sad reflec- tion ^56 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? tion on the contents of the letter she had re- ceived, and that lord Rainsbury should have been the bearer of this clandestine epistle, which gave him a kind of myste- rious intimacy with her, that lessened her in her own eyes. At six, the party from Wimbledon re- turned to dinner, and it was not difficult for maternal watchfulness to perceive that some event or other had chagrined lady Ashton's darling and constantly-cheerful Sophia ; and she was on the point of say- ing — " Sophy, my love, what is the mat- ter with you?" when that young lady, above disguise, and also not wishing to have the intelligence first detailed to her sister by her soubrette, said, with affected nonchalance^ that the marquis of Rains- bury had called, and had sat half-an-hour with her. Lady Ashton only answered by a " humph P' and her brow became con- tracted, as if she was not very well pleased at hearing this, especially as, in spite of all WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 257 all her efforts, a crimson blush spread it- self over the face of Sophia, and her voice faltered ere she had finished the sentence. Miss Ashton turned pale, bit her lips, and said — " I think I might make the same observation as Albert made on the unfortunate Werter, that ' he chooses his time well." Mr. Ayscough was vexed at her for making this remark on her sister's ac- count, but much more at the look that accompanied an observation, and which he thought discovered more malevolence than the words themselves. Miss Ash- ton however darted out of the room, and soon after, as the rest of the family-party were about to seat themselves at table, Miss Ashton's waiting-maid entered, re- questing, from her young lady, a small plate of fish or chicken to be sent up to her, as she had a sudden and violent head- ache, which would prevent her coming down to dinner. Ayscough, from many trifling circum- stances. 258 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? stances, visible only to the eyes of anxious love, suspected what was really true — that both sisters were in love with the accom- plished young marquis of Rainsbury : yet he hoped, as Miss Ashton's fortune was so immense, she had by no means an eye to his riches ; that she had conquered a slight predilection which she had very naturally conceived for one of the hand- somest and most amiable young men of the present age, that turned the heads of half the young women at the court end of the town, and that she now regarded himself with a decided preference. So much for vanity — vanity that was now mortified and humbled by the suggestions of jea- lousy, and his honest and feeling heart tormented by fearful doubts. " Sophy, my love," said lady Ash ton, " when dinner is sarved, take my place, while \jist steps up and sees a'ter Betsy." " If," said Sophia, " my dear mamma will allow me to go and attend to my sis- ter, she will very much oblige me." " Certainly, WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? ^59 " Certainly, my love, if you chooses," said lady Ashton. " I do love, Mr. Ays- cough," added she, " to see the infection of my children to one another. But make haste down again, Sophy, or the vittles will be spoilt," Sophia found her sister lying on the couch in her dressing-room, and giving w^ay to a violent passion of tears. — " My dear Eliza," said the amiable girl, " you will make your head worse; what is it that can have so agitated you ?" " Oh, little plotter !" said Miss Ashton ; " you could not go to the review^ to be sure — you hoped we would excuse you ; and do you think your arts are not seen through, nor that it was a deep-laid plan — a concerted scheme, between you and your sentimental lord ?" " Oh, Eliza !" said Sophia, " you wrong me most cruelly." ** Well, never mind ; go down to din- ner, child, or neither my mother nor Mr. Ayscough, who dotes on your pretended na'ivefey 260 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? naivete^ will be able to keep up any con- versation without you. How do you think, without your sensible remarks on every subject, which he is pleased, even to my face, to extol, will the learned Ays- cough support the language of my good mother, Mrs. Malaprop the Second ? Ne- ver shall I forget her the other day, when he was describing the Elephanta, her ask- ing him how many elephants he thought were now confined there, upon an adver- hage r She now fell into as violent a fit of laughter as she had before of weeping, and Sophia could not forbear rebuking her with some severity, saying — " My dear Eliza, it does not become us to ridicule our mother, for the want of that education which has been so liberally bestowed on us." " Ay, ay, I know you are all love and sentiment! you are just suited to that stu- pid Rainsbury !" ^' My sister did not think him always stupid," WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? 261 stupid," said Sophia, with more archness than usual. " Insolent creature !" said the enraged Miss Ashton, " now could I find in my heart to slap that saucy baby -face of yours. But I hav^e found you out, in spite of all your pretended innocence : I know your art — I repeat again, it was all a contrived plan betw^een Rainsbury and you ; you told my mother he sat half-an-hour with you, when I have been credibly informed he was here two hours and a quarter — a pretty space of time for a young lady to be tete-a-tete with a young nobleman ! So be assured that I know all about what you tiiought you had contrived so cleverly; and now go to dinner, * with what appe- tite you may,' for it is my turn now to af- fect a headache." Sophia could not forbear laughing. — " Well, Eliza," said she, " I must say you make me happy, by assuring me your ma- lady is only affected. However, if you mean to cast any reflections on me, I pre- tended 262 WHO IS THE BUIDEGROOM ? tended no headache ; but I am not fond of reviews ; and you know very well that I always absent myself from the crowds usually attending them, whenever I find I can." " Well, well, no matter; go down, child, and let my mother send me up a plate of any thing she chooses, though, perhaps, I shall not touch a morsel." " My dear sister," said Sophia, " you had better come down, and endeavour to be cheerful." " What !" screamed out Miss Ashton, " to see your triumph, you little wretch ! No — go down, if you choose, or let it alone ; no doubt you can live upon love, and the tender protestations of that milk- sop Rainsbury." " Fie, Eliza!" said Sophia; " I am sure the marquis is too much a man of honour to make protestations of love to one wo- man, when he is solemnly engaged to ano- ther." " Pretty old-fashioned maxims!" said Miss WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 26S Miss Ashton, with a sneer — " theory of the virtuous Mrs. Sancroft, who taught you the principles and the practical part, en- forced by the example of that good sort of a woman, our matter-of-fact mother ! But it is nothing to me, if Miss Sophia Ashton chooses to trangress those maxims with the high-born man of fashion, her captiva- ting marquis ; however, he o/' you, or he and you, may do what you please ; only, on this I am determined, which is, never to be the wife of that Ayscough." This was said with much spite and an- ger, and yet, for the life of her, Sophia could not find out what this determination had to do with the present subject in ques- tion, namely, the visit of lord Rainsbury. A servant came up at that interim, to in- form Miss Sophia that the dinner was served ; and before she descended, by her sweet persuasions and gentle soothings, she not only made her sister promise to take some dinner, but also requested her, and made her consent, to join the small friendly 264 WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? friendly party that lady Ashton had invit- ed, a few days before, for that evening. Among the ladies who composed this party was lady Netterville, who, however, did not make her appearance before eleven o'clock ; but for her late appearance she endeavoured to compensate, by talking as fast and as much as in her power till one the next morning. Her apology for her late appearance she gave in the following manner — " All the forenoon have I been consulting with the person who keeps the masquerade warehouse in Pan ton- street. I have just received a ticket from my friend, the charming duchess of Arlington — by-the-bye, there is a name erased ; but I think I can make it out, and I fancy the card was previously sent to the fair fugi- tive, lady Diana Wentworth. It was so truly kind in my friend, the duchess, to send me a ticket; but then indeed she was sure not to forget me : such old ac- quaintance ! To tell you the truth, be- tween you and me, lady Ashton, the for- mer WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? ^65 mer duke was an old lover of mine ; but that is not to the purpose. This masque- rade, I am informed, will be the most unique, splendid, and elegant thing that was ever seen of the kind. I pity you, dear lady Ashton, if you have not recei- ved tickets, for no one can possibly be ad- mitted without." " Oh dear me !" said lady Ashton, draw- ing up her head, " both my daughters and I received tickets from her grace long afore her accident ; and not content with that, she sent to us again at the time she was purnounced, by all the faculty, a count Vallency.'' Lady Netterville could not imagine now what lady Ashton meant ; she had often heard her mangling words, but had gene- rally aptitude enough to find out her meaning ; and always fearful of discover- ing her ignorance of every minutia of the haut ton, the eleve of Whitechapel and Mile-End said — " Hem ! ha ! ha ! very skilful, I believe !" VOL. I. N " Yes, 266 WUO IS THE BRIDEGROOM? " Yes, yes," said lady Ashton, " it was not likely that her grace the duchess of Arlington would employ any one of the faculty but what was really so." " True, true, my lady," said lady Net- terville ; " but, for my own part, I am not fond of employing foreigners." " Why," said lady Ashton, " who said any thing shout JbrendersT' " I thought — I thought," said the chat- tering Netterville, " that your ladyship mentioned a foreign count." Count !" echoed lady Ashton. Yes, yes, indeed, count Valentia, an eminent surgeon or physician; I know hiryj — he has been in India." " I know nothing about him — not I," said lady Ashton. " Dear me, lady Net- terville, why your head must be gone a- wool-gathering." " Indeed," said the fawning lady Net- terville, " I am rather stupid, I believe." '^ No, my dear," said lady Ashton, " I did not mean to go for to say that — that would WHO IS THE BRIDEGROOM ? 267 would indeed be very unperlite in one's own house; but why did you come so late ? I told you I had only a snug, friend- ly party, and they are none of them incli- ned to play ; they say, they likes better to have a little cheerful conversation ; so come, let's join these few females that has got huddled together on that otterman — come, I know you'll amuse us, for you're quite, as a body may say, the calender er of the whole town." The conversation however that took place this evening, and in which lady Net- terville took the lead, we must beg to de- cline giving till the commencement of our next volume. END OF VOL. I. Printed by J. Darling, Leadenhall-street, London. NEW PUBLICATIONS PRINTED FOR ^1, If. J^EWM^M §• €0. AT THE Ji,'. LEADENHALL-STREET, LONDON. Matron of Erin, an Irish Tale, by Mrs. Kelly, 3 vols. 2