L I E, R.ARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVE.R.SITY 
 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 82.3 
 v.|
 
 MEREDITH. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS. 
 
 J843,
 
 f^3 
 
 00 
 
 LO 
 
 CT5 
 
 LO 
 
 CD 
 
 M E R E 1) I T H 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 ^ Why should I write my memoirs? is a 
 
 *^ question that has often suggested itself to 
 
 me, as the notion of diverting my leisure 
 
 ^ hours by such an occupation has occurred 
 
 to me. '' Your experience may serve as a 
 
 t guide to others," whispered Vanity ; but 
 
 the next moment Reason observed, "No 
 
 one will profit by it, and few, perhaps, will 
 
 be amused by the recital ; for people like to 
 
 pay for the acquisition of experience, rather 
 
 than to accept it as a gift from another, 
 
 ■ and truth, though sometimes stranger, is not 
 
 VOL. h B
 
 2 MEREDITH. 
 
 often so entertaining as fiction." "• But al- 
 though it may neither warn nor interest 
 others," said Selfishness, " the recurring 
 to the clays of youth may bring back some 
 portion of its gay illusions to cheer the 
 dreary hours of age." The suggestion of 
 the last speaker decided the undertaking; 
 for seldom are the dictates of Selfishness 
 slighted ; and thus the book was commenced. 
 
 That my readers should become ac- 
 quainted with the individual in whose com- 
 pany they are to pass some hours, it will be 
 necessary for me to tell them who I am. 
 
 Born in Yorkshire, of an old and wealthy 
 family, it was my fate to be left an orphan 
 before I had reached my eighteenth year. 
 I was just old enough to feel the value of a 
 mother's love, and a more tender and afiec- 
 tionate one than mine could not, I believe, 
 be found. 
 
 Of my father, I have much less agree- 
 able recollections. He was, as I since learned.
 
 MEREDITH. ♦ 3 
 
 an unfaithful husband, happier anywhere 
 than at home, and more disposed to attri- 
 bute my poor mother's patience and forbear- 
 ance under the many slights she experienced 
 from him, to an apathetic nature, or to 
 want of love towards him, than to the real 
 motives which dictated her conduct — 
 namely, a perfect freedom from selfishness, 
 joined to a sensibility which led her to prefer 
 suffering rather than to inflict it on him, 
 and a sweetness of temper that enabled her 
 to conceal, if she could not vanquish, the cha- 
 grin that preyed on her heart. 
 
 It was not until his long and fatal illness 
 that my father was able to comprehend the 
 true character of her whose life he had ever 
 since the first few months of their marriage 
 embittered. 
 
 Fascinated by her beauty and softness, he 
 
 was, or fancied himself, desperately in love 
 
 with her. The obstacles opposed by her 
 
 father, who more than suspected the selfish- 
 
 b2
 
 4 MEREDITH. 
 
 ness and libertine propensities of lier ad- 
 mirer, increased his ardour ; and wiser heads 
 than that of an innocent and inexperienced 
 girl of eighteen might have been deceived 
 into a belief of the reality of his passion, so 
 unceasing were his attentions, and so fer- 
 vent were his demonstrations of attachment. 
 On one occasion he was known to have 
 gone three hundred miles to a ball, in order 
 that he might dance with the lady of his 
 love; and on another, he absolutely swam 
 across a river Avhen the flood was so high 
 as not only to terrify all those who wit- 
 nessed the daring exploit, but certainly to 
 endanger his life, in order to arrive in time 
 to secure a seat by her at dinner at a neigh- 
 bouring mansion. 
 
 What young and romantic girl could re- 
 sist rewarding a love that betrayed itself by 
 such devotion? 
 
 Gentle and timid as my poor mother was, 
 she yet ventured to plead, in answer to the
 
 MEREDITH. 5 
 
 often reiterated objections of lier father, 
 the force of her lover's passion. 
 
 *' It is precisely because I believe it to be 
 only a passion that I am anxious for you to 
 reject him," was the answer. " You know 
 not, Edith, and I pray that you never may, 
 the wide distance that separates passion 
 from affection. One is like the simoon, 
 spreading ruin and devastation where it 
 passes, and leaving ineffaceable traces of 
 desolation where it has been, while the 
 other sinks into the heart as the genial 
 showers of spring do into the earth, awaken- 
 ing into life and gladness all that it per- 
 vades. Mr. Spencer Meredith is capable 
 of entertaining a violent passion, but it 
 would be of brief duration, and not, if I am 
 right in my opinion of him, likely to be fol- 
 lowed by that sober, but solid affection which 
 replaces the delirium of love, and consoles for 
 its departure. The woman who weds with 
 him will be his idol during the honeymoon,
 
 6 MEREDITH. 
 
 but soon after that period, will become, if 
 not the object of his indifference, at least 
 that of his caprices ; treated with attention 
 only when the admiration of other men re- 
 minds him of her attractions, and with com- 
 parative coldness when, as generally soon 
 happens with such husbands, he grows ob- 
 livious of them." 
 
 My mother, who would have received the 
 opinion of her father as the decree of an 
 oracle on any other subject, refused to lend 
 conviction to its wisdom on this one, the 
 most important of her life. 
 
 Hers was not a nature to contest the 
 point with him, or to brave his displeasure 
 by any act of disobedience; but her pale 
 cheek and deep dejection soon indicated to 
 her fond and watchful parent how much 
 her submission to his will cost her ; and when, 
 on consulting the family physician on her 
 altered looks and Avant of appetite, he ad- 
 vised her being removed to a warmer cli-
 
 MEREDITH. 7 
 
 mate, the alarmed father determined no 
 longer to withhold his consent to a union 
 on which, perhaps, not only the peace of his 
 only child, but her very existence depended. 
 
 Mr. Spencer Meredith no sooner heard 
 that the object of his affection was in delicate 
 health, and ordered abroad, (for his visits 
 had been lately discountenanced by my 
 grandfather,) than he wrote to him to re- 
 quest to be allowed to see Miss Moyston 
 again before she left England. The result 
 may be easily guessed. His renewed pro- 
 posal was no longer refused, his permitted 
 addresses restored the roses of health to the 
 cheeks of his Jlancee, and after a few weeks 
 he became the husband of my poor mother, 
 who believed herself, for three months, the 
 happiest of her sex. 
 
 Her father lived not to witness the fulfil- 
 ment of his prophecy relative to mine, for 
 he died suddenly, within four months after 
 the marriage of his daughter, rejoicing that
 
 8 MEREDITH. 
 
 lie left lier in tlie protection of the liusband 
 of her, though not of his, choice, and praying 
 for the continuance of her happiness. 
 
 The affliction into which this unexpected 
 event plunged my mother accelerated the 
 change in her husband which her parent 
 had but too well foretold would take place. 
 
 The poignant sorrow which she experi- 
 enced soon exhausted the slight stock of 
 sympathy he possessed; and when her tears 
 still continued to flow, in spite of his caresses 
 and common-place consolations, instead of 
 lightening, by sharing her regret, he became 
 impatient and offended at every demonstra- 
 tion of it; and observing how much her 
 grief impaired her beauty, he angrily re- 
 proached her for its indulgence, and ended 
 by seeking that gaiety in the houses of others 
 no longer to be found in his own. 
 
 My mother soon discovered that she had 
 not only lost a father, but had also to mourn 
 for the estranged affection of a husband,
 
 MEREDITH. \) 
 
 "loved not wisely, t)iit too well." In vain 
 did she endeavour to repress, or at least to 
 conceal her sorrow, and assume a cheerful- 
 ness, while her heart was wrung with 
 anguish, in the hope of winning hack those 
 attentions ever so precious to her. My 
 father had resumed his former habits, and 
 with them entered into new and reprehensible 
 liaisons, which rendered him insensible to 
 all his meek wife's efforts to conciliate anew 
 his affection, and which ended by weaning 
 him for weeks and months from his home. 
 
 Now was it that, left nearly to total 
 solitude, and often passing many days with- 
 out receiving a single line from her husband, 
 she recalled, with bitter feelings of sor- 
 row, the unheeded opinion and advice of her 
 lamented father. But, alas! retrospection 
 was as unavailing to soothe her sorrow as 
 WTre her efforts to win back the truant to 
 her love ! Every womanly device of study- 
 ing his taste, in the adornment of her person, 
 B 3
 
 10 MEREDITH. 
 
 and wearing only what he had formerly ad- 
 mired, was resorted to, but in vain. He 
 appeared wholly unconscious of this innocent 
 coquetry to please him, and treated my 
 mother with an indifference that left her, 
 after many trials of its inefficacy, hopeless 
 of the result of her attempts to attract him. 
 " But God tempers the wind to the shorn 
 lamb;" for while the nearly deserted wife, 
 though only six months wedded, deplored 
 the estrangement of her husband, she found 
 herself " as ladies wish to be who love their 
 lords." And this event not only filled her 
 gentle heart with new and unutterable emo- 
 tions of tenderness, but awakened a hope that 
 it would, when made known to my father, 
 revive the love he had formerly felt for her. 
 '' He cannot be insensible to the birth of 
 his child — our child!" would she say to 
 herself, in the long, but now not unhappy, 
 hours that she was left in solitude. " Oh, 
 no ! he will rejoice, as I do, and he will love
 
 MEREDITH. 11 
 
 me once more for giving him this blessing ! 
 He cannot look at our child without remem- 
 bering that it is a new and indissoluble 
 bond of affection between us. Oh yes ! he 
 will We me again, and I shall be happy !" 
 
 It was with dreams and hopes like this 
 that my poor mother cheated the hours of 
 absence from him she loved, while he, think- 
 ing only of his pleasures, and pursuing a 
 heartless course of intrigue, seldom bestowed 
 a thought on her, or when he did, mentally 
 accused her of coldness of heart and want of 
 spirit, for submitting so patiently to his 
 open neglect. 
 
 " I will not write this blessed news to 
 him," would she say; " no, I will keep it for 
 our meeting, and he will press me to his 
 heart when I have whispered it to him." 
 
 She forgot, at the moment, that to write 
 to her husband would be impossible, as she 
 was left in total ignorance of his " where- 
 abouts," and consequently knew not where
 
 12 MEREDITH. 
 
 to address a letter to liim ; but tliis fact, as 
 well as many other painful and humiliating 
 ones, she ceased to remember in the over- 
 whelming joy of the certainty of becoming a 
 mother. 
 
 When at length my father did return to 
 his long deserted home, my mother was 
 within a few days of her accouchement. Her 
 joyful emotions at again beholding him 
 were quickly damped by his exclamation of 
 surprise at the alteration in her shape, and 
 of dissatisfaction at the cause. 
 
 The anticipations that had cheered months 
 of solitude, and enabled her to bear up 
 against neglect, were dashed to the earth in 
 a moment ; and tears, bitter tears of disap- 
 pointment, filled those eyes so lately spark- 
 ling with joy and hope. 
 
 "Why do you weep?" asked her hus- 
 band. " I am not angry at your being 
 enceinte^ I am only sorry ; for I had hoped 
 that we should not have a family for at
 
 MEREDITH, 13 
 
 least some years. Children are both ex- 
 pensive and troublesome, and having a son 
 to push one from one's place in society, or, 
 at best, to elbow one in it, is a consumma- 
 tion I have never devoutly wished for. But 
 it can't be helped ; and, after all, you may 
 give me a daughter instead of a son, which 
 would be much less objectionable ; so do not 
 cry, for I have a horror of seeing tears !" 
 
 It was long before my poor mother could 
 obey the injunction of her lord and master, 
 for her tears continued to flow for some 
 hours; but she sought the privacy of her 
 chamber to conceal them, and met him at 
 dinner with a calm demeanour, though the 
 paleness of her cheek would have revealed, 
 to any one interested in the discovery, the 
 mental suffering of the last few hours. 
 
 How often during that day did she re- 
 member the warning given by her fond 
 father, and wish that she had been guided by 
 his advice ; for no longer could she conceal
 
 14 MEREDITH. 
 
 from herself that her husband was wholly 
 and incurably selfish. The consciousness of 
 having, by our own self-will and obstinacy, 
 incurred a heavy punishment, which might, 
 by a deference to the wisdom of those near 
 and dear to us, have been avoided, is a se- 
 vere aggravation to it; and this she felt 
 while writhing under the penalty of hers. 
 But she uttered no reproach, and endea- 
 voured to find consolation in the resolution 
 to atone to her unborn babe for the coldness 
 and indifference of its father, by devoting to 
 it all that overflowing love which was so 
 unfeelingly and rudely repulsed by him on 
 whom it had been bestowed. And yet, in 
 defiance of every effort to subdue it, the 
 memory of her baffled hopes, so lately and 
 fondly nursed, would return, and with it 
 the bitter consciousness of their destruction, 
 and she would feel like one who awakens 
 from a delightful dream to discover it was 
 but an illusion.
 
 MEREDITH. 15 
 
 But though she could no more look for- 
 ward to finding any sympathy in her ma- 
 ternal delight in the breast of him whom she 
 had hoped would share it, and clearly saw 
 that she had nothing to expect of revived 
 love from the event, yet her impatience to 
 behold the little creature that would be all 
 and everything to her, who would console 
 her for neglect, and people her solitude, was 
 rather increased than diminished; and she 
 impatiently counted the days that must in- 
 tervene before the hour of trial that gave it 
 to her longing arms. 
 
 Often, during the first days that she dis- 
 covered the alienation of her husband's 
 affection, had she, in the impatient spirit of 
 youthful disappointment, prayed that she 
 might be released from a life that had then 
 been, for her, robbed of all its charms. 
 
 '' He^ too," she would say to herself, 
 '' could not be otherwise than glad of being 
 freed from the chains of marriage, now that
 
 16 MEREDITH. 
 
 he no longer values the flowers that pre- 
 vented him from feeling their pressure. 
 Yes, if I were dead, he might remember 
 me with some portion of the tenderness he 
 once entertained ; and as I never have vexed, 
 and never will annoy him by complaint or 
 reproach, he will think of me with kind- 
 ness, perhaps with pity. This would be 
 better than to live for months and years un- 
 loved, uncared for, and drop at last into the 
 grave unmourned, unwept by him, to wed 
 whom I had wrung my father's reluctant 
 consent." 
 
 The young, when disappointment, which 
 waits on all, has first taught them that 
 happiness has no resting-place on earth, 
 turn, with a sentiment more nearly allied to 
 impatience than resignation, to a desire for 
 death. An early grave, in some quiet, se- 
 cluded spot, has been often looked to as the 
 oasis in the desert of life, where only rest 
 can be found ; but as we grow older, although
 
 MEREDITH. - 17 
 
 our cares multiply, and our hopes of eartlily 
 happiness f\ide, this desire for death suh- 
 sides, and we smile — it is true, the smile is 
 a pensive one — at the recollection of our 
 youthful aspirations for an early grave. We 
 become satisfied with much less felicity than 
 we had in the days of youth thought neces- 
 sary to render life even endurable, and learn 
 to support . privations and trials that would 
 have then been deemed beyond our strength 
 to bear.
 
 18 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 At length the prayers of the neglected wife 
 were granted, and she became a mother; 
 but her life nearly paid the forfeit, for, 
 during many hours, the skilful accoucheur 
 who attended despaired of saving her. The 
 indifference of my father was evident even 
 to him, and engendered a dislike he could 
 neither subdue nor conceal. 
 
 The joy of seeing her child, of hearing its 
 faint wail, and of pressing it to her heart, 
 repaid my poor mother for all her sufferings ; 
 and if some sorrow at knowing that her joy
 
 MEREDITH. 19 
 
 was unshared mingled with her maternal 
 transports, it was counterbalanced by the 
 delight she experienced when covering with 
 kisses the soft cheek of her infant, as it 
 slumbered on her bosom. 
 
 " I am glad you are doing well, Edith," 
 said my father, as he pressed his lips on her 
 brow, the day after my birth. Even this 
 common-place speech was gratefully received 
 by her who had lately been so unaccustomed 
 to meet kindness from him, and she held up 
 her child, that he might see it. 
 
 " Is he not a lovely babe?" said the 
 young mother, timidly. 
 
 " All infants appear to me to be precisely 
 similar," was the ungracious reply, which 
 sent a pang to her gentle heart. 
 
 " This is a remarkably fine and healthy 
 child," observed the doctor, who happened 
 ' to enter the room as my father's heartless 
 remark was uttered. 
 
 " Very likely," said my father; "but I
 
 20 MEREDITH. 
 
 am no judge of inflmts; and tliey are all 
 such red, puling little animals, during the 
 first ten months of their existence, that the 
 sight of them affords me no pleasure." 
 
 The doctor noticed the blush that rushed 
 to the previously pale cheek of the fond 
 young mother, and looked sternly at the un- 
 natural father who had occasioned it. When 
 both had retired from the apartment of the 
 invalid, he told my father, that as his patient 
 was not only a very delicate and nervous 
 woman, but one who possessed great sensi- 
 bility, he must request him to shew more 
 regard to her feelings during the present 
 crisis, for everything that produced the 
 least excitement in her mind must be care- 
 fully avoided. 
 
 " I am not aware," answered my father, 
 angrily, " that I require this advice." 
 
 " Young mothers. Sir, are naturally proud * 
 of their children, and expect the fathers to 
 sympathize in their feelings. Mrs. Spencer
 
 MEREDITH. 21 
 
 Meredith was evidently wounded that you 
 did not participate in her delight and ad- 
 miration of the infant, which is really so 
 fine a one, that any father might well be 
 proud of him." 
 
 ''As I happen not to delight in babies, I 
 really cannot express raptures that I do not 
 feel," was the answer ; and the doctor left 
 the house with a sentiment of deep interest 
 and pity for his patient, and a positive dis- 
 like to her unfeeling husband. 
 
 " And so you are determined to nurse the 
 child yourself," said my father, two or three 
 days after this, when he saw me placed at 
 the maternal breast, 
 
 " Ask me not to resign this delightful 
 task to another," was the meek reply. 
 " Oh, you know not, you cannot even 
 imagine, the bliss of feeling the dear lips of 
 our boy, drawing his sustenance from my 
 bosom !" 
 
 " Perhaps not, but I can well imagine
 
 22 MEREDITH. 
 
 the bore of hearing the little animal scream- 
 ing half the night, and seeing you lose all 
 your good looks, which will be the inevitable 
 result of such an occupation." 
 
 " What are all the good looks in the 
 world in comparison with the health of this 
 treasure?" said my mother. 
 
 " I should have imagined that my will 
 and pleasure might have been thought of 
 some importance by you, and that, conse- 
 quently, you would hardly have risked the loss 
 of those personal attractions that won me." 
 
 " I believed that you no longer val " 
 
 valued them, she would have said, but be- 
 coming conscious that this observation might 
 be received as a reproach, although she did 
 not mean it to be one, she suddenly stopped 
 speaking, and her cheeks became crimson. 
 
 " You have yet to learn, Edith, that 
 husbands cannot continue to be the lovers 
 of their wives, as many women are silly 
 enough to imagine; nevertheless, no hus-
 
 MEREDITH. 23 
 
 band likes to see his wife sacrifice her good 
 looks, which are in society considered to be 
 a proof of his taste, for the gratification of 
 a romantic fancy to nurse her child, a task 
 that can be so much better performed by 
 some healthy and robust peasant, who has 
 neither weak nerves nor undue sensibility 
 to interfere with the fulfilment of her 
 duty." 
 
 " But my child thrives so well, and it is 
 such a happiness to me to nurse him, that 
 you will not, I trust, deprive me of it," said 
 my mother, and her eyes filled with tears. 
 At this moment her physician entered the 
 room, and observing her emotion, as well as 
 the lowering brow of my father, instantly 
 concluded that the latter had caused her 
 agitation. He took an opportunity, before 
 he quitted the house, to warn my father of 
 the danger of any anxiety in his patient's 
 present delicate state, and did this in a 
 manner that clearly indicated his suspicions
 
 24 MEREDITH. 
 
 that there was cause for reproof; a freedom 
 which he at whom it was aimed never forgot 
 nor forgave. 
 
 A ceremonious visit to the chamber of the 
 invalid for a few minutes every day marked 
 the extent of the husband's attention to the 
 newly-made mother during the time he re- 
 mained beneath the same roof with her, but 
 if she still felt hurt at this coldness on his 
 part, she was consoled by the delight afforded 
 her by her occupation of nurse. This was in- 
 deed a labour of love to her, and not only did 
 I thrive apace, but her own health became 
 much improved. My fiither soon left home, 
 having taken a cold and formal farewell of 
 my mother, and for months a few hurried 
 lines, written at long intervals, alone re- 
 minded her that she was a wife. But what 
 to her Avas the neglect she experienced now 
 that she could devote all her time and 
 thoughts to her boy; for whom her love 
 was so engrossing as to leave her no room
 
 MEr.EDITH. 25 
 
 for regret. She did not forget her husband, 
 for what woman ever does forget an object 
 once fondly, passionately beloved ; neither did 
 she indulge in any angry feelings towards 
 him for the neglect experienced at his hands ; 
 but when she looked at her child, and saw 
 him daily growing into health and intelli- 
 gence, she would sigh at remembering that 
 no fond father's eye remarked his progress, 
 and no affectionate husband shared her de- 
 light in beholding it. 
 
 The few neighbours within visiting reach 
 of Meredith Hall took a lively interest in 
 the fate of my mother, and evinced it in the 
 usual way chosen by the generality of self • 
 nominated friends; namely, by continually 
 reminding her of that which she would fain 
 forget — the neglect and unkindness of her 
 husband, and by giving her their advice to 
 shew more spirit and resentment. 
 
 ^' I have no patience v/ith Mr. Spencer 
 Meredith," would Lady Eavenshaw, one of 
 
 VOL. I, C
 
 26 MEREDITH. 
 
 the warmest partisans of the deserted wife, 
 exclaim, " to leave a young and beautiful 
 woman alone and unprotected, for months 
 and months, while he is plunged in all the 
 gaiety and dissipations of London. You 
 really should, my dear Mrs. Spencer Mere- 
 dith, assert your own rights and dignity, 
 and bring him to reason." 
 
 " For my part," said Mrs. Compton 
 Davenport, the wife of the Member for the 
 County, " I have no idea of my amiable 
 friend submitting to such treatment. Here 
 is she living alone and secluded in this 
 solitary place, when she ought, and might 
 too, be living in a fine mansion in one of the 
 most fashionable squares in London, and 
 going to, or giving, fetes, balls, concerts, and 
 soirees, every evening during the week." 
 
 "• And she would be so much admired, 
 too !" joined in Lady Emily Mordaunt; " and 
 with a little innocent coquetry, might ex- 
 cite the jealousy of her negligent husband,
 
 MEREDITH. 27 
 
 punish him by its pangs for all his mis- 
 doings, and render him as much in love with 
 her as when they were married." 
 
 Lady Emily Mordaunt had been a beauty 
 in her youth, and was more than suspected 
 of having frequently had recourse to the 
 innocent remedy she so warmly recommended 
 to her friend. 
 
 " Do," would one and all of these ladies 
 say, " pluck up a little spirit, and shew 
 your tyrant that you will no longer submit 
 to his conduct. Insist on having a house 
 in town, and living as all persons of your 
 fortune and station do." 
 
 " Could you only hear what the world 
 says !" added Mrs. Compton Davenport. *' I, 
 as wife of the County Member, am obliged 
 to go everywhere, and visit every one, and 
 you cannot imagine how people talk, and 
 blame you, my dear friend, for your want of 
 pride. One person calls you a poor, mean- 
 spirited creature, to submit to such treat- 
 02
 
 28 MEREDITH. 
 
 Ill en t, and another declares that were you 
 not conscious of being in the wrong, you 
 would not bear it as you do." 
 
 " But, my dear friends, you mistake my 
 position," would my mother on these occa- 
 sions say : " Mr. Meredith is no tyrant ; on 
 the contrary, he allows me to indulge my 
 preference for the country and privacy, 
 while he, who likes the metropolis and its 
 pleasures, remains there. I certainly could 
 have wished," and she suppressed the deep 
 sigh that rose from her heart, " that our 
 tastes and pursuits were more congenial, 
 that he liked the country as much as I do ; 
 but while he permits me to remain undis- 
 turbed here, to the full enjoyment of my 
 favourite solitude, have I any right to 
 question or interrupt the mode in which he 
 chooses to spend his time?" 
 
 '' You would soon think differently were 
 you to pass one season in London!'' would 
 one of the before-mentioned female friends 
 exclaim.
 
 MEREDITH. 2\) 
 
 *' You would be admired, and your society 
 sought in the most distinguished circles!" 
 added another. 
 
 '' And you might excite your husband's 
 jealousy, and awaken his slumbering alFec- 
 tion !" said a third. 
 
 " No hour would hang heavily on your 
 hands," resumed one. 
 
 " You would not, in fact, have a moment 
 to yourself," rejoined Lady Eavenshaw. 
 " What with paying and receiving visits, 
 shopping, and driving in the Park, dressing 
 and going to fetes, every moment would be 
 filled." 
 
 " Such a mode of existence would be in- 
 supportable to me," would my mother an- 
 swer. " I am never so happy as with my 
 boy, and in pursuing my usual routine of 
 avocations. Between nursing and playing 
 with him, drawing, music, working, and 
 reading, the days pass away so pleasantly 
 and rapidly, that I would rather arrest than
 
 30 MEREDITH. 
 
 expedite their flight; and as Mr. Spencer 
 Meredith and I have never had an angry 
 word, no unkind feeling can exist between 
 us ; though an incompatibility, not of tem- 
 per but of taste, prevents our being as much 
 together as the generality of husbands and 
 wives are." 
 
 But although these judicious and kind 
 female friends were unsuccessful in their 
 endeavours to convince my mother of the 
 wisdom of their counsel, or the prudence 
 of adopting it, their visits never failed to 
 awaken painful feelings, and to leave her 
 depressed and sad for many hours after. 
 
 Few things can be more mortifying to a 
 woman of delicacy than to find herself and 
 her domestic concerns made the topic of her 
 neighbourhood; or for a proud woman — 
 and every delicate-minded one is proud — to 
 discover that the neglect and slights of a 
 husband, always so difficult to be borne with 
 equanimity, or even with the show of it,
 
 MEREDITH. 31 
 
 furnish matter for the gossiping of the 
 county. When these visits — (happily for 
 her to whom they were paid, like angel 
 ones, only in this particular, that they 
 were " few and far between") — were over, 
 my mother would hurry to my nursery, 
 clasp me in her arms, embrace me over and 
 over again ; and though her eyes gave token 
 that she had been weeping, and sighs agi- 
 tated her bosom, my caresses and innocent 
 wiles never failed to restore her to her 
 wonted calmness. Having no hireling nurse 
 to lure my infant affections by artful bland- 
 ishments and weak indulgence, my whole 
 stock of love was bestowed on my mother, 
 whose absence, even for a few hours, I felt 
 as a calamity, and whose presence always 
 filled me with joy. I learned to know whe- 
 ther she was more than usually pensive, by 
 her countenance and the tones of her voice, 
 long before other children, older than I was, 
 could observe the difference; and, as she
 
 32 MEREDITH. 
 
 afterv/ards told me, would redouble my ca- 
 resses and playful gambols in order to 
 amuse lier, desisting not until I had chased 
 away the sadness I had remarked, from her 
 brow. Often would she wander in the 
 pleasure-grounds, carrying me in her arms 
 until fatigued by my weight, when she 
 would place her shawl on the grass as a 
 carpet for me, and laying me on it, would 
 half cover me with flowers, which I would 
 in turn seize and endeavour to throw at 
 her, laughing and crowing all the time. 
 Every development of my physical or mental 
 powers was hailed with a delight which 
 mothers only can sympathize with or un- 
 derstand ; and so wholly did my young and 
 beautiful mamma identify her existence with 
 mine, that when I had reached the ago of 
 two years, she had become a cheerful, if not 
 a happy woman, in spite of the many efforts 
 of her kind female neighjjours to render her
 
 MEREDITH. 33 
 
 conscious of all the incontrovertil)le reasons 
 she had for being a wretched one. 
 
 It is true, that when assembled after din- 
 ner in some drawing-room of one of their 
 respective mansions, awaiting the presence 
 of the gentlemen from the dining-room, to 
 whom the maitre d'hotel had already, by 
 the command of his mistress, twice an- 
 nounced that coiFee was served, these ami- 
 able ladies would revert to the melancholy 
 lot of poor Mrs. Spencer Meredith. 
 
 " How strange, that she will not accept 
 invitations !" would one observe. 
 
 " It must be confessed she is somewhat 
 eccentric !'' said another. 
 
 " And extremely deficient in spirit !" ad- 
 ded a third. 
 
 " I have no patience with her for taking 
 
 things so quietly, after having said and done 
 
 all in our power to make her feel the extent 
 
 of her husband's ill usage, and to urge her 
 
 c3
 
 34 MEREDITH. 
 
 into a resentment of it," observed Lady 
 Eavenshaw. 
 
 " Her example is a very dangerous one," 
 added Mrs. Compton Davenport. " She is 
 now quoted as a model by all tbe men. 
 You heard Lord Beltonbrook's extravagant 
 praises of her admirable conduct, as he was 
 pleased to term it?" 
 
 " Yes, and Mr. Davenport's remark on 
 the sweet feminine decorum which leads her 
 to avoid general society during the absence 
 of her husband," said Lady Emily Mor- 
 daunt. 
 
 " Much good it will do her," resumed 
 Lady Eavenshaw. " I know Mr. Spencer 
 Meredith better than she does I" — and here 
 the other ladies exchanged significant looks, 
 for the scandalous chronicles had, some 
 years before, commented very freely on her 
 Ladyship's more than ordinary friendship 
 with this gentleman; — " and I am per- 
 suaded that, had she evinced a proper spi-
 
 MEKEDTTH. 35 
 
 rit, she would have brought him to his 
 
 'G' 
 
 " She must have very little feeling," re- 
 joined Mrs. Compton Davenport ; " for no 
 woman possessed of much could bear her 
 injuries so patiently." 
 
 " I have given up all hope of rousing her 
 into resentment," said Lady Emily Mor- 
 daunt, " and therefore visit her as seldom 
 as I possibly can, without leaving her off 
 altogether."
 
 36 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTEE IIL 
 
 And now, when I liad completed my sixth 
 year, the solitude of my mother was doomed 
 to be permanently interrupted, for hitherto 
 tlie visits of my father had been few, and of 
 brief duration. On these occasions, he 
 treated his wife with marked coldness, and 
 scarcely condescended to notice me; yet no 
 word of reproach ever passed my mother's 
 lips, and no sullen or angry look betrayed 
 her sense of his unnatural conduct. 
 
 He wrote to say he was coming with a 
 large party for the shooting season, and
 
 MEREDITH. 37 
 
 sent down a French cook and various other 
 servants to make preparations for their re- 
 ception. '' The wives of two of his friends 
 woukl accompany them," he added, " and 
 he expected that my mother woukl exert 
 herself to render their sejour at Meredith 
 Park less dull than he had always found 
 it." This phrase brought a blush of wounded 
 pride to her cheek, but it quickly subsided ; 
 for she had schooled her mind to bear with 
 dignified calmness the annoyances she could 
 not avert. 
 
 And now, with all a mother's love, did 
 she prepare new dresses for me, while care- 
 less of commanding any for herself. Vain 
 of my infantile attractions, she wished to 
 aid them by every means within her power ; 
 and when trying on my new garments, she 
 w^ould contemplate me with a delight known 
 only to a doting mother, and exclaim, " Yes, 
 he must admire his boy, and admiration 
 may beget love."
 
 38 MEREDITH. 
 
 ^' Will you not have some fashionable 
 dresses down from London, madam?" asked 
 Mrs. Lockly, the attached and faithful 
 waiting woman. 
 
 " Oh, no! You forget, Lockly, that many 
 of the beautiful dresses in my trousseau 
 have not yet been worn, and consequently, I 
 have no occasion to order any others." 
 
 *' But the fashion, ma'am, is so changed 
 and so very different to what it was, that 
 really, ma'am, I fear you would not appear 
 to advantage in dresses so long made up, 
 and especially, ma'am, before ladies coming 
 down from London. If the visitors were 
 to be only gentlemen it would not so much 
 matter, but ladies are so particular about 
 the latest fashions ; and I have heard some 
 of them pass such ill-natured remarks on 
 their acquaintances who did not attend to 
 this point, that really, ma'am, I think 
 (asking your pardon for the liberty I am 
 taking) it would be very advisable to have
 
 MEREDITH. 39 
 
 a couple of new-fashioned dresses sent down 
 from London, or, at least, to have some of 
 those in your trousseau altered to the pre- 
 sent mode." 
 
 My mother shook her head in token of 
 dissent, and the good Lockly said no more 
 on the subject, although she sighed, not at 
 the utter carelessness about her toilette 
 evinced by a young and beautiful woman, 
 as her mistress really was, but at the neg- 
 lect which rendered her so indifferent to that 
 which in general occupies so much of the 
 attention of her sex. 
 
 " Never was there such an angel !" said 
 Lockly to herself. "- I wish, however, she 
 had a little more of the woman in her ; for 
 if she had, my master would never have the 
 courage to neglect her as he does ; but her 
 gentleness and angelic goodness encourages 
 him to act in the extraordinary manner 
 which sets all our neighbours a gossiping." 
 
 At length the day announced for the
 
 40 MEREDITH. 
 
 coming of my father and liis guests arrived. 
 My mother liad so well attended to the pre- 
 parations for their reception that the state- 
 rooms, although so long uninhabited, assumed 
 an air of blended elegance and comfort that 
 would have surprised any one who knew 
 that for the last six years they had not 
 been used. 
 
 Three carriages and four drove up to the 
 door at about half-past five o'clock in the 
 evening, and my father, with a fashionable 
 but bold-looking woman leaning on his arm, 
 and followed by another lady and four gen- 
 tlemen, entered the library, where my mo- 
 ther was waiting to receive them. He 
 coldly touched her cheek, and then pre- 
 sented his companions. " Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt, Mrs. Spencer Meredith, Mrs. 
 Audley, Lord Algernon Montagu, Lord 
 Henry Buttevant, Mr. Mellingcourt, and 
 Mr. Audley." 
 
 Tlie two ladies looked at their hostess with
 
 MEREDITH. 41 
 
 evident surprise, and the gentlemen glanced 
 at her v/itli as evident admiration. Lady 
 Selina Mellingcourt turned from her scru- 
 tiny of my mother, with an expression of 
 dissatisfaction and reproach on her face, to- 
 wards my father, and then gave a signifi- 
 cant regard to Mrs. Audley, who gazed at 
 my mother's dress with ill-suppressed mirth 
 depicted on her arch countenance. 
 
 The gentlemen hovered around my mo- 
 ther, who, feeling embarrassed by their 
 somewhat too open and unceremonious 
 marks of admiration, involuntarily adopted 
 a reserve in her manner towards them, 
 which drew forth sundry malicious smiles 
 from Lady Selina Mellingcourt and Mrs. 
 Audley. 
 
 " Let us see your son," said Lady Selina, 
 addressing herself to Mr. Spencer Meredith. 
 
 " By the bye, I quite forgot that young 
 gentleman," replied the unnatural father, 
 ringing the bell, and ordering the servant
 
 42 MEREDITH. 
 
 who answered the summons, to have me 
 sent to the library. 
 
 "He is very shy," observed my mother, 
 timidly ; " and perhaps it may be as well if 
 I go to conduct him here." 
 
 " I feared that he was a spoiled child," 
 said my father; " but I had no idea that he 
 was so bad as all this ;" and he cast an angry 
 glance at my mother, who, blushing deeply, 
 and feeling tears start to her eyes, ventured 
 to say that her boy's shyness proceeded from 
 not being accustomed to see strangers. 
 
 " And why has he been kept mewed up 
 in this sort of way?" demanded my father. 
 " It might do no harm to have a girl kept 
 in total seclusion, but for a boy it is per- 
 fectly absurd." 
 
 Ere my poor mother could offer any 
 reply to this unfeeling remark, if indeed, 
 which I doubt, she was disposed to do so, 
 the door of the library was thrown open, 
 and in I rushed, buoyant with health and
 
 MEREDITH. 43 
 
 gaiety. No sooner, however, had I observed 
 the strange faces, with the eyes of all fixed 
 on me, than I ran to my mother, and hiding 
 my face in her lap, clung to her in fear. 
 
 " Come here, sir !" said my father, in a 
 tone that indicated much less of affection 
 than severity, and which quite completed 
 my previous alarm. 
 
 "Go to papa, my love," whispered my 
 mother, her voice tremulous from the fear 
 that my sauvagerie would make an un- 
 favourable impression on my father. 
 
 '^ Let me stay with you, let me stay with 
 you, my own dear mamma," whispered I, 
 but, unfortunately, in accents loud enough 
 to be heard by the whole party. 
 
 " Then, if you will not come to me, you 
 shall leave the room, like a naughty, spoiled 
 boy as you are," said my father, " and not 
 come into it again until you have been 
 taught how to behave yourself." 
 
 " Naughty boy" were words so new to my
 
 44 MEREDITH. 
 
 ears, that I attached even a more grave 
 signification to them than most children of 
 my age do, and they produced tlie effect of 
 making me cling still more closely to my 
 mother, while I burst into a paroxysm of 
 tears. 
 
 " Send the troublesome little animal 
 away, I entreat you," said my father; " and 
 let me see as little as possible of him while 
 I stay." 
 
 My mother rose, and taking me by the 
 hand, led me gently from the library, I 
 weeping bitterly ail the time, and my father 
 expressing his disapprobation at her not 
 dismissing, instead of herself conducting 
 me to the nursery. " No wonder the ur- 
 chin is intractable," said he; " but I must 
 dispatch him to scliool, vdierc he will not be 
 spoiled, and Avhere I will leave him until he 
 is old enough to go to Eton." 
 
 My poor mother heard this speech before 
 the library door closed after her, and it sent
 
 MEREDITH. 45 
 
 the tears to her eyes in showers, that excited 
 mine afresh. She pressed me to her throb- 
 bing breast as we ascended to the nnrsery, 
 and whispered tliat I nuist love papa, and 
 not make him angry. 
 
 *' But I can't love him!" sobbed I; " for 
 he is cross, and does not love me, nor love 
 you, my own mamma!" — an observation 
 that made my mother weep still more. 
 
 Having consigned me to my nurse, she 
 returned to the library, the door of which 
 she had no sooner reached, than peals of 
 laughter struck on her car, nor when she 
 entered did this uncongenial mirth cease, 
 although he]- pale cheek and heavy eyelids 
 bore the traces of sorrow. 
 
 " You are so droll, Mr. Meredith," lisped 
 Mrs. Audley, " that you make me laugh 
 hon gre, mal gre moi; you really have the 
 most comical mode of representing things 
 that in themselves are by no means amusing." 
 
 " Do you not find this place very dull ?"
 
 46 MEREDITH. 
 
 asked Lady Selina Mellingcourt, addressing 
 my mother. 
 
 " I can fancy a large country house 
 pleasant enough, for a few weeks, when 
 filled with people accustomed to see a great 
 deal of each other in London," interrupted 
 Mrs. Audley ; " but to remain here without 
 society must be a dreadful trial of patience, 
 and is one which, I confess, would soon van- 
 quish the small stock of that valuable house- 
 hold commodity which Providence has as- 
 signed to me." 
 
 ^' ! you are the most unfit person in the 
 world, Fanny, to try the experiment of a 
 few months in a country house," said Mr. 
 Audley. " I remember how miserable you 
 thought yourself if a single day intervened 
 between the arrival of the coming and de- 
 jparture of the parting guests. By Jove, 
 you hardly allowed the housemaids time to 
 perform their functions, after the departed 
 visitors, before the arrival of the new ones.
 
 MEREDITH. 47 
 
 Audley Abbey was like an inn on some 
 great thoroughfare, so constant and so rapid 
 was the succession of guests." 
 
 " How can you be so naive, ^^ observed 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt, " as thus to ex- 
 pose what Mrs. Audley, like a well-bred 
 wife, so scrupulously wished to conceal?" 
 
 "What is that?" asked Mr. Audley. 
 
 " Your want of power to amuse her, tete- 
 d-Ute^ioY even a single day !" answered Lady 
 Selina, with a most provoking smile. 
 
 This sally excited the mirth of all, but 
 particularly of my father, who looked at 
 Lady Selina with even more than ordinary 
 complacency ; while my mother felt a senti- 
 ment of pity for Mr. Audley, thus rendered 
 an object of ridicule to the whole circle ; and 
 the general laugh, too, shared by her who 
 ought to have shielded him from it.
 
 48 MEREDITH, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Although the whole party had not been 
 more than half an hour in the house, their 
 hostess, with that quickness of perception 
 peculiar to women, had already formed a 
 just appreciation of the character of each, 
 and had imbibed an instinctive dislike to the 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt. Mrs. Audley, a 
 pretty little woman, very coquettish, and 
 with a lively countenance, into which she 
 threw an expression of as much archness as 
 it could assume, said little, but made ample 
 use of a pair of fine hazel eyes, which all the
 
 MEREDITH. 49 
 
 male portion of her acquaintance considered 
 to be infinitely more eloquent than her 
 tongue. She had delicate hands, and well 
 shaped taper fingers, which were incessantly 
 employed in arranging the long corkscrew 
 ringlets that shaded her cheeks — an occu- 
 pation which displayed not only their beauty, 
 but also that of the brilliant rings which 
 encircled them. The feet were in perfect 
 harmony with the hands — mignons — and 
 chausses by a Parisian cordonnier ; Mrs. 
 Audley was not only conscious of their sym- 
 metry, but anxious that all with whom she 
 came in contact should have a similar con- 
 viction. To accomplish this desired end, 
 she ingeniously managed, whether sitting, 
 reclining, or walking, that these said pretty 
 little feet should always be visible. If, how- 
 ever, any person in her circle appeared un- 
 mindful of them, Mrs. Audley was rich in 
 resources for forcing attention to these marks 
 of aristocratic birth. She would place them 
 YOL. I. D
 
 50 MEREDITH. 
 
 on her tabouret^ and move tliem about, with 
 a gentle motion, as if wholly unconscious 
 that in so doing, not only the pretty little 
 feet, but the round and delicate instep and 
 anldes to which they appertained were fully 
 exposed to view ; or she would let them ex- 
 tend far beyond the drapery that ought to 
 have concealed them, when reclined on her 
 sofa. Nay, sometimes she would draw them 
 from their silken slippers, and letting the 
 latter drop on the carpet, would assume an 
 air of embarrassment, while exclaiming, that 
 " it was very strange her cordonnier was so 
 stupid that he never could make her shoes 
 small enough to fit her !" 
 
 Nmvete and archness were the attrac- 
 tions, in conjunction with her pretty hands 
 and feet, on which Mrs. Audley peculiarly 
 piqued herself, and they were kept in con- 
 stant practice. To be admired was the sole 
 aim and object of her life, and she achieved 
 this end with a facility not to be wondered
 
 MEREDITH. 51 
 
 at when the character of her numerous ad- 
 mirers was taken into consideration. She 
 was always ready to administer to the vanity 
 of those who sacrificed to hers. She would 
 admire the small wit, and inane attempts to 
 display it, of the herd of idle coxcombs who 
 hovered around her, provided they were 
 ready to offer homage to her small feet and 
 hands, arch smiles, and naive observations, 
 and declare that she was the most artless 
 and fascinating creature in the world. 
 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt being anxious 
 to secure a female companion, well born and 
 well bred, to make a vis-d-vis in her opera 
 box, to defray half its cost, and to be always 
 ready to keep her in countenance in those 
 unceremonious expeditions and parties in 
 which from time to time she engaged, affected 
 a great friendship for Mrs. Audley. She 
 was willing (0 ! rare proof of female friend- 
 ship) to admit the delicacy and beauty of 
 the hands and feet of her friend — nay, to 
 I D 2 , 
 
 U, OFIU
 
 52 MEREDITH. 
 
 direct attention to them, but consoled her- 
 self for this sacrifice of her own vanity by 
 hinting that poor dear Mrs. Audley's arch 
 smiles were not often apropos; and that it 
 was not the wit of her admirers, but the 
 desire of shewing her own teeth, that occa- 
 sioned them. These remarks only served 
 to convey the impression to these gentlemen 
 that Lady Selina was jealous of the success 
 of her friend; for what man ever doubted 
 the talent of the woman who appears to give 
 him credit for being clever and amusing ? 
 
 Mr. Audley was a stupid, plain-looking 
 person, who, possessing a good fortune, had 
 been captivated by the flattery of the por- 
 tionless, but admired daughter of the Dowager 
 Baroness of Beltinglass, and who, in return 
 for the admiration she displayed for him in 
 a thousand naive modes, had, in a luckless 
 hour, offered her his hand, which was quickly 
 and gladly accepted. He discovered in a 
 brief period after his ill-assorted nuptials.
 
 MEREDITH. 53 
 
 that the flattery previously administered to 
 him, and so agreeable to his ears, Avas now 
 transferred to the young coxcombs who de- 
 lighted in flocking around his wife ; and he 
 avenged his sense of this slight on her part 
 by a system of querulous contradiction to 
 all her assertions that betrayed his wounded 
 feelings. Yet whenever Mrs. Audley had 
 any point to carry with her husband, she 
 would fool him to the top of liis bent by a 
 recurrence to the same flatteries that had 
 originally won him to sue for her hand ; and 
 so skilfully would she administer them, that 
 he, while yielding to her wishes, would ex- 
 claim, " Why can't you be always as amiable 
 and fascinating as no w ?" She would answer, 
 " Why are you not as anxious to anticipate 
 my wants and wishes, and as delighted to 
 fulfil them, as when I accorded you this 
 hand?" putting the said little hand to his 
 lips with an arch smile, that for the time 
 being vanquished his ill humour.
 
 54 MEREDITH. 
 
 The personal extravagance of his wife, and 
 the expensive habits which she insisted that 
 he should maintain, had somewhat embar- 
 rassed the finances of Mr. Audley, and he 
 found it convenient to break up his large 
 establishment at Audley Abbey, which its 
 lady, as has been previously stated, would 
 only consent to inhabit when it was filled 
 by a succession of gay visitors, whom she 
 assembled around her whenever her lord, 
 but not master, took up his abode there. 
 
 Mrs. Audley 's pretension was to pass for 
 a wit in society ; and never was a preten- 
 sion based on a less solid foundation. Had 
 she set up for a beauty, her claims, like 
 those of many a helle of her acquaintance 
 with no stronger ones, might have been un- 
 disputed ; but her attempts at wit had drawn 
 on her such frequent and severe animad- 
 versions from those capable of discrimi- 
 nating the true from the false, that she 
 wisely determined to rely henceforth more
 
 MEREDITH. 55 
 
 on the arch smile and the display of the 
 very white and even teeth that always fol- 
 lowed her playful sallies, than on the words 
 she uttered. Yet men were not wanting 
 who gave her credit for the possession of the 
 rare gift to which she pretended. They, it 
 must be confessed, were confined to the 
 very old and to the very young of her ac- 
 quaintance. Some men, of what are called a 
 certain age, — though, except in cases where 
 the accuracy of Messrs. Debrett or Lodge 
 decide the point, nothing is more uncertain, 
 — being content to be more pleased with non- 
 sense from rosy lips and white teeth than 
 wit or good sense from less tempting ones, 
 declared Mrs. Audley to be a delightful 
 person. Young men, too, who had but 
 lately made their dehut on the London 
 Stage of fashionable life, and who, having no 
 very clearly defined notions of wit, or at 
 least of female wit, mistook animal spirits 
 and arch smiles for that which they pre-
 
 56 MEREDITH. 
 
 tended to Le, applauded the sayings of Mrs. 
 Audley, until a second, or at most a third 
 season in London, rendered them aufait 
 of their error ; when they unceremoniously 
 deserted her coterie for that of some hel 
 esprit with pretensions better founded. 
 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt, with no desire 
 for passing for a wit, possessed enough to 
 have enabled her to support the reputation of 
 one unquestioned. Her object was to be a 
 beauty^ or at least to be so reckoned; and 
 no one who has not observed how frequently 
 women with no one attribute for enact- 
 ing the role acquire the reputation, can 
 imagine how easily it may be accomplished. 
 Little more is wanting than for a lady in 
 distinguished society to impress herself] and 
 a few individuals of her own clique, with a 
 fii-m belief in her attractions, to insure their 
 unquestioned establishment in public esti- 
 mation ; until some new pretender, possessed 
 most probably of no better claims, usurps
 
 MEREDITH. 57 
 
 her place, and drives her li'oin being " the 
 cynosure of curious eyes" to be the unob- 
 served of all observers. 
 
 The tact and talent of Lady Selina Mel- 
 lingcourt, soon after her introduction to 
 fashionable life, rendered her aware of the 
 necessity of distinguishing herself from the 
 crowd that eclipsed her, in order to secure 
 that most desirable of all objects to a young 
 and portionless girl — a good marriage. Con- 
 scious of her own ability, she for some time 
 entertained the project of setting up for a 
 hel esprit ; but disgusted by observing the 
 clumsy attempts of some bas hieus of her 
 acquaintance to enact the role, she aban- 
 doned the notion ; and looking around at the 
 many plain women who passed for beauties, 
 she determined— not to become one, for that 
 she felt would be impossible, but to set up 
 for being considered one. 
 
 She immediately adopted a coejflire wholly 
 different from the fashionable one of the day, 
 D 3
 
 58 MEREDITH. 
 
 and moreover, so trying to the looks of even 
 a pretty woman, that few would have had 
 the courage to exhibit themselves in it. 
 This she followed up by a style of dress that 
 had nothing but novelty to recommend it ; 
 and having thus rendered herself very con- 
 spicuous, as well as different from those with 
 whom she associated, she appeared at a 
 splendid ball given by her brother, the 
 Marquis of Altringham, expressly (as the 
 newspapers announced, a week before it 
 took place) for the purpose of introducing 
 his lordship's young and lovely sister, who 
 was allowed by all who had seen her to be 
 the most beautiful debutante of the season. 
 Lady Selina had no prudent mother nor 
 fastidious chaperon to inspect her toilette, 
 and prevent her indulging in any of the 
 freaks of fancy, always considered by those 
 who are the best judges as proofs of bad 
 taste, when glaring enough to attract notice. 
 The J\Iarquis of Altringham had only a few
 
 MEREDITH. 59 
 
 months before repaired the shattered fortunes 
 of his noble house by an alliance with the 
 wealthy heiress of a city banker, who was 
 content to barter thousands for a coronet, 
 and who was looked on by her husband and 
 his sister as a person to be borne with for 
 the sake of the vast fortune she brought into 
 the fLimily, but whose opinions both of them 
 would have thought it wholly unnecessary, 
 if not derogatory to them, to consult. And 
 yet the Marchioness of Altringham was a 
 person whose opinions might well have been 
 consulted by those with whom she had so 
 recently become connected ; for she was not 
 only well educated, but possessed a refined 
 taste and good sense not often to be met 
 with in so youthful a bride.
 
 60 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 When, a short time previous to the ball at 
 which Lady Selina Altringham was to make 
 her second appearance in public, both the 
 bride and her sister-in-law had been pre- 
 sented at Court, the Marchioness had at- 
 tracted great and deserved admiration from 
 all beholders, while the Lady Selina passed 
 unnoticed. This fact, Avhich escaped the 
 notice of the bride, had been remarked by 
 Lady Selina, who, seeing that her sister-in- 
 law had no desire for admiration, determined 
 to set herself up as a beauty ; and in accord-
 
 MEREDITH. 61 
 
 ance with this intention, adopted the style of 
 dress most calculated to draw attention. 
 The surprise which the novelty of her ap- 
 pearance excited she affected to receive as 
 proof of admiration; and she assumed all 
 the airs of a conscious and acknowledged 
 beauty, while people were yet undecided 
 whether they should ridicule or applaud this 
 innovation on fashion. But while exhibiting 
 all the airs of a beauty. Lady Selina care- 
 fully avoided the insolence which but too 
 many of these privileged persons have the 
 folly to display. She had smiles and pleasant 
 words for all who approached her, did the 
 honours of her brother's house as if she^ and 
 not his wife, were its mistress; and yet 
 treated the Marchioness with a sisterly pro* 
 tection and show of fondness that deceived 
 many into the belief that Lady Selina was 
 as amiable as she Avas clever, and that it 
 was she to whom court was to be paid. 
 The perfect aplomb with v/hich Lady
 
 62 MEREDITH. 
 
 Selina enacted her rd/e, achieved its object. 
 Nearly the greater portion of those who 
 were at first sight disposed to question, if 
 not deny, her claims, began to think there 
 must be some charm about her, and beholding 
 her own firm conviction of her attractions, 
 yielded, after a little delay, their full credence 
 to the irresistibility of her beauty. In short, 
 they who came to doubt, remained to admire ; 
 and in a week. Lady Selina found herself the 
 acknowledged helle of the season. The 
 newspapers assisted not a little in extending 
 the fame of her asserted loveliness. " The 
 charming Lady Selina Altringham" was 
 quoted in many a flaming paragraph, as 
 having figured at ball, opera, or concert, the 
 previous evening; her ivhereahouts were 
 noted ; her dress cited as a model for imita- 
 tion, and the on dits of various proposals for 
 lier hand were copied from journal into 
 journal. Her female contemporaries of 
 similar age, with the tact peculiar to women,
 
 MEREDITH. 63 
 
 yielded assent to the loud and often repeated 
 praises of her beauty; for they surmised, 
 and with reason, that were they to express 
 their real opinion on the subject, they would 
 only expose themselves to the suspicion of 
 jealousy — a suspicion which women are most 
 anxious to avoid incurring. Matrons were 
 less cautious, and not unfrequently smiled 
 at the usurped reputation of Lady Selina, 
 drawing the attention of her admirers to 
 obvious defects in her face, but which the 
 said admirers declared only served to render 
 her countenance more piquant. 
 
 Painters and sculptors, however dissatis- 
 fied they may be with the productions of 
 their own pencils or chisels, when some fair 
 ideal has been wrought into all but life by 
 their skilful hands, never indulge such ex- 
 travagant admiration for it as do those 
 weak and unreflecting men who form the 
 crowd in fashionable life, when they have 
 praised into a spurious fame some mere pre-
 
 64 MEREDITH. 
 
 tender, without one real claim to beauty. 
 The idol of their own creation is valued solely 
 because it is their own creation ; and many 
 a lovely creature, with, to unprejudiced 
 eyes, pre-eminent charms, is allowed to pass 
 unnoticed, or, even worse, is cavilled at by 
 those who bow down and worship at the 
 shrine of the golden calf — Fashion. Lady 
 Selina Altringham's picture, as a Muse, a 
 Grace, a Sybil, or in some other fantastic 
 guise, might soon be seen stuck in every 
 printseller's window in the most frequented 
 streets in the metropolis. Artists, hearing 
 the fame of her charms, petitioned for per- 
 mission to portray them ; and the Lady Se- 
 lina acknowledged, with a well-assumed air 
 of modesty, that she "was really tormented 
 by the unceasing applications of those who 
 aspired to descend to posterity by fixing her 
 face on their canvas. 
 
 But althougli the reputation for beauty 
 drew a crowd around the Lady Selina where-
 
 MEREDITH. 65 
 
 ever she appeared, the season had drawn 
 nearly to its close before a single offer of 
 marriage had been made to her. In vain 
 did she smile and say civil things, in the 
 most insinuating manner, to her admirers ; 
 no one among them sought to possess the 
 hand of her whom they all professed to think 
 so irresistible.
 
 6Q MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTEE VL 
 
 Already did Lady Selina begin to indulge 
 in melancholy anticipations of the tiistesse 
 of an autumnal and winter sejour at Al- 
 tringham Castle ; when, at the last ball of 
 the season, — that eventful ball, on which so 
 many girls feel their hopes to depend, and 
 which, alas ! are so often doomed to be dis- 
 appointed, — Mr. Mellingcourt, a young 
 man of good fortune but of obscure family 
 and of weak intellects, made his appearance. 
 He had but a day or two previously re- 
 turned from the Continent, where he had
 
 MEREDITH. 67 
 
 resided for three or four years ; and having 
 fallen in with some of his old associates, 
 who spoke of this ball, wished to be invited 
 to it. He dined at his club with some five 
 or six of Lady Selina's most enthusiastic 
 admirers, the day previous to the night on 
 which the ball was to take place ; and the 
 conversation turning on her ladyship, after 
 no inconsiderable number of bottles of cham- 
 pagne had been emptied, he became so 
 excited by the extravagant praises lavished 
 on her, that he quite longed to behold this 
 paragon of perfection, as she was repre- 
 sented to be. 
 
 " There is nothing like her !" said Lord 
 William Mortimer. " She has refused half 
 the men about town," — a statement his lord- 
 ship knew to be wholly incorrect, — ^' and 
 happy may he consider himself to be who 
 can gain her hand." 
 
 Half the men present were on the point 
 of denying the assertion of the number of
 
 68 MEREDITH. 
 
 refusals given by Lady Seliiia, each fearing 
 that he might he suspected of being among 
 the discarded, but a signal from Lord Wil- 
 liam Mortimer, seen by all save Mr. Mel- 
 lingcourt, arrested their tongues, and he 
 again resumed the subject, saying — 
 
 " Never Avas there a young girl so much 
 d-la-mode as Lady Selina Altringham; and 
 he will be indeed an enviable man who be- 
 comes her husband ! Then her connexions 
 are so thoroughly good, all people of high 
 rank, that whoever marries her will at 
 once find himself in the very best, ay, even 
 in the most exclusive society,'* continued 
 Lord William Mortimer, — ''' a serious consi- 
 deration to any man of fortune who happens 
 not to belong to the aristocracy, who now, 
 owing to the vast number oi parvenus who 
 endeavour to enter their circles, draw the 
 cordon sanitaire as strictly as they can, in 
 order to exclude intruders." 
 
 This conversation was not lost on Mr.
 
 MEREDITH. C)9 
 
 Mellingcourt. Every word of it made a 
 deep impression on his mind, for lie was 
 precisely in the category of parvenus 
 anxious to force an entrance with a golden 
 key into a sphere which his birth or habits by 
 ];io means entitled him to have a place in.
 
 70 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 The orphan son of a French settler in the 
 Havannahs, he had been confided to the 
 guardianship of a London banker of respect- 
 ability, with whom his father had in early- 
 youth been intimately acquainted; sent to 
 Eton, and thence to Oxford, young Melling- 
 court had formed friendships with many 
 young scions of the nobility, and conceived 
 the puerile ambition of continuing in man- 
 hood the companionship formed in youth. 
 It was not that he considered his patrician 
 associates more amiable or more agreeable
 
 MEREDITH. 71 
 
 than the young men of his own class with 
 whom he came in contact, but his frivolous 
 mind was dazzled by the high-sounding 
 titles of the young noblemen who conde- 
 scended, for the sake of partaking his re- 
 cherche suppers, and not unfrequently bor- 
 rowing his money, to live on habits of close 
 intimacy with him. He fully calculated on 
 continuing in the same society whenever he 
 took up his abode in London; but to his 
 infinite mortification found, that although 
 many of his ci-devant friends were not un- 
 willing to dine with him at a fashionable 
 hotel, where he gave, if not the best, at least 
 the most extravagant dinners that could be 
 ordered, and to take their seats in the boxes 
 of the theatres, for which he paid, no one 
 of them ever offered to introduce him into 
 those circles which he pined to enter, not- 
 withstanding the various hints he gave them 
 on the subject, and although he saw by the 
 newspapers that the near relatives of those
 
 72 MEREDITH. 
 
 his soi-disant friends were the givers of 
 the balls and fetes at which he was so 
 anxious to he present. 
 
 Disappointed and disgusted, Mr. Melling- 
 court, at the close of his first season in 
 London, during which his only occupation 
 had been to give dinners to men who never 
 invited him in turn, to pay for bo-xes at the 
 opera and play, nominally called his, but 
 the best seats in which were unceremoniously 
 taken by his self-invited companions, and 
 to lend horses and carriages to those who 
 either wanted money or inclination to defray 
 the expense of keeping those luxuries for 
 themselves, he determined on leaving Eng- 
 land, and making a tour on the continent. 
 His companions so loudly and vehemently 
 disapproved of this step — a step which 
 would deprive them of so many comforts, 
 that it is more than probable they might 
 have dissuaded him from the measure, but for 
 the machinations of one of them, who had re-
 
 MEREDITH. 73 
 
 cently found his longer residence in Lon- 
 don a, service of danger, owing to tlie anx- 
 iety which certain individuals, comprising 
 the class of coach-makers, jewellers, per- 
 fumers, tailors, hoot-makers, horse-dealers, 
 &c., evinced to retain him there. This 
 anxiety was, moreover, displayed by employ- 
 ing sundry individuals to secure his person — 
 a proceeding that greatly disgusted him with 
 England. This gentleman, anticipating the 
 probable result of these measures, and not 
 possessing funds to enable him to travel on 
 the continent in the style or comfort which 
 he considered indispensable to a person of 
 his birth and habits, thought that it would 
 be no bad speculation to induce Mellingcourt 
 to go abroad, and to occupy one half of his 
 luxurious travelling carriage, while he placed 
 his valet on the box by the side of the ser- 
 vant of his friend. All this he determined 
 on doing, without incurring a shilling of ex- 
 pense on his own part, and so well did he 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 MEREDITH. 
 
 lay his plans that Mellingcoiirt not only in- 
 vited, but pressed him to do that which he 
 himself had previously decided on doing, — 
 namely, to get franked, thus sparing his 
 own light purse, and dipping heavily into 
 the well-stocked one of his friend. 
 
 Tired of the Continent, or, in other 
 words, tired of himself and his companion, 
 Mr. Mellingcourt, after two years' absence, 
 malgre all the persuasions of the said com- 
 pagno7i de voyage^ determined on return- 
 ing to England, but did not commence his 
 journey until that gentleman had extracted 
 from him a loan of a sufficient sum to enable 
 him to continue his sejour on the Continent 
 for another year, which perfectly consoled 
 him for the departure of Mellingcourt. 
 
 Lord William Mortimer, like too many 
 other younger branches of the aristocracy, 
 was cursed with a taste for expense, which 
 his scanty provision as a cadet de famille 
 was not calculated to support. Few are
 
 MEREDITH. 75 
 
 those who commiserate this ill-judged and 
 ill-used class of society. Its members, born 
 in feudal dwellings, adorned with all the 
 ensigns of grandeur, and nursed in the very 
 lap of luxury, with eyes accustomed to be- 
 hold on every side the gauds of hereditary 
 splendour, and with palates habituated only 
 to the choicest viands and exotic delicacies 
 of a princely table, are little fitted for the 
 hardships they must undergo. Behold them 
 while yet in their minorities, ere reason has 
 assumed her empire over their minds, cast 
 on the world either as soldiers, sailors, at- 
 taches d'amhassades^ or embryo parsons, with 
 barely the means of supporting a frugal 
 existence — to defray even the cost of which 
 demands a system of rigid economy seldom 
 appertaining to youth, and least of all to 
 youth nurtured in the hotbed of luxury. 
 Fancy a Lord Augustus, or a Lord William 
 Henry, with a high-sounding, historical, and 
 aristocratic name attached to it, compelled, 
 e2
 
 76 MEREDITH, 
 
 after having quitted the magnificent paternal 
 mansion, to lodge in some small and miser- 
 able house, in a narrow street, and — de- 
 gradation ! — perhaps over a mean shop ! In- 
 stead of being waited on, as hitherto, by 
 half a score of pampered menials, arrayed in 
 laced liveries, and with powdered heads, ex- 
 haling the fragrance of a perfumer's shop, 
 look on him, attended by a single servant of 
 uncouth aspect, and smelling of the stable. 
 See him eating off delf, or ironstone crockery, 
 covered with " chimeras dire," or monstrous 
 representations of trees or flowers unknown 
 in nature, instead of feasting oif silver, on 
 which is emblazoned the family arms, sur- 
 mounted by a coronet, or off old po7^celaine 
 cle Sevres, of greater rarity, and of equal 
 cost. Think, and let your breast heave 
 with pity, of the tough mutton chop, or 
 tougher beefsteak, not only smelling of, 
 but tasting of, coal smoke and burnt fat, 
 served up on the said delf, or ironstone
 
 MEREDITH. 77 
 
 manufacture, instead of the delicious soups, 
 delicate fish, recherches entrees epiiree of all 
 the grosser particles of their component in- 
 gredients, and the high-flavoured venison 
 that had cropped its daily food in the parks 
 of their patrician forefathers. But, above 
 all, gentle reader ! think of the nuiddy 
 port and fiery sherry with which the before- 
 named tough mutton chop or beefsteak is 
 to be washed down, and your heart nmst be 
 of adamant if you can refuse your pity to 
 the young scions of nobility whose sad lots 
 I have narrated. For me, I cannot dwell 
 on their hapless destinies without the deepest 
 sympathy ; and how they can appear in the 
 world with smiling faces, while enduring 
 such privations, has ever been to me a 
 matter of the most extreme surprise. But 
 '^ God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb ;" 
 " and shorn indeed to the quick" are those 
 high-born and much-enduring youths. 
 Lord William Mortimer appertained to
 
 78 MEKEDITH. 
 
 the unhappy class I have described. The 
 travelling companion of Mr. Mellingcourt 
 was his friend, and had, during the two 
 years of his sejour on the Continent, corres- 
 ponded with Lord William, and kept him 
 au fait of the peculiarities, desires, and 
 wishes of Mellingcourt, as an amusing topic 
 for his letters. 
 
 When he found that he could no longer 
 detain his companion, from whom he felt 
 convinced he had little more to expect, be- 
 lieving in the old adage that applies to all 
 weak and selfish people — " out of sight, 
 out of mind," he determined to hand Mel- 
 lingcourt over to the tender mercies of 
 Lord William, to whom he wrote by post, 
 apprising him of the good fortune he had 
 thrown in his way. " Never forget," wrote 
 he, " that our golden calf is but a calf after 
 all ; being not only a man of no family, but 
 innately vulgar, and that you, the son, al- 
 though but a younger one, of a marquis.
 
 MEREDITH. 79 
 
 confer a great honour on him by condescend- 
 ing to teach him how to spend his money 
 like a gentleman, and in assisting him in 
 the operation. Make him bleed freely; 
 never allow him to think for himself; and, 
 above all, let him understand that to you 
 he will oAYe, should he obtain it, his intro- 
 duction to our society." 
 
 Prepared to receive Mellingcourt, and to 
 turn him to account. Lord William Morti- 
 mer welcomed him to London with affected 
 warmth, and offered to be of use to him in 
 forming his establishment and furnishing 
 his stables. Mellingcourt, however, stupid 
 as he naturally was, had profited by past 
 experience, which, if it had not given him 
 wisdom, had at least taught him suspicion, 
 that vice, invariably the attribute of narrow 
 minds. He muttered something about not 
 having yet decided on forming any establish- 
 ment, or on not having more than two or 
 three horses; adding, that to keep open
 
 80 MEREDITH. 
 
 house or supply horses to men who never 
 did anything for him in the way of intro- 
 ducing him into flishionable society, was a 
 bore as well as a folly. Lord William took 
 the hint, and answered that Mellingcourt was 
 c|uite right, hut now that he had let him 
 know that he wished to enter the exclusive 
 circles, he w^ould he delighted to present 
 him. Mellingcourt was gratified, and when, 
 in a few hours after. Lord William sent 
 him three cards for halls and routs for the 
 next three nights, extorted from women of 
 high rank, either near relatives or intimate 
 friends of his lordship, to whom he had re- 
 presented his soi'disant friend as a mil- 
 Uonaire^ and an excellent person, Melling- 
 court believed that he had at length suc- 
 ceeded in gaining admittance into the best 
 society. 
 
 '' To get him on," said Lord William 
 Mortimer to himself, " I must positively
 
 MEREDITH. 81 
 
 marry him to some portionless girl of high 
 family, for he is such a bore and vulgarian 
 that people will never let him establish a 
 footing in our set, and when he finds this 
 out, as he soon must, instead of attributing 
 it to the true cause, he will blame me, and 
 I shall lose all influence over him. Yes, to 
 secure him a position, though at best it will 
 be but a Mse one, I must get him married. 
 The next question is, who shall the lady be? 
 There is Lady Alice Vernon ; she is portion- 
 less, but so proud that she would not have 
 him with all his thousands and tens of 
 thousands. No match will suit her but a 
 Lucifer one. Then there is Lady Agnes 
 Digby, without a sous. She would jump at 
 him, or rather at the golden bait I could 
 hold out to her ; but Lady Agnes is a clever, 
 sharp-witted person, who will let no one 
 manage her husband, or his fortune, but her- 
 self. Let me see. Yes, I have it ! Lady 
 e3
 
 82 MEREDITH. 
 
 Selina Altringham is the very woman! 
 I can manage her; for her vanity and 
 determination to pass herself off for a 
 beauty render her an easy agent in my 
 scheme."
 
 MEREDITH. 83 
 
 CHAPTEE VIIL 
 
 To the Lady Selina, Lord William Morti- 
 mer immediately went, requested an invita- 
 tion for Mr. Mellingcoiirt, the modern Croe- 
 sus, as he termed him, hinted that he 
 wished to share his vast fortune with some 
 person of high 'birth, but that he was so 
 fastidious in his taste, that nothing short of 
 a perfect beauty could satisfy it. He looked 
 at the lady while uttering this speech, and 
 she, nothing loth to appropriate the implied 
 compliment, took the hint, and determined 
 to leave nothing undone in order to shave
 
 84 MEREDITH. 
 
 the boasted wealth of Mr. Mellingcoiirt. 
 The next night Lord William presented his 
 friend, as he styled him, to Lady Selina, who 
 received him graciously, accorded him her 
 hand for the next dance, and rendered her- 
 self so agreeable, that Mellingcourt, although 
 much disappointed in his expectations of 
 her appearance, which had been so mucli 
 raised by the injudicious and exaggerated 
 eulogiums of his companions the previous 
 night, became fascinated by her gaiety and 
 ease of manner. Lord William could not 
 forbear smiling when, returning from the 
 ball, Mellingcourt declared that Lady Selina 
 was the most agreeable woman of rank he 
 had ever conversed with — an assertion not 
 to be controverted, as she happened to be 
 the only one. But the smile was not seen 
 by Mellingcourt, who, engrossed by his self- 
 complacency, observed not the countenance 
 of his companion. 
 
 " I did not at the first glance think her
 
 MEREDITH. 85 
 
 as beautiful as you represented her to be," 
 said Mellingcourt. 
 
 '' Strange !" observed Lord William Mor- 
 timer, for even the most fastidious judges 
 have pronounced her to be faultless. The 
 Prince Hoenholoran, whose fiat is considered 
 as law on the subject of female loveliness, 
 has accorded her the palm over all our 
 beauties ; the Duke of Derbyshire has named 
 her la plus belle des belles ; and the Marquis 
 of Waldershaw, who is scarcely ever satisfied 
 ^vith even our most admired women, has 
 declared Lady Selina to be perfection." 
 
 " There is no denying the opinions of 
 such competent judges," said Mellingcourt. 
 " Nevertheless, on first seeing the Mar- 
 chioness of Altringham and Lady Selina, I 
 took the former to be the lady so praised 
 last night, because she struck me to be so 
 much handsomer than the latter." 
 
 " Tell it not in Gath — name it not in 
 Ascalon, my dear fellow; for were such a
 
 86 MEREDITH. 
 
 thing whispered, you would positively be 
 set down as a man of very bad taste ; for 
 any doubt of the loveliness of Lady Selina 
 would be received in the fashionable world 
 as a heresy never to be pardoned. Ah T' 
 and Lord William sighed deeply, '' had I a 
 fortune to cope with the train who have 
 sought her hand, how soon would I lay it 
 at her feet! Had you but observed the 
 envy and jealousy you excited this evening, 
 my dear Mellingcourt, you would have been 
 indeed proud. '^ 
 
 " Why, I must admit I was gratified — 
 ay, exceedingly so, indeed, to have en- 
 grossed so much of her attention ; for, as I 
 before observed, I never conversed with so 
 agreeable a woman of rank before, and I 
 should not be sorry to have just such a wife 
 as Lady Selina; but that, I suppose, would 
 be totally out of the question, as she has 
 refused so many men of high rank and 
 greater fortune than mine."
 
 MEREDITH. 87 
 
 " Lady Selina's own rank is so elevated, 
 and her connexions so high, that she might 
 well condescend to marry a commoner, 
 knowing that whoever she weds she will 
 raise to her own station in society," said 
 Lord William, without moving a muscle or 
 changing colour, while uttering what he 
 knew to be a falsehood. 
 
 The bait held out to Mellingcourt was 
 greedily seized ; for to have the entree into 
 the most fashionable society, and not on 
 sufferance, but on terms of equality, was 
 precisely the object he most desired to attain. 
 Lord William saw that what he had said 
 had produced the desired effect, and fol- 
 lowed it up by adding — " I am engaged to go 
 down to Richmond to-morrow with a party ; 
 the Altringhams will be there, and, if you 
 wish it, I will manage to get you invited." 
 
 " I should like it above all things," re- 
 plied Mellingcourt, eagerly, " and feel really 
 obliged to you."
 
 88 MEREDITH. 
 
 " ]S,ot at all, my clear fellow — not at all. 
 I mean to get you into the best society; 
 and as I have never yet taken any trouble 
 to introduce any other man of my acquaint- 
 ance, although often pressed to do so, into 
 my own set, I have no doubt of succeeding. 
 I only hope I shall not be compelled to leave 
 London in two or three days, which I shoidd 
 regret, still more on your account than on 
 my own ; for there are a number of fellows 
 belonging to my set who make a point of 
 keeping others out of it. I fear, therefore, 
 were I absent, you might not be able to 
 make your Avay into the circles you are 
 formed to live in." 
 
 *' What compels you to leave town?" de- 
 manded Mellingcourt. 
 
 " The absolute want of a few thousands 
 to quiet my troublesome creditors, who are 
 tormenting me, and whose patience I have 
 nearly exhausted." 
 
 Mellingcourt paused a moment^ and de-
 
 ]\IEEEDITH. 89 
 
 bated with himself, whether or not he would 
 lend some of his spare thousands to Lord 
 William. He felt no particular friendship 
 for him, for, truth to say, Mellingcourt was 
 incapable of entertaining that sentiment for 
 any one ; neither was his a nature that had 
 pleasure in generosity, malgre that he had 
 squandered large sums on his soi-dismit 
 friends. Ostentation and avarice were his 
 ruling foibles ; and many were the internal 
 struggles they occasioned; the first urging 
 him to an expenditure that the second 
 severely reproached him for indulging. In- 
 capable of friendship himself, he was incre- 
 dulous of its existence in others, and con- 
 scious, perhaps, of his own want of merit to 
 excite it, (for only those who are unworthy 
 of the blessing deny its beneficent power,) 
 he was content to profit by any kindness 
 shewn to him, without better liking the 
 person who evinced it. Thus would he oc- 
 casionally expend his beloved money, to
 
 90 MEREDITH. 
 
 attain a reputation for generosity which he 
 was sensible of not deserving ; or to accom- 
 plish some point in which his selfishness was 
 interested. The result may easily be divined. 
 Those who conferred kindness on him, mor- 
 tified by having their motives suspected, and 
 their acts depreciated, conceived a dislike 
 to him, which avenged their humiliated 
 feelings; and those on whom he had be- 
 stowed large gifts, forgot them, and became 
 ungrateful, as they discovered that to osten- 
 tation and not to good will they owed the fa- 
 vours they had received. If the purse-strings 
 of Mellingcourt sometimes opened, his heart 
 never did, and as he never forgot a benefit 
 conferred, and never remembered one re- 
 ceived, he made no friends. 
 
 " How much would extricate you for the 
 present?" demanded Mellingcourt, after 
 serious consideration, and mature delibera- 
 tion, whether it would be worth while to 
 pay a few thousands in order to retain Lord
 
 MEREDITH. 91 
 
 William on the spot, for the purpose of 
 getting him into society; or whether it 
 would not be as well to let him depart, and 
 trust to some other chance for entering the 
 charmed circle he was so desirous to pene- 
 trate, and so save his thousands. " It will 
 be whispered in all societies, bruited in all 
 the clubs, that I have saved a scion of no- 
 bility from ruin!" whispered Ostentation. 
 *' But it will cost you some thousands to do 
 this !" murmured Avarice. " Without him 
 you will never get where you want to be," 
 said Selfishness. *' And by assisting him, 
 you will be counted noble, generous, and 
 good!" added Ostentation. The two latter 
 pleaders silenced Avarice. Nevertheless, 
 when Lord William answered the question 
 of "How much would extricate you?" by 
 saying " Ten thousand pounds !" Melling- 
 court positively started. 
 
 " Ten thousand pounds !" repeated he. 
 " That is indeed a large sum." And again
 
 92 MEREDITH. 
 
 Avarice whispered — " Don't give it to him ;" 
 while Ostentation said, " Were you to give 
 him only a small sum it would excite no 
 sensation in the great world; and woidd 
 convey no impression of the magnitude of 
 your fortune. Give it ; you will be lauded 
 to the skies!" 
 
 " If you are quite sure that ten thousand 
 pounds will really extricate you, and leave ' 
 you at liberty to remain in town as long as 
 I do, I will lend them to you," said Melling- 
 court, with that considerable extension of 
 visage termed a long face, and a severity 
 of tone that would have led a person to be- 
 lieve that he w^iis committing an act of re- 
 tributive justice, instead of conferring a 
 favour. 
 
 " Thank you, my dear fellow!" said Lord 
 William, extending his hand to clasp that of 
 Mellingcourt, who held out the tips of his 
 lingers to receive the intended cordial
 
 MEREDITH. 93 
 
 pressure, and thus chilled the warmth 
 kindled in the breast of one, who, albeit un- 
 used to kindly emotions, for the nonce ex- 
 perienced something like gratitude toAvards 
 the man who evinced an intention to serve 
 him. 
 
 It was long since Lord William Mortimer 
 slept so soundly as on the night on which 
 Mellingcourt promised to pay down ten 
 thousand pounds for him ; for, of late, his 
 slumbers had been much disturbed by the 
 menaces of his creditors — menaces which he 
 felt they were fully determined on putting 
 into execution, unless some unexpected 
 piece of good fortune enabled him to pay 
 them a portion of their claims. His fears 
 were now at rest, for at least some months 
 to come ; and he indulged in visions of city 
 heiresses to be found, or rich dupes to be 
 met with, to extricate him on that future 
 day so vaguely defined in the perspective of
 
 94 MEREDITH. 
 
 the tliouglitless spendthrift, yet so inevit- 
 ably ruinous in its consequences, however 
 postponed. 
 
 Mellingcourt's pillow was an uneasy one 
 that night. Seldom has the consciousness 
 of a bad action occasioned more pain to 
 the perpetrator, than did the recollection 
 of this unusual liberality inflict on this 
 riche avare. He groaned while he cursed 
 his own weakness and folly for having sa- 
 crificed so large a sum to extricate a man 
 for whom he cared nothing; forgetting 
 that it was only to forward his own scheme 
 of entering the magic circle from which he 
 had hitherto been excluded, that led him to 
 make a pecuniary sacrifice of such vast 
 magnitude. In vain did he reflect that he 
 had still thousands and tens of thousands at 
 his disposal ; and that, large as was the sum 
 he had pledged himself to give Lord Wil- 
 liam Mortimer, it could not occasion him 
 the slightest inconvenience. He could not
 
 MEREDITH. - 95 
 
 recover his temper as the thought occurred, 
 that the facility with which he had accorded 
 so heavy a loan, would inevitably lead to 
 false expectations, if it did not entail similar 
 demands from the same quarter. " Pshaw !" 
 muttered he, as the word loan passed through 
 his thoughts, " he will never have either 
 the means or the inclination to repay me. 
 No, my ten thousand pounds are gone for 
 ever ! Fool that I was, to sacrifice them to 
 attain so puerile an object !" 
 
 How strange and incomprehensible is 
 man ! Ever exaggerating the value of any 
 object he wishes to achieve, and to depre- 
 ciate it as soon as acquired. Mellingcourt, 
 as he tossed in his sleepless bed, wondered 
 how he ever could have dreamed of paying so 
 immense a sum as ten thousand pounds of 
 the lawful coin of Great Britain, for an in- 
 troduction into scenes like the one he had 
 figured in that night, though the previous 
 day he would willingly have devoted double
 
 96 MEREDITH. 
 
 that sum to accomplish the point Lord Wil- 
 liam Mortimer had obtained. 
 
 " I had formed an erroneous notion of 
 tliese so much vaunted aristocratic circles," 
 thought he to himself. "What are they, after 
 all? The rooms in which they congregate, 
 it is true, are larger and loftier than those 
 into which I had previously been admitted; 
 tlie furniture less gaudy, yet the tout en- 
 semhle is more brilliant, — for old family 
 diamonds help wonderfully to light up a 
 room, nay more, they enhance the charms 
 of the wearers by the associations of feudal 
 power and grandeur they call up. But the 
 cold looks, and colder manners of these 
 aristocrats, whose countenances appear as if 
 they could never beam with joy, or melt in 
 sorrow ; and the hauteur with which they 
 tolerate (instead of cordially receiving) the 
 advances of a stranger, whatever his fortune 
 may be, is very unlike tlie good-humoured 
 reception given by the less elevated persons
 
 MEREDITH. 97 
 
 with whom I have hitherto associated. They 
 seem to me to take no pleasure in the amuse- 
 ments they seek; and even when dancing, 
 the gravity of their countenances is more 
 suitable to the mourners at a funeral than 
 to the votaries of Terpsichore. The only 
 exception was Lady Selina Altringham. She 
 is a very superior person, though by no 
 means a beauty, notwithstanding people 
 assert her to be so. Well, well, — the repu- 
 tation is perhaps as advantageous as the 
 possession of good looks; and as Lady Se- 
 lina is the fashion, ' the observed of all 
 observers,' as Lord William Mortimer says, 
 (hang that fellow, I wish I could get him out 
 of my head!) I should not be sorry — nor 
 would she^ I think, regret it — were she my 
 wife. I should then have no occasion to 
 pay for admission into the best society ; for, 
 as her husband, I should naturally take my 
 place in it. I wish I had not promised 
 Mortimer the ten thousand pounds. Why, 
 VOL. L F
 
 98 MEREDITH. 
 
 that very sum would have gone a great way 
 in paying for her diamonds, if I should 
 marry her ! I might have got off by pay- 
 ing less than half that sum to Mortimer for 
 introducing me to her, but I was such a 
 fool as not to take time for reflection. Is 
 there no way of getting off paying the whole 
 sum? I must try what can be done." 
 
 With this resolution, Mellingcourt re- 
 signed himself to sleep at a late hour in the 
 morning, and dreamed that he was ruined by 
 Lord William Mortimer, who, in the shape 
 of a conjuror, by a dexterous tour of sleight 
 of hand, possessed himself of all his fortune. 
 He awoke in terror, rubbed his eyes, and 
 recalling to mind the promised loan of the 
 previous night, swore that never again 
 would he commit the folly of lending money.
 
 MEREDITH. 99 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Before Mellingcourt had left his dressing- 
 room the next day, Lord William Mortimer 
 was with him. There was a coldness and 
 constraint in the manner in which he was 
 received that might have wounded a more 
 delicate mind than that of Lord William; 
 for it plainly denoted that Mellingcourt felt 
 anything but satisfaction at seeing him, or 
 in fulfilling the engagement into which he 
 had entered. A few years spent in London, 
 and, above all, in fashionable society, is so 
 well calculated to destroy the pride and 
 f2
 
 100 MEKEDITH. 
 
 sensitiveness of men, that the generality of 
 those who have entered its giddy vortex re- 
 tain no trace of these qualities; although 
 vfere any one openly to impugn their pos- 
 session of them, a duel would inevitably be 
 the result. Lord William Mortimer felt 
 the ungraciousness of Mellingcourt's re- 
 ception of him ; but the extreme embarrass- 
 ment of his finances, and the urgent demands 
 and menaces of his creditors, compelled 
 him not only to submit to this offensive be- 
 haviour on the part of the rich parvenu, 
 but also to the humiliation of reminding 
 him of that which he seemed now to have 
 totally forgotten — namely, the promised loan 
 of the ten thousand pounds. 
 
 " I find," said Mellingcourt, looking ex- 
 ceedingly out of humour, " on consulting 
 my banker's book, that it will not be con- 
 venient for me to advance you so large a 
 sum at present ; but if tliree thousand pounds 
 will do, I will give you a cheque."
 
 MEREDITH. 101 
 
 " It would not answer the purpose for 
 which I consented to be your debtor," re- 
 plied Lord William, the last blush of wounded 
 pride rising to his cheek. " I wish you had 
 not offered me the ten thousand," resumed 
 he, " for on the faith of it I have been this 
 morning making terms with my harpies, 
 who will now be so enraged at being disap- 
 pointed, that I dare not remain in London 
 a day longer. I am sorry for this*, on your 
 account as well as on my own; for I have 
 got you an invitation to the water-party 
 to-day, where I was to have presented 
 you." 
 
 '' But now that I knoAv Lady Selina 
 Altringham, she can perform that ceremony 
 for me," said Mellingcourt, coolly. 
 
 " Impossible!" replied Lord William. 
 " You forget that for a young and unmar- 
 ried lady to present any man, save a brother, 
 to a whole circle of strangers, and, permit 
 me to add, more especially a man whose
 
 102 MEREDITH. 
 
 very name is not known in that circle, 
 would be a solecism in etiquette and Vusage 
 du monde^ which Lady Selina Altringham, 
 with her knowledge du hienseance^ would 
 be the very last person in the world to 
 commit. I will not trespass on your time 
 any longer." 
 
 Lord William, with an air of hauteur, 
 that reminded Mellingcourt more forcibly 
 than he wished of the diJSerence of their 
 birth, took up his hat, and moved towards 
 the door ; but within the last few minutes, 
 all Mellingcourt's desire to enter high life 
 had revived with additional force, owing to 
 the chance of being defeated in his wishes. 
 
 " Don't go yet," said he ; " perhaps we 
 may devise some means of getting you out 
 of this scrape. I think I could manage to 
 give you six thousand pounds, if that would 
 extricate you." 
 
 " I have already told you that no less a 
 sum than ten thousand would do," answered
 
 MEREDITH. 103 
 
 Lord William, coldly; " for, as I previously 
 informed you, my faith in your voluntary 
 offer has led me to propose terms, which 
 having been accepted, I cannot recede from ; 
 consequently I have nothing left but to quit 
 London at once." 
 
 " But if I make so large an advance," 
 said Mellingcourt, ^' can you not find some 
 friend or relation to lend the other four? 
 Your brother, for instance, he has a large 
 fortune." 
 
 ^' Yes; and like all noblemen with large 
 fortunes, has many claims on him," an- 
 swered Lord William, bitterly. " Various 
 extensive hereditary seats to be kept up; 
 a style of living suitable to high rank to be 
 supported; innumerable dependents to be 
 maintained; and charities, public and pri- 
 vate, to be subscribed to ; from all of which 
 costly liabilities and necessities a wealthy 
 commoner, with an unknown name and 
 funded property, is utterly exempt.
 
 104 MEREDITH. 
 
 Mellingcourt's cheek grew red at this 
 observation, and he hesitated what to do, 
 when Lord William again walking towards 
 the door with an air of increased hauteur, 
 he exclaimed, " Stop a moment! I will go 
 to my bankers, and arrange with them to 
 give you the ten thousand pounds, for which 
 I will now write a cheque ; but don't pre- 
 sent it until I shall have been there." 
 
 The cheque was written, and Lord Wil- 
 liam Mortimer left the room with it, his 
 gratitude for the loan considerably, if not 
 wholly, decreased by the mode in which it 
 had been granted, for he was by no means 
 imposed on by the pretended plea of tempo- 
 rary poverty urged by Mellingcoiu^t, or the 
 affected necessity of that gentleman's seeing 
 his bankers before the cheque was presented. 
 So convinced was he of the fallacy of this 
 assertion on the part of his soi-dlsant 
 friend, that he lost not a moment in going 
 straight to Mellingcourt's banker, where, as
 
 MEREDITH. 105 
 
 lie fully anticipated, the sum was counted 
 out to him the moment he presented the 
 cheque, as would have been triple its amount, 
 had the drawer given a cheque for it. 
 Lord William smiled contemptuously at the 
 ruse of Mellingcourt as he consigned the 
 bank-notes to his pocket, forgetful that he 
 had never previously possessed one quarter 
 of the sum that he now owed to the man, 
 to whose weakness, and not generosity, he 
 justly attributed the action; and that if 
 that man had evinced a want of delicacy 
 and good feeling in the manner of giving it, 
 he had exhibited no less in stooping to re- 
 ceive it, after he had so clearly seen the 
 unwillinaiiess with Avhich it was bestowed. 
 But thus it often is : people are prone to 
 accuse others of a want of delicacy when 
 they themselves are violating it to an equal 
 degree* 
 
 To the water-party Lord William and 
 Mellingcourt went. He presented the
 
 106 MEREDITH. 
 
 latter to all to whom he thought the acquaint- 
 ance would be acceptable, consisting of titled 
 persons of both sexes, not overburthened 
 with wealth or fastidiousness of taste, and 
 whom the good dinners and boxes at the 
 theatres, which he intended to make Melling- 
 court provide, would reconcile to the mea- 
 sure. He whispered to each of these in- 
 dividuals, previous to the introduction, 
 " Pray let me present my friend Melling- 
 court to you; he is as rich as Croesus; is 
 going to set up the most splendid establish- 
 ment; will give dinners, balls, and con- 
 certs, all through the season, and will have 
 double boxes at every theatre. He does not 
 care much about these things himself, but 
 likes to offer tfiem to his acquaintance. A 
 marrying man, too !" . 
 
 These hints procured Mellingcourt a very 
 polite reception from those who, had they 
 not been given, -would have, in all probability, 
 declined the introduction, or received it so
 
 MEREDITH. 107 
 
 coldly as to have checked further advances. 
 Such is the advantage of wealth. 
 
 Lady Selina Altringham quickly observ- 
 ing the gracious smiles, civil manner, and 
 polite speeches directed towards Melling- 
 court, became somewhat alarmed lest some 
 one of the unmarried ladies present should 
 secure the golden prize she wished to call 
 her own. She glanced anxiously at the 
 group, where he was awkwardly bowing 
 from one person to another, when Lord Wil- 
 liam Mortimer, who shrewdly guessed what 
 was passing in her mind, advanced to her 
 side, and speaking in a low tone, remarked, 
 " How very popular with the women Mel- 
 lingcourt is becoming! He will soon be 
 snatched up," continued he, " for he is too 
 great a prize not to be sought after." Then 
 observing her look of increased alarm, he 
 added, "Mellingcourt, however, has such per- 
 fect confidence in my judgment that he will not 
 make any selection without consulting me.
 
 108 MEREDITH. 
 
 She may, indeed, consider herself fortunate 
 who weds him, for his enormous fortune and 
 taste for splendour will place her in a very 
 enviable position. I am partial, very par- 
 tial, to Mellingcourt, and it would give me 
 pain to behold him forgetting, in the charm 
 of a new tie, the friendship that has so long 
 subsisted between us. Yet such is in gene- 
 ral the invariable consequence of marriage, 
 for no sooner does a man enter that holy 
 state than his wife makes him abandon his 
 old friends and associates, and he becomes 
 as wholly lost to them as if he had departed 
 this life instead of having married." 
 
 " But this surely coidd not occur where 
 the wife was a sensible person," replied Lady 
 Selina Altringham. " Such a woman would 
 be glad to profit by the knowledge an inti- 
 mate friend must have acquired of the dis- 
 position and habits of her husband, in order 
 to accommodate herself to those peculiarities 
 from which no man is exempt."
 
 MEREDITH. 109 
 
 This reply convinced both the interlocu- 
 tors that they perfectly understood each 
 other, and encoui^aged them to be more ex- 
 plicit. 
 
 " Then I am to understand," resumed 
 Lord William, " that were you, pa?' ex- 
 eniple, Lady Selina, to become the wife of 
 my friend, you would be content to share 
 instead of attempting to destroy my empire 
 over him?" 
 
 " I never thought of myself," said the 
 lady; " but if so unlikely an event were to 
 take place, I should be the last person in the 
 world to even dream of shaking your influ- 
 ence; au contraire, I should decidedly do all 
 in my power to strengthen it, from the con- 
 viction that a man like Mr. Mellingcourt, who 
 has not lived in the great world— that is, our 
 world— would stand greatly in need of a male 
 friend as well versed in all the usages and 
 habits of it as Lord William Mortimer is." 
 
 "Is it then quite understood between us
 
 110 MEREDITH. 
 
 that ill case you wed Mellingcourt, I am to 
 remain, as now, his confidential friend and 
 adviser?" asked Lord William. 
 
 " Perfectly !" answered the lady ; "although 
 the case is so hypothetical a one, that it 
 makes me smile for us to enter into such 
 grave preliminaries on the subject." 
 
 Lord William smiled too, and then said, 
 " Your marrying my friend, Lady Selina, 
 will now depend solely on yourself; for such 
 is my power over him, that ere many days 
 can elapse he will lay his hand and fortune 
 at your feet." 
 
 The prediction of Lord William was ful- 
 filled; and Lady Selina, nothing loth, was 
 led to the altar by Mellingcourt, with whose 
 weakness of intellect and selfishness, short 
 as had been their courtship, she had become 
 well acquainted. Most women with this 
 knowledge would have shrank back affrighted 
 from a union with so unworthy a man ; but 
 Lady Selina, conscious of her own fii'mness
 
 MEREDITH. Ill 
 
 of purpose, and perseverance in accomplish- 
 ing all she willed, was undaunted at the pros- 
 pect before her ; and, determined to live for 
 the world alone, she felt regardless of the 
 inferiority of the partner for life she had 
 selected. Was he not rich, and fond of 
 splendour? What more could she desire? 
 Even the difference of their birth and sta- 
 tion she considered rather as an advan- 
 tage than otherwise, for she thought it 
 would enable her to assert her superiority 
 over him whenever his selfishness led him 
 to rebel. No stronger example could be 
 given of the evil effect of the faulty system 
 of education at present but too often prac- 
 tised, than in thus seeing a young and highly 
 born woman accepting with willingness the 
 hand of a man for whom she entertained not 
 a single sentiment of affection or esteem. 
 Like other girls. Lady Selina had been 
 taught to consider that all the pains be- 
 stowed in giving her the various showy
 
 112 MEREDITH. 
 
 accomplisliments in wliicli slie excelled, had 
 but one aim and end — namely, tlie render- 
 ing her attractive, and so leading to the 
 securing for her a splendid marriage. This 
 lesson had been more strongly impressed on 
 her mind, by her having witnessed, on more 
 than one occasion, the unhappy condition 
 reserved for women of high birth, with only 
 a miserable pittance of some live thousand 
 pounds, and who, having failed in their 
 matrimonial hopes, had been left dependents 
 on elder brothers, not always disposed to 
 extend to them the kindness they required; 
 or to reside with married sisters, whose 
 husbands not unfrequently betrayed their 
 distaste to what they Avere prone to con- 
 sider more as an addition than an acquisi- 
 tion in their establishments.
 
 MEREDITH. 113 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Ere this ill-assorted union took place, Mel- 
 lingcourt had let the iinamiable points of his 
 character — and they were many — be so 
 plainly seen, that any woman less deter- 
 mined on marrying him than was Lady Se- 
 lina, must have inevitably broken off the 
 engagement. The Marquis of Altringham, 
 thoroughly disgusted with his intended bro- 
 ther-in-law, although well disposed to see 
 his sister wedded to a wealthy man, advised 
 her to 'decline the marriage, urging, as a 
 motive for this advice, the undisguised and
 
 114 MEREDITH. 
 
 unblushing selfishness and meanness exhi- 
 bited by the lover — if lover he might be 
 called. In relation to the settlement, these 
 offensive qualities were pre-eminently dis- 
 played; for while he evinced no inclination 
 to give up the portion of Lady Selina, con- 
 sisting only of five thousand, he wanted to 
 assign her so limited a jointure and pin- 
 money, that had the family lawyer of the 
 Marquis of Altringham not interfered, and 
 brusquely, too, the reasonable allowance 
 ultimately extorted from him would never 
 have received his assent. The truth was, 
 Mellingcourt felt not one particle of ad- 
 miration or affection for his future bride. 
 He saw in her only a person of high birth, 
 noble connexions, and great fashion ; by an 
 alliance with whom he could enter that society 
 in which he longed to find himself established, 
 without the necessity of having recourse to 
 those expedients to which he had hitherto 
 been compelled to resort. Calculating on
 
 MEREDITH. 115 
 
 never being paid the loan extended so un- 
 willingly to Lord William Mortimer, he de- 
 termined on subtracting that sum from the 
 dowry of his bride ; and no angry reasoning 
 on the part of the family lawyer, nor advice 
 from his own, could induce him to name a 
 larger settlement than five-and-twenty thou- 
 sand pounds, and three hundred a-year pin- 
 money. The jewels presented to her, and 
 which he took care should be bought second 
 hand, (pretending that they had appertained 
 to his deceased mother,) he strictly entailed 
 on his son and heir ; and in case of his dying 
 without male issue, they were to revert to 
 whomever he might bequeath them, leaving 
 Lady Selina but a life-interest in them, and 
 even this to cease in case she married a 
 second time, or that she was ever to sepa- 
 rate from him. 
 
 In despite of all these mean and unusual 
 proceedings, so well calculated to disgust 
 any woman of delicacy, Lady Selina became
 
 116 MEREDITH. 
 
 the wife of Mellingcourt ; and a less at- 
 tached bride and bridegroom never left St. 
 George's church than the " happy pair," 
 as the newspapers termed them, " who, in a 
 travelling carriage and four, set off to spend 
 the honeymoon at Altringham Castle, the 
 seat of the noble and beautiful bride's bro- 
 ther." Prepared to gain an ascendancy 
 over her narrow-minded and selfish husband, 
 Lady Selina sedulously set about the task 
 she had assigned to herself. She studied' to 
 conciliate, if not to charm him; but ere 
 they reached Altringham Castle, she dis- 
 covered that he was so impracticable that 
 the task would be a hopeless one. He had 
 neither the attentions of a tender bridegroom 
 nor the gallantry of a polite one. He al- 
 lowed her to fatigue herself by keeping up a 
 continual effort to amuse him by her conver- 
 sational powers, and they were considerable, 
 without ever acknowledging the success of 
 her attempts by a smile, or a civil speech.
 
 MEREDITH. 117 
 
 It was only when they readied Altringhani 
 Castle, that, awed by the feudal grandeur of 
 this fine baronial residence, he vouchsafed to 
 betray any symptom of pleasure. The 
 grand entrance hall, hung with burnished 
 armour, and the magnificent gallery, from 
 the walls of which frowned many a noble 
 knight, and glanced many a stately dame, 
 surprised as well as pleased him. This was 
 the first princely abode he had ever entered 
 as a bidden guest; for hitherto, at the fcAv 
 show-houses he had seen, — and none of 
 them were to be compared to the splendid 
 one he was now in, — he experienced a sen- 
 sation akin to awe, as, escorted by a gar- 
 rulous old housekeeper, proud of the ancestry 
 and grandeur of her aristocratic employers, 
 she strutted along, proclaiming the titles 
 and degrees of those whose portraits covered 
 the walls. But at present — and the recol- 
 lection pleased him — he came to a stately 
 castle, one of the strong-holds of ancient
 
 118 MEREDITH. 
 
 nobility, not as a curious intruder, protected 
 by the paid civility of a menial cicerone, 
 but as a member of that high family, a 
 scion of whom leaned on his arm, and moved 
 along through the vast suite of rooms filled 
 with the finest works of art, and most costly 
 furniture, with an indifference that proved 
 she was too much accustomed to such scenes 
 to derive either surprise or gratification 
 from them. He glanced at the walls, and 
 saw innumerable fine portraits, with the 
 name of Selina, in gilt letters, inscribed on 
 the massive frames, followed by various 
 titles, from that of duchess, marchioness, 
 countess, and viscountess, down to baroness, 
 with the most ancient names. She^ too, 
 whose fine form and elevated head resembled 
 these stately ancestral dames, from whose 
 proud lineage she had sprung, slie was now 
 his bride — the link that united him, a man 
 of mean origin, to that long race of nobility 
 whose progenitors still frowned or smiled
 
 MEREDITH. 119 
 
 from the walls of the lofty castle, where they 
 had once moved in feudal grandeur and 
 princely state. He was awed into a new 
 feeling of respect for Lady Selina, and was 
 proud thaf his name was now allied to that 
 of one of the most illustrious families of the 
 English aristocracy. 
 
 The Marquis of Altringham had sent a 
 number of his servants down to the castle, 
 where during his absence only a few had 
 been left, in order to do honour to the 
 bride ; and as these in their gorgeous liveries 
 lined the halls, and a portly dame, attired 
 in the richest brown satin, and wearing a 
 profusion of fine lace, curtsied lowly to the 
 " happy couple," Mellingcourt drew himself 
 up to the utmost height his stature would 
 admit, half fancying himself a noble too, 
 and ready to exclaim — " I now have a right 
 to take my place here among all this goodly 
 show !" He had seen these same gorgeous 
 liveries that at present dazzled him, in the
 
 120 MEREDITH. 
 
 Marquis's mansion in London, but there 
 they produced much less effect than here, 
 where everything testified the grandeur and 
 antiquity of the family with which he had 
 allied himself. He wondered how he had 
 courage enough to treat the scions of such a 
 lofty race so unceremoniously as he had 
 ventured to do during the last few days, 
 while the marriage-settlements were pre- 
 paring ; and thought that had the brief 
 courtship that led to his nuptials taken 
 place at Altringham Castle instead of in a 
 modern mansion in Grosvenor Square, he 
 would have been more respectful, as well as 
 more generous. The Marquis of Altring- 
 ham in London, seemed little more than 
 any other of the numerous lords to be seen 
 every day there, or even than the rich com- 
 moners, many of them imrvenus^ who vied 
 with them in the splendour of their esta- 
 l)lishments ; but in the feudal castle of a long 
 race of noble ancestors, there was no possi-
 
 MEREDITH. 121 
 
 bility of forgetting the high station of its 
 owner, and Mellingconrt thought that were 
 he in the brilliant position of his brother-in- 
 law, he would always reside at Altringhani 
 Castle, instead of confounding himself with 
 the crowd of less distinguished aristocracy 
 in the capital. 
 
 Lady Selina was not slow to observe 
 what was passing in the mind of her hus- 
 band, nor displeased at marking the invo- 
 luntary effect produced in his manner to- 
 wards her ; for she was glad to discover that 
 there was even one point by which he 
 could be rendered more civilized — a fact of 
 which, during her journey from London, she 
 had learned to doubt. Yet though the wife, 
 anxious only to govern, was pleased at the 
 prospect afforded of acquiring an influence 
 over her ill-bred husband, the woman and 
 the bride owned, with bitterness to herself, 
 that in both characters, she had foiled to 
 awaken any one of the sentiments usually 
 VOL. I, G
 
 122 MEREDITH. 
 
 excited in the breast of a man under such 
 circumstances; and, her amour propre 
 deeply humiliated, she began to entertain a 
 stronger feeling than the indifference she 
 had hitherto experienced towards Melliug- 
 court — a feeling of positive dislike. She 
 reflected not that the undignified facility 
 with which she had, on a brief acquaintance, 
 accorded her hand to a man so much her 
 inferior, was ill calcidated to render him 
 either a warm, or a respectful bridegroom. 
 She forgot everything but that he had pro- 
 foundly wounded her womanly vanity, by 
 letting her observe that the little deference 
 shewn to her originated alone in the view of 
 the pageants- that reminded him of her high 
 birth, and not in any affection to herself. 
 
 The next day. Lady Selina went over the 
 princely castle of her brother with Melling- 
 court ; and now aware of his pa7'venu-like 
 respect for high rank and ancient lineage, 
 omitted not to increase it, by dwelling on
 
 MEREDITH. 123 
 
 the heroic deeds of her ancestors, as she 
 pointed out their portraits on the walls of 
 the picture-gallery and gilded salons. She 
 assumed on this occasion an air of hauteur 
 by no means natural to her, for, like all per- 
 sons of high family, she was not prone to 
 attach any inordinate value to the adven- 
 titious gifts of birth and station to which 
 from infancy she had been accustomed. 
 This assumption oijierte^ which would have 
 disgusted any man of good sense and deli- 
 cacy, had a very contrary effect on Melling- 
 court; and Lady Selina was more than 
 once tempted to smile at the change in his 
 manner, as, when pointing out certain beau- 
 tiful lustres of rock crystal, splendid vases 
 of porcelain, costly mirrors in silver frames, 
 and other rare objects of vertu^ she inti- 
 mated that they had been the gifts of 
 sovereigns, in commemoration of their visits 
 to her ancestors. 
 
 Unhappily, use blunted Mellingcourt's 
 g2
 
 124 MEREDITH. 
 
 feelings of respect towards the feudal grandeur 
 tliat now surrounded him, for ere a week 
 had elapsed, he had ceased to wonder at and 
 admire all that which had on his first arrival 
 astonished and awed him. Lady Selina was, 
 after all, his wife — no longer Lady Selina 
 Altringham, but Lady Selina Mellingcourt — 
 no bad sounding name, thought he, and he 
 would no longer treat her as if she were 
 superior in any way to himself. " What if 
 she has high birth and rank on her side," 
 soliloquized Mellingcourt, "have I not wealth 
 on mine? and what is the value of rank and 
 high birth without fortune to sustain them? 
 To keep up this princely place, her brother, 
 the most noble Marquis of Altringham mar- 
 ried the heiress of a city banker, of obscure 
 origin, and the Lady Selina, who has lately 
 shewn herself so proud of her ancestry, has 
 wedded with me — yes, with me, of whose 
 birth she knows nothing, merely because I 
 am rich; for I have never deceived myself
 
 MEREDITH. 125 
 
 into a belief that personal liking had any- 
 thing to do in the affair on her side any- 
 more than on mine. I have seen enough of 
 England to know that fortune can enable 
 those who possess it to get on very well 
 without high birth or title ; while the pos- 
 sessors of these two last advantages, if poor, 
 are infinitely worse off than if they were un- 
 titled. Yes, wealth is much better than 
 rank ; and as I have it, I will carefully guard 
 this precious talisman of power, and frus- 
 trate the projects which I can clearly see 
 Lady Selina has formed, of freely disbursing 
 the fortune for which she bartered her 
 hand." 
 
 Mellingcourt was not slow in disclosing 
 to his wife the opinions he entertained, nor 
 the firm decision he had made of acting up 
 to them. In vain did slie endeavour to 
 lead him to adopt more generous feelings, 
 and a more liberal course. He was im- 
 practicable ; and even before a month had
 
 126 MEREDITH. 
 
 elapsed, and that month the honeymoon, 
 when husbands have not yet thrown off the 
 smiles of lovers to assume the frowns of 
 masters, she learned to know that hers pro- 
 mised to be no happy lot in life, and that 
 she had drawn no prize in the lottery of 
 wedlock. Vainly did she essay to enact 
 la grmide dame^ the lineal descendant of 
 the courtly lords and ladies, whose faces 
 glowed on the walls around her ; some rude 
 pleasantry, or common-place remark on the 
 poverty of nobility, which he vulgarly in- 
 stanced by reminding her of the mes- 
 alliance formed by her brother, and her own 
 marriage with himself, silenced her tirades, 
 and disgusted her from further attempts to 
 civilize the low-minded husband, who was 
 impenetrable alike to her flatteries or re- 
 proaches. He told her he would not pur- 
 chase a house in London, or a seat in the 
 country. He had no idea, he said, of in- 
 curring any such unnecessary expenses.
 
 MEREDITH, 127 
 
 He would reside in a fashionable hotel, in 
 London, during the season, a measure which 
 would exempt him from the necessity of 
 keeping a number of servants, or of giving 
 entertainments ; and duiing the autumn and 
 winter, he would either go to the Continent, 
 or pass the time in paying visits to the 
 seats of those relations of hers, who, he 
 added, would of course invite them. Lady 
 Selina was not a woman to sit down and 
 mourn over the death of the hopes that had 
 induced her to wed Mr. Mellingcourt. The 
 same want of sensibility and refined feelings 
 that led to her marriage with him enabled 
 her to bear up against the severe disap- 
 pointment that step had entailed on her, 
 and she determined that while submitting 
 to what was now inevitable, she would do 
 all in her power to enjoy whatever pleasure 
 might still be within her reach.
 
 128 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 Never passed honeymoon so gloomily and 
 slowly as that of this ill-assorted couple. 
 Mellingcourt, as if to avenge the awe ex- 
 perienced during the fii'st three days of his 
 sejour at Altringham Castle, treated Lady 
 Selina with an insolent flimiliarity worthy 
 of the example given by the profligate 
 Lauzun to " /« grande demoiselle^ " 
 whose jierte he gloried in humiliating ; but 
 the lady, feeling none of the affection for her 
 husband entertained by the French princess 
 for him to whom she had so longed to be
 
 MEREDITH. 129 
 
 united, was by no means disposed to support 
 it, although policy prompted her to conceal 
 the deep dislike and contempt it engendered. 
 
 Glad was she to leave Altringham Castle, 
 and the insupportable, unbroken tefe-d-tete 
 with her vulgar husband ; while he consoled 
 himself with the reflection that a month's 
 expenditure at an hotel had been saved by 
 the princely hospitality exercised by his 
 wife's brother. Yet this liberality on the 
 part of the Marquis had so little effect on 
 his mind, that when Lady Selina reminded 
 him of the necessity of bestowing a parting 
 gift of money on the domestics of the castle, 
 he positively refused to do so, on the plea 
 that he made it a point never to pay the 
 servants of others; and she found herself 
 compelled to leave with them the residue of 
 her maiden purse, which had not yet been 
 replenished by her husband, to demand 
 money from whom her pride revolted. 
 
 Among the first visitors on their arrival 
 g3
 
 1 30 MEREDITH. 
 
 in town, was Lord William Mortimer. Mel- 
 lingcourt's reception of him was as ungracious 
 as he could venture to make it, without 
 giving Lord William a right to resent it 
 and demand an explanation. Lady Selina, 
 uninfluenced by the example of her husband, 
 behaved with the cordiality due to an old 
 acquaintance ; for ill as her marriage pro- 
 mised to turn out, she felt that it was her- 
 self, and not Lord William, she had to blame 
 for having contracted it. When he was 
 leaving the room, evidently hurt by Mel- 
 lingcourt's treatment of him, the latter .ac- 
 companied him to the antechamber, and 
 Lady Selina overheard the sound of their 
 voices raised as if in angry altercation. 
 When Mellingcourt re-entered the apart- 
 ment, his face was flushed, and he broke 
 out into a contemptuous attack on the 
 aristocracy. 
 
 " A pretty set," said he; "truly, they 
 deserve to be respected. There goes a lord-
 
 MEREDITH. 131 
 
 ling, to whom I lent ten thousand pounds, 
 which I have never since ceased regretting, 
 and, forsooth, he acts the grand, and is sur- 
 prised that I did not rush into his arms, as 
 friends do on the stage, but nowhere else." 
 
 " Persons of a certain station, when they 
 have accepted obligations, and above all, 
 pecuniary ones, are peculiarly alive to any 
 want of kindness of manner in those who 
 have conferred them," said Lady Selina; 
 " and I confess I did observe, although 
 ignorant of your loan to Lord William 
 Mortimer, that your reception of him was 
 not friendly." 
 
 " Nor did I intend it to be so. I well 
 knew that if I appeared cordial, he would 
 have in all probability demanded an ad- 
 ditional loan from me, and so I not only 
 behaved coldly, but followed him out, and 
 asked him when I could count on his repay- 
 ing me the money, or at least a portion of it, 
 as I have great occasion for it at present.
 
 132 MEREDITH. 
 
 He looked as much astonished as if I had 
 given instead of lent him the sum ; said he 
 did not expect to he called on so soon, and 
 could not state when he could repay me. 
 This does not surprise me, for it is no more 
 than I expected ; hut I have by my politic 
 conduct precluded him from ever again so- 
 liciting a loan of me, and this is something 
 gained." 
 
 Shocked and disgusted. Lady Selina for- 
 bore making any reply, and Mellingcourt, 
 concluding that his reasoning was unanswer- 
 able, indulged in more than his ordinary self- 
 complacency. The waiter of the hotel pre- 
 sented the menu^ the length of which evi- 
 dently alarmed the parsimony of him to 
 whom it was, with a low bow, handed ; for 
 he hastily returned it, saying, "It is very 
 probable that we shall not dine at home, 
 and should we do so, some mutton cutlets 
 and a roast chicken will suffice, but I will 
 let you know in time."
 
 MEREDITH. 133 
 
 When the grave and solemn man had 
 withdrawn, Lady Selina ventured to say, 
 that as her brother was absent from town, 
 it was not probable that they should receive 
 any invitation for the day of so short a 
 notice. 
 
 " Well, let the worst come to the worst," 
 answered Mellingcourt, " for so slight a 
 dinner as we shall require, a half hour's 
 notice to prepare it will be sufficient ; for 
 my opinion is, that of all the modes of 
 throwing away money, the most absurd is 
 having expensive dinners at hotels, or in- 
 deed at one's own house, when there is no 
 company." 
 
 " Yet you did not object to the recherche 
 and expensive dinners at Altringham Castle, 
 where we were only tete-d-tete^'' observed 
 Lady Selina, disgusted at his parsimony. 
 
 " They cost me nothing," replied Melling- 
 court ; " and I like good dinners, when I am 
 not to pay for them."
 
 134 MEREDITH. 
 
 Two days subsequent to this conversa- 
 tion, Mellingcourt, while looking over a news- 
 paper, after breakfast, exclaimed, " This is 
 indeed lucky! Lord William Mortimer's 
 brother has died without a son, and he is 
 now Marquis of Bayswater. I shall there- 
 fore have my money back again; for he 
 never can be so bad as not to pay me, 
 although these young men of the aristocracy 
 are capable of anything. I now begin to 
 wish that 1 had not asked him to pay me, 
 but who could have expected that his brother 
 would have died so soon?'' 
 
 It would be tedious to recount the scenes 
 that followed during the first two or three 
 years of Mellingcourt's marriage. Neither 
 of the parties found in it the advantages on 
 which they had calculated; and mutually 
 disappointed in their expectations, they 
 avenged themselves by exhibiting a dislike 
 towards each other, which neither good breed- 
 ing nor good sense operated to control, even
 
 MEREDITH. 135 
 
 in society. The consequence of this impolitic 
 conduct was, that no one thought of in- 
 viting them together to country houses, lest 
 their presence and continual disagreements 
 should mar the harmony of such reunions ; 
 and Mellingcourt would neither give con- 
 sent nor furnish the means to allow of Lady 
 Selina's accepting invitations not extended 
 to him. His meanness and love of money 
 increased every day. He withheld the 
 scanty pin-money settled, on her marriage, 
 on Lady Selina, or only paid her such small 
 portions of it that she was compelled to 
 contract debts in order to make an appear- 
 ance suitable to her station. When any of 
 the bills thus contracted were presented to 
 him, his anger knew no bounds, and he 
 poured such a torrent of abuse on her head, 
 that, albeit, not being naturally timid, she 
 felt positively afraid to encounter him on 
 such occasions. Time, instead of softening 
 the asperities of his temper, only served to
 
 136 MEREDITH. 
 
 increase them ; and in place of reconciling 
 her to the lot now inevitable, and so un- 
 wisely chosen, rendered her hatred of her 
 husband still more virulent. The Marquis 
 of Bayswater repaid the ten thousand pounds 
 lent to him, but, disgusted with the conduct 
 of the lender, omitted no opportunity of 
 proclaiming his meanness and vulgarity; 
 and as the Marquis was rich, and possessed 
 considerable influence in fashionable society, 
 his opinion of Mellingcourt, openly avowed, 
 induced many persons to avoid him, while 
 the relatives of Lady Selina were loud in 
 their censures of his behaviour to her, and 
 pertinacious in refusing to receive him in 
 their society. Lady Selina was now con- 
 sidered a victim to her domestic tyrant, 
 and though not a beauty, the reputation 
 acquired as one previous to her marriage 
 was still remembered, and men were not 
 found wanting who were disposed to console 
 her for the unhappiness of her wedded life.
 
 MEREDITH. 137 
 
 • Such consolation, if the Scandalous Chro- 
 nicle may be believed, she was not loth to 
 accept; and from the period of her doing 
 so, fewer quarrels arose between her husband 
 and her on the subject of her personal ex- 
 penses, although his liberality had by no 
 means increased. He marvelled not at see- 
 ing her wear dresses of the richest materials, 
 and valuable trinkets, for which he was 
 never asked to pay, contenting himself 
 with frequently declaring, that if his wife, 
 like many of those of his acquaintances, were 
 to contract heavy bills, he would render her 
 home too hot to hold her. Disliking the 
 society of Lady Selina, he avoided it as 
 much as he could, taking especial care that 
 no expense was incurred at the hotel in 
 which they every season resided, by extend- 
 ing invitations to any of her frequent vi- 
 sitors ; and if she transgressed this esta- 
 blished rule, no item in his weekly account 
 betrayed the fact. It was, perhaps, owing
 
 138 MEREDITH. 
 
 to the penurious habits of Mellingcourt, — 
 habits which Lady Selina took no pains to 
 conceal from her compassionate male friends, 
 — that their attentions, invariably demon- 
 strated by costly gifts, and a profuse supply 
 of bank-notes, to preserve the dear creature 
 from being exposed to the brutality of such 
 a husband, were but of brief duration. 
 Season after season saw some young man, 
 new to the world, and with more money 
 than prudence, attached to the triumphal 
 car of Lady Selina Mellingcourt; who, not- 
 withstanding her reiterated complaints of 
 the shameful conduct of her husband, in 
 withholding her pin-money and refusing to 
 pay her bills, managed to be always the 
 best-dressed woman wherever she appeared, 
 — a mystery which all her acquaintance in 
 particular and the public in general de- 
 clared it was not difficult to solve. 
 
 My father at length became the consoler 
 of this lady ; and he who had a young and
 
 MEREDITH. 139 
 
 lovely wife, fondly devoted to him, pining 
 in solitude in the country, while he, free as 
 air, amused himself as if he had neither wife 
 nor child, evinced a pity for this heartless 
 and ill-conducted woman of the world, 
 which it never occurred to him the po- 
 sition of his own wife was much more en- 
 titled to awaken. This unhallowed liaison 
 had now existed for two years, and Lady 
 Selina, grown artful as well as unprincipled, 
 had acquired a considerable influence over 
 him, by exciting his jealousy and piquing 
 his vanity. Prodigal to excess, his gene- 
 rosity to her knew no bounds, and this in- 
 duced her to spare no pains to keep alive 
 an attachment she found to be so profitable. 
 One instance of my father's folly will serve 
 to shew to what extent both wife and hus- 
 band were capable of taking advantage of it. 
 " I saw, to-day,' ' said Lady Selina to 
 him, " such d>paru7'e of turquoises and dia- 
 monds I It was the most beautiful I ever
 
 140 MEREDITH. 
 
 beheld, and so cheap! I might have 
 bought it, if Mr. Mellingcourt would only 
 pay me one half the pin-money he owes me ; 
 but, mean as he is, he never will. I never 
 previously longed so much for anything !" 
 — a strong assertion, as her ladyship's long- 
 ings were neither few nor unfrequent. 
 
 " Where did you see it?" inquired my 
 father. 
 
 " At 's," replied she; " but do not 
 
 let us talk any more about it, for it only 
 makes me long for what I cannot possess." 
 
 The next day, the parure was brought 
 to her by my father, and, after some well- 
 enacted scruples about accepting so expen- 
 sive a gift, was received. 
 
 " But if Mr. Mellingcourt should notice 
 it?" said the lady. 
 
 " I do not think he is peculiarly ob- 
 servant !" answered my father, with a smile 
 that might have alarmed the delicacy of 
 most other women.
 
 MEREDITH. 141 
 
 " Nevertheless, this is so very splendid a 
 jo^rwr^, that, unobservant as he is with regard 
 to other things, I fear he would inevitably 
 notice it, and it might lead to mischief." 
 
 " What, then, is to he done?" asked the 
 gentleman. 
 
 " A thought occurs to me," said the 
 lady. "It is now so long a time since I 
 have asked him for money, that he cannot 
 decently refuse me some. He knows no- 
 thing of the value of precious stones," — 
 (an assertion which she was by no means 
 justified in making,) — "I will shew him 
 this fine parure — tell him it is the property 
 of a lady in distress, who, owing to the exi- 
 gency of the case, is willing to dispose of it 
 for less than a quarter of its value, and ask 
 him to pay me three hundred pounds of the 
 pin-money he owes me, to enable me to pur- 
 chase so great a bargain. This is so reason- 
 able, and it must be so obvious, even to his 
 eyes, that this parure is worth infinitely
 
 142 MEREDITH. 
 
 more, that he cannot well refuse ; so I can 
 then wear your beautiful gift without 
 fear." 
 
 '' As you will," said my father, somewhat 
 disgusted at this proof of cunning in the 
 lady of his love. 
 
 The next day he found her in tears, and 
 to his anxious inquiries as to the cause, she 
 told him that, on displaying the turquoises 
 and diamonds to her husband, he had, after 
 minutely examining them, immediately re- 
 tained the parure^ and in spite of her exer- 
 tions to prevent him, had taken it to a 
 jeweller's, who having estimated it at three 
 thousand pounds, he had sold it to him for 
 that sum, (being one thousand less than my 
 father had the previous day paid for it to 
 the same jeweller,) and had given her three 
 hundred pounds to pay " the lady in dis- 
 tress," lodging two thousand seven hundred, 
 as he told her, in the funds, with his savings. 
 
 " Whenever you can purchase such ex-
 
 MEREDITH. 14S 
 
 cellent bargains," said lie spitefully to me, 
 " you may always come to me, for I like 
 buying with hundreds what I can sell for 
 thousands." 
 
 Lady Selina's tears flowed afresh as she 
 recounted this trait of her husband, and 
 my father experienced no increase of respect 
 for either husband or wife while he listened 
 to it. Nevertheless, he the next day re- 
 purchased the jewels, and restored them to 
 Lady Selina, assuring her that Mr. Melling- 
 court was not so accurate an observer as to 
 notice them on her in a crowded assembly, 
 or if he even did, she might impose on him 
 by asserting that they were false ones, made 
 in imitation of the real parure he had sold. 
 " But," added my father, " I earnestly ad- 
 vise you never to let them into his hands, 
 lest he might take it into his head to have 
 them examined by a jeweller, and dispose of 
 them again, and never more offer him any 
 bargains."
 
 144 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Although heartily despising Mellingcoiirt, 
 the admirer of his wife was compelled to 
 conciliate him by every means in his power, 
 and none were found so eifective as those 
 that saved the purse of this mean-spirited 
 and parsimonious man, who was so vile as 
 not to hesitate taking advantage of civilities 
 or hospitalities procured, as he shrewdly 
 suspected, solely on account of his wife. 
 He professed to be fond of shooting, but 
 disliked the trouble of hiring a manor ; hence 
 the ami de la maison for the time being was
 
 '. MEREDITH. 145 
 
 sure to offer one, and, moreover, to keep 
 open house during the shooting sea- 
 son, Mellingcourt, of course, Lady Selina, 
 and a few friends of congenial tastes and 
 habits, being invited to meet them. This 
 despicable conduct, which in a poor man 
 would have drawn down the most igno- 
 minious censures on his head, was much less 
 harshly viewed in Mellingcourt, who was 
 universally believed to be a millionaire^ and 
 consequently was treated, as the rich always 
 are, much more leniently than the poor. 
 
 The liaison of my father and Lady Selina 
 was much talked of at first, but after a time 
 people got used to it; and as her husband 
 found no fault with her conduct, and always 
 appeared with her in public, she continued 
 to be received in society by those scrupulous 
 people who Avould have closed their doors 
 against women who happened either to have 
 less accommodating husbands, or wlio were 
 less adroit in duping them. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 MEREDITH. 
 
 The last two seasons my father had hired 
 manors, that Mellingcourt might have his 
 shooting, while he enjoyed the society of 
 Lady Selina, but that lady becoming fearful 
 that some prudish women of her acquaint- 
 ance, with whom she wished to be on good 
 terms, were taking alarm, not at her con- 
 duct, but at this open display of it, she ex- 
 pressed her desire that the next shooting 
 season should be passed at my father's own 
 seat, w^here the presence of his irreproach- 
 able and injured wife would give an air of 
 respectability to the party. It was not 
 without considerable reluctance that he con- 
 sented to this proposal, for a consciousness 
 of his own bad treatment towards my gentle 
 mother haunted and embarrassed him in her 
 presence, and rendered him unwilling to 
 bring his associates in contact with her. 
 Lady Selina, however, carried her point, 
 and having got my father to engage Mr. 
 and Mrs. Audley, with some young men,
 
 MEREDITH. 147 
 
 who lived much in their society, to accom- 
 pany her, the whole party, as already shewn, 
 arrived at Meredith Park. 
 
 When questioned about the looks of his 
 wife by Lady Selina, as had been more than 
 once the case, my father had spoken of her 
 as a person who possessed little personal 
 attractions — at least, as he said, to his taste 
 — and who was cold in feeling, but gentle 
 and ladylike in manner. The first glance 
 convinced Lady Selina of the falsehood of 
 the former statement, and she resented it 
 nearly as much as she would have done had 
 her admirer really rendered justice to the 
 beauty of his neglected wife, for it convinced 
 her he was insincere. Of the correctness of 
 the second statement, as to the coldness of 
 my mother, she was also incredulous, for 
 the changing colour and expressive coun- 
 tenance that met her gaze told a different 
 tale. She glanced reproachfully at her ad- 
 mirer, while these thoughts passed through 
 h2
 
 148 MEPiEDITH. 
 
 lier mind, and the looks of surprise and ad- 
 miration lavished on my mother by all the 
 men of the party, save my father alone, in- 
 creased her dissatisfaction. When the party 
 adjourned to dress for dinner, Mrs. Audley 
 entered the dressing-room of Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt, and, affecting an air of perfect 
 innocence, said, " Had you any idea, my 
 dear friend, that Mrs. Spencer Meredith 
 was so very beautiful ? I had always fancied 
 that she was rather plain than otherwise, 
 and was really surprised when I saw how 
 mistaken I had been. Not even her dowdy 
 and old-fashioned dress could conceal or dis- 
 figure her charms, and I saw all the men 
 gazing at her with astonishment and admi- 
 ration." 
 
 Every word of this speech made the im- 
 pression desired by the speaker on her dear 
 friend; nevertheless, Lady Selina was too 
 much a woman of the world to let her feel- 
 ings be exposed. She summoned, .therefore, 
 all the sang froid she could assume to her
 
 MEREDITH. 149 
 
 aid, and calmly answered, " Yes, I too was 
 surprised, agreeably so, indeed, by the beauty 
 of our fair hostess, and when we have per- 
 suaded her, as I hope we soon shall, to 
 adopt a fashionable dress, she will be 
 charming. I observed that the men were 
 struck with admiration when they saw her ; 
 so much so, as to listen with less than their 
 usual delight to your lively and piquant 
 remarks, my dear friend." 
 
 " Oh ! that is quite natural, ma belle 
 amie,^^ replied Mrs. Audley, " and I for- 
 give them ; but I really felt disposed to re- 
 sent their immediate transfer of admiration 
 from your handsome self to this new beauty, 
 for whom alone they seem to have eyes. 
 Mr. Audley just told me that he heard 
 them say, and the saucy man admitted that 
 he was of the same opinion, that when she 
 appeared in London, and they each and all 
 declared they would urge her to go to town 
 next season, she would eclipse every woman 
 there."
 
 150 MEREDITH. 
 
 " She is not only very lovely, but I should 
 think, very clever too," said Lady Selina. 
 " There is a peculiar archness in her smile, 
 and a sort of epigrammatic point in her re- 
 marks, that bid fair to rival many, if not 
 all our would-be female wits and has hleus 
 in London. But bless me ! it is seven 
 o'clock, and we shall hardly have time to 
 dress for dinner !" And the two dear friends 
 separated, satisfied in the conviction that 
 they had given each other mutual pain in 
 their brief Ute-a-tete. 
 
 My father sought the di^essing-room of 
 his wife, not to press her to his heart, as 
 most husbands, after so long a separation, 
 might have done, but to reproach her on 
 the subject of her dress. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake, Edith," said he, 
 " why have you not conformed to the pre- 
 sent fashion ? Your dress is positively 
 ridiculous ; and I am sure my friends must 
 have had some difficulty in not betraying
 
 MEREDITH. 151 
 
 their sense of its absurdity in your presence. 
 If you are indifferent to the ridicule you 
 must excite, you ought, for my sake, at 
 least, to dress a little more like other 
 people." 
 
 " I am sorry " 
 
 " Pray don't begin the old story, Edith, 
 nor assume the tragic air. Endeavour, as 
 quickly as possible, to have your dresses 
 altered ; and Lady Selina Mellingcourt, who 
 is reckoned the best-dressed woman in Lon- 
 don, will, I am sure, if you ask her, allow 
 her femme de chamhre to give yours the 
 patterns of her attire, that you may be en- 
 abled to appear a little more like other 
 women, and not draw ridicule on me, as 
 well as on yourself, by appearing in the 
 fashion of three or four seasons ago." 
 
 And this was the first meeting alone be- 
 tween my father and mother after so long 
 an absence ; and thus it was that he re- 
 warded the patience with which his coldness
 
 152 MEREDITH. 
 
 and neglect had been borne, and the gen- 
 tleness with which his wishes, however con- 
 trary to her own, had ever been met and 
 complied with by his mild and amiable 
 wife. 
 
 My mother suppressed a deep sigh as she 
 told her faithful servant that it was neces- 
 sary that some of her apparel should be 
 modernized as speedily as possible, as Mr. 
 Meredith was displeased at her not having 
 attended to the present fashion. " I will 
 ask Lady Selina Mellingcourt to permit her 
 maid to shew you some of her dresses," 
 continued my mother, " that mine may be 
 altered to a similar form." At that mo- 
 ment she caught the countenance of Mrs. 
 Lockly reflected in the mirror, before which 
 she was arranging her hair, and its expres- 
 sion of dissatisfaction surprised her. " I 
 wish I had adopted your advice, Lockly," 
 said my mother, kindly, " and had had some 
 new dresses sent down from London, Mr. 
 Meredith would have then been satisfied."
 
 MEREDITH. 15 
 
 A sigh was the only notice taken of this 
 remark ; and my mother, looking again in 
 the glass, saw that her attendant's eyes Avere 
 filled with tears, which she was brushing 
 away with the back of her hand, as if 
 anxious to conceal them. 
 
 When the party assembled in the library 
 before dinner, the extreme elegance of the 
 toilette of Lady Selina Mellingcourt and 
 Mrs. Audley struck my mother with ad- 
 miration. Free from a particle of envy, 
 she gazed with pleasure at the becoming 
 and well-fitting robes of both ladies; and 
 then glancing at her own, admitted that 
 her husband had reason to find fault with 
 it. The males of the party had eyes only 
 for the beauty of my mother, which no 
 dress could obscure ; but the women could 
 scarcely restrain their smiles when they 
 noticed her toilette, which now, in the full 
 glare of a well-lighted apartment, offered 
 a striking and not favourable contrast to 
 h3
 
 154 MEREDITH. 
 
 their own. Lady Selina Mellingcourt glanced 
 from my mother to my father, with an ex- 
 pression of irony on her countenance, that 
 revealed what was passing in her mind ; 
 and he looked at his wife with such stern- 
 ness and dislike, that she, who happened at 
 the moment to catch his glance, became as 
 pale as marble. Seated between both his 
 lady-guests at dinner, my father endeavoured 
 to manifest an equal attention to each ; but 
 even a total stranger might have observed 
 that the looks often interchanged between 
 him and Lady Selina denoted an intelli- 
 gence and intimacy of no common order. 
 Lords Algernon, Montagu, and Henry But- 
 tevant, devoted themselves exclusively to 
 their fair hostess; and their lively conver- 
 sation and piquant anecdotes, often, during 
 the repast, withdrew her from the painful 
 reflections which, in spite of her endeavours 
 to chase them away, would intrude them- 
 selves, as she marked the total indifference
 
 MEREDITH. 155 
 
 of her husband's manner towards herself, 
 and compared it with the desire to please 
 evinced by him to the ladies on each side of 
 him. Nor did the more than ordinary at- 
 tention paid by my father to Mr. Melling- 
 court escape my mother's notice. The 
 most dainty dishes and choicest wines were 
 pressed on that gentleman. 
 
 " Let me recommend these Jilets de vo- 
 latile to you, the truffles are excellent ;" or, 
 " Pray give me your opinion of this claret, 
 I think you will like it," would the host say 
 to Mellingcourt, while he allowed his other 
 guests to take care of themselves, an at- 
 tention which was hardly noticed by him 
 to whom it was directed, but who con- 
 tinued to eat voraciously the good things 
 set before him, and to wash them down 
 with frequent bumpers of wine. Not un- 
 seldom did Lady Selina glance at her hus- 
 band, as, with eyes intently fixed on his 
 plate, he devoured its contents ; but he was
 
 156 ■ MEREDITH. 
 
 too busily engaged to notice her. And 
 then she would look at my father, and turn 
 up her eyes in horror at the gluttony of her 
 carO'Sposo. These appeals for sympathy 
 never failed to be met with the kindest 
 looks by her admirer, and were noticed^ by 
 every species of ridicule consistent with 
 hie^iseance by Mrs. Audley, who ex- 
 pressed her regret that poor Mr. Melling- 
 court had lost his appetite, or else was 
 dissatisfied with Mr. Spencer Meredith's 
 cook. 
 
 The conversation having turned on the 
 recent death of a man of very large fortune, 
 Mellingcourt inquired what was the sup- 
 posed extent of his wealth. Some one 
 having named it, he said, " I think nothing 
 of that— Avliy, the income of my funded 
 property amounts to double that sum. " And 
 he looked around, that he might note the 
 effect produced by this declaration on others* 
 Alas for poor human nature ! nearly every
 
 MErvEDITil. 157 
 
 person at tlie table, except tlie hostess, 
 assumed an air of greater respect towards 
 liim, the very servants glancing at him with 
 a kind of awe. My mother, surprised and 
 disgusted at this vulgar boasting, felt less 
 than ever disposed to like the woman who 
 could have married such a man, and whose 
 presence imposed so little restraint on his 
 behaviour. 
 
 When the ladies withdrew to the draw- 
 ing-room. Lady Selina, with one of her 
 most insinuating smiles, offered my mother 
 the patterns of her dresses, and added, that 
 hevfemme cle chamhre would readily assist 
 in altering those of Mrs. Spencer Meredith. 
 As this favour had not been solicited, nor 
 even hinted at by my mother, she felt a 
 painful emotion at Lady Selina thus inad- 
 vertently exposing the terms of familiarity 
 on ^vhich she must be with my father, when 
 he could speak to her of the dress of his 
 wife, and solicit her interference on the
 
 158 MEREDITH. 
 
 subject. She nevertheless thanked Lady 
 Selina, and accepted the offer, saying, that 
 leading so retired a life in the country, she 
 had neglected to pay as much attention to 
 the fashion of "her toilette as she ought to 
 have done, and gracefully acknowledged 
 that her obsolete dress required the indul- 
 gence of those who, unlike herself, had spent 
 the last season in London. 
 
 " But do you never see any of your 
 female neighbours who could have en- 
 lightened you on a subject so important to 
 all women as the fashions must ever be?" 
 said Mrs. Audley. 
 
 " Occasionally," replied my mother. 
 " Lady Ravenshaw, Lady Emily Mordaunt, 
 and Mrs. Compton Davenport, are the only 
 neighbours within a visiting distance. They 
 are very kind, but know that I care so 
 little about the mode, that they let me 
 adhere to that which was universal some 
 five or six years ago, when I was dis-
 
 MEREDITH. 159 
 
 posed to take a greater interest in the sub- 
 ject." 
 
 *' So that disagreeable woman, Lady Ra- 
 venshaw, visits here!"* said Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt, who having heard of the in- 
 fluence that personage had formerly exer- 
 cised over my father, indulged in no peculiar 
 good-will towards her. 
 
 " I do not think her nearly so disagree- 
 able as Lady Emily Mordaunt/' observed 
 Mrs. Audley, ''for she is so pretentieuse, 
 and gives herself such airs, that she is my 
 favourite aversion.' ' 
 
 " Does not Lady Ravenshaw bore you to 
 death, when she comes here f " asked Lady 
 Selina, addressing my mother. 
 
 '' I have received so much kindness from 
 her," was the reply, " that it would be un^ 
 grateful in me to dislike her." 
 
 " I thought it was Mr. Spencer Meredith 
 who had been so much indebted to her for 
 kindness," observed Mrs. Audley, with a
 
 160 MEREDITH. 
 
 malicious smile, wliicli brought a blusli to 
 tlie cheek of Lady Selina, who felt that 
 this imiuendo revealed the cause of her pe- 
 culiar distaste for Lady Kavenshaw, while 
 my mother's purity of mind rendered her 
 wholly impervious to the shaft aimed by 
 Mrs. Audley. 
 
 '' I trust that I may not meet Lady 
 Eavenshaw," said Lady Selina; " for, never 
 on friendly terms, we have latterly left off 
 bowing, and a rencounter would conse- 
 quently be anything but agreeable under 
 such circumstances." 
 
 " And Lady Emily Mordaunt, who looks 
 like a flower that faded from want of water- 
 ing, — is she as coquettish in the country as 
 in London?" asked Mrs. Audley. 
 
 " I never knew that she was coquettish 
 anywhere," replied my mother ; " and have 
 ever found her very goodnatured and un- 
 aifected." 
 
 " It is you, my dear madam," said Lady
 
 MEREDITH, 161 
 
 Selina, " wlio are so goodnaturecl yourself, 
 that you judge too favourably of others;" 
 and, suppressing a yawn, she looked at 
 Mrs. Audley with such ennui and weariness 
 pictured in her face, that my mother, who 
 caught a view of it, became more than ever 
 sensible how ineffectual would be her efforts 
 to amuse two women with whom she had 
 not a thouglit or* feeling in common, and 
 who were only lively in the society of men. 
 She felt as much relieved as the other 
 two ladies when the gentlemen came to 
 coffee. The champagne had evidently exhi- 
 larated their spirits, and Lord Henry Butte- 
 vant, having taken a seat beside Mrs. 
 Audley, commenced a flirtation with her 
 that surprised no one in the circle except 
 the hostess, Avhile my father devoted his 
 attention wholly to Lady Selina Melling- 
 court. Cards were introduced; a whist- 
 table was established; those who did not 
 play betted; and the stakes were so high,
 
 162 MEREDITH. 
 
 that my mother no longer wondered at the 
 all-absorbing interest which the whist-players 
 devoted to the game. Mr. Mellingcourt 
 bore not his reverses at the card-table with 
 that equanimity generally exhibited by well- 
 bred men, at least in the presence of women, 
 nor concealed his exultation when fortune 
 favoured him. The rudeness of his recri- 
 minations whenever his partner committed 
 an error in playing, shocked his hostess, 
 and his unchecked ill-breeding towards his 
 wife disgusted her. 
 
 " You are surprised, I see," said Lord 
 Algernon Montagu to my mother, whose 
 expressive countenance he had been watch- 
 ing for a considerable time. " What a man 
 that Mellingcourt is, or rather, what an 
 animal. And yet he is tolerated in society ! 
 Can a stronger proof be given of the power 
 of wealth? Naturally underbred and ill- 
 tempered, I really believe he takes a plea- 
 sure in displaying defects that the generality
 
 MEREDITH. 163 
 
 of persons carefully conceal ; and he imagines 
 that his fortune privileges him to be rude." 
 
 " I suppose that a generous expenditure, 
 and more than an ordinarily profuse hospi- 
 tality, has acquired him the indulgence h6 
 meets with," said my mother. 
 
 "By no means !" answered Lord Algernon. 
 " His parsimonious habits extend to positive 
 meanness. He never gives a dinner, although 
 he accepts with avidity all those he is in- 
 vited to partake ; and openly laughs at what 
 he calls the folly of his Amphytrions, in 
 lavishing large sums of money in entertain- 
 ing their acquaintances. The possession of 
 wealth is, in his opinion, the best claim to 
 distinction ; and those deficient in it, what- 
 ever may be their merit, he looks upon as 
 not being entitled to respect. In short, he 
 is an odious person; but you will, I fear, 
 set me down as a mcmvaise langue^ for thus 
 revealing what all London is aufait of, so 
 I must redeem my character by not telling
 
 164 MEREDITH. 
 
 you all the evil that might be told of Mr. 
 Mellingcourt. Of his good qualities, only 
 one has been as yet discovered — namely, his 
 perfect freedom from jealousy; for though 
 Lady Selina has frequently put it to the 
 proof, he has never evinced a single symptom 
 of having even the slightest acquaintance 
 with ' the green-eyed monster.'" 
 
 My mother having looked grave at this 
 implied censure of a woman who was a guest 
 at her house, Lord Algernon Montagu depre- 
 cated her displeasure by given her amusing 
 sketches of London society ; which, having 
 tact enough to see that she disliked scandal 
 and sarcasm, he rendered inoffensive, though 
 entertaining. 
 
 While this conversation was going on, my 
 mother occasionally found the eyes of Lady 
 Selina directed towards her, and then turned 
 to my father, as if to call his attention to 
 her. He looked displeased, while Lady 
 Selina smiled, and again, from time to time,
 
 MEREDITH. 165 
 
 renewed her glances towards my mother. 
 At length, the pendule struck twelve, and 
 seeing that the whist-players were cutting 
 for partners for another rubber, my mother 
 walked to the table, and ventured to remind 
 my father, in a low voice, that the Sabbath 
 had commenced. 
 
 '' The what?" asked he. 
 
 '' The Sabbath !" repeated his wife, 
 meekly. 
 
 " And what has that to do with our 
 amusing ourselves?" demanded he, rudely. 
 
 " I thought," replied my mother, '' that 
 you had forgotten the hour." 
 
 '' There are some people who never allow 
 one to forget the flight of time," said he, 
 bitterly; ^' but I can't see any harm in our 
 continuing our whist." 
 
 " You will much oblige me by giving it 
 over," urged my mother, mildly; and the 
 sandwich-tray and refreshments ])eing at 
 that moment brought in, the party rose
 
 166 MEREDITH. 
 
 from the table, exchanging significant looks 
 at each other; while my father muttered 
 something about his dislike to Methodists. 
 
 ^^ Apropos of the Sabbath," said Lady 
 Selina Mellingcourt. "At what hour do 
 you go to church, Mrs. Meredith?" 
 
 " At ten, precisely," was the answer ; and 
 my mother caught her husband making a 
 sign to Lady Selina indicative of his disap- 
 proval of her going to church. A pang 
 shot through her breast as she observed it, 
 for many a time, during the courting-days 
 of my father and herself, had he directed 
 similar signs to her whenever he wished her 
 to decline any proposed excursion or project 
 of her father's ; and now, that fond parent 
 in his grave, and she neglected by him so 
 loved, these looks were directed to another, 
 and that other — a wife ! 
 
 " You surely do not mean to act the 
 pious, and go to church to-morrow?" said 
 Mrs. Audley to Lady Selina.
 
 MEREDITH. 167 
 
 " Certainly, I mean to go," replied Lady 
 Selina. 
 
 '' Well, I am not so good," observed 
 Mrs. Audley, " for early rising always dis- 
 agrees so much with me, that I should be 
 ill for the day were I to get up at such an 
 hour ; so you must pray for me, ladies." 
 
 " As they will pray for all sinners, ^ou 
 will be included, ma chdre amie^^ said 
 Mr. Audley, laugliing at what he considered 
 to be his own wit. 
 
 " I understand we are to have a charity 
 sermon to-morrow," observed Lord Algernon 
 Montagu, " and of course Mellingcourt will 
 attend, in order to make his offering." 
 
 " No, I leave you to do that," replied 
 Mellingcourt, " as younger brothers are 
 always generous, having more money than 
 they require for their own wants." 
 
 A few minutes after my mother had 
 entered her dressing-room, my father pre- 
 sented himself there, and having desired
 
 168 MEREDITH. 
 
 her attendant Lockly to withdraw, he no 
 sooner found himself tete-a-tete with his 
 wife, than he expressed to her, with no little 
 acerbity, his surprise and disapprobation at 
 her interrupting his whist-party, and in Ms 
 house attempting to dictate. 
 
 " You are at perfect liberty," said he, 
 '^ to follow your own illiberal and contracted 
 notions relative to religious practices, but I 
 desire that you will not attempt to interfere 
 with those of my friends, nor render my 
 house disagreeable to them." 
 
 So saying, he quitted the room, leaving 
 my mother to weep in uncontrollable anguish 
 at this new proof of his unkindness — an 
 unkindness which neither her submission 
 nor gentleness could subdue. 
 
 And this was the man to wed with whom 
 she had wrung the reluctantly given consent 
 of her fond father — a consent only accorded 
 when he believed that her health, if not her 
 life, depended on the measure ; and she had
 
 MEREDITH. 169 
 
 abandoned that fond father, had allowed 
 him to pass his latter days in solitude, and 
 to die alone. How truly, bitterly, had the 
 judgment pronounced by him on the object 
 on whom she had placed her affections been 
 verified ! With what a gushing tenderness 
 did the recollection of that lost parent's 
 indulgent and never-failing kindness now 
 recur to her mind, when smarting under the 
 painful sense of the more than indifference 
 of him for whom she had quitted the happy 
 home of her childhood and the fond arms 
 of her father ! How short-lived had been 
 the happiness for which she had sacrificed 
 so much ! And now, save her child, what 
 comfort was left to her? Never does the 
 heart of woman turn with such tenderness 
 to the loved and lost — those dear ones, from 
 whom she had experienced only indulgence 
 and affection, as when disappointed in the 
 living, those in whom she had garnered up 
 her heart ; she looks in vain for consolation 
 YOL. I, I
 
 170 MEREDITH. 
 
 on earth. Then does the sigh heave her 
 agonized heart, and fast-falling tears dim 
 her weary eyes, until, overpowered by the 
 depth and bitterness of her emotions, she 
 feels that to Heaven alone must she address 
 herself for aid to support her trials, and 
 she sinks on her knees to offer up her prayers 
 to that throne of mercy where the wretched 
 ever find relief. 
 
 Long and fervently did my mother sup- 
 plicate the Almighty that night ; and when 
 she laid her head on her pillow, her spirit 
 was calmed, and her tears dried.
 
 MEREDITH. 171 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 The next morning, Lockly informed her 
 that breakfast was ordered to be served at 
 twelve o'clock, but that Lord Algernon Mon- 
 tagu wished to have his in time to attend 
 the church service. 
 
 " And Lady Selina Mellingcourt will also 
 breakfast with me," said my mother, " for 
 she will accompany me to church; so order 
 breakfast for three.'' 
 
 When my mother descended to the eating- 
 room, she found Lord Algernon alone there ; 
 and in a few minutes after, a message was 
 I 2
 
 172 MEREDITH. 
 
 delivered to her, stating that Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt had slept so ill, and had so bad 
 a head-ache, that she could not have the 
 pleasure of accompanying Mrs. Spencer Me- 
 redith to church. 
 
 "I could have sworn that this would 
 happen," said Lord Algernon Montagu. 
 " Lady Selina has the most accommodating 
 head-aches in the world, for they come and 
 go at her command." 
 
 My mother felt the awkwardness of a 
 tete-ci'tete breakfast with a person she had 
 never seen before the previous day ; and the 
 freedom with which he was disposed to com- 
 ment on Lady Selina Mellingcourt increased 
 her embarrassment. The repast over, the 
 carriage was announced to be at the door ; 
 and my mother retired to put on her cloak 
 and bonnet. When she descended, she found 
 Lord Algernon Montagu waiting in the ves- 
 tibule, to hand her into her carriage. 
 
 " I must beg permission to take a seat,"
 
 MEREDITH. 173 
 
 said he ; and suiting the action to the word, 
 he entered the carriage, which was driven 
 from the door, he appearing perfectly at his 
 ease, while my mother felt painfully embar- 
 rassed at the new and uncomfortable posi- 
 tion of being thus familiarized with a 
 stranger, and at having to enter a crowded 
 church with him. 
 
 " I fear that I am an unwelcome intruder," 
 said Lord Algernon Montagu, half offended 
 at the coldness and reserve of my mother's 
 manner. 
 
 " I could have wished," replied she, " that 
 Mr. Spencer Meredith had accompanied us, 
 for it pains me that he should neglect attend- 
 ing divine worship." 
 
 " It would, at all events, have the merit 
 of novelty, and that is something," observed 
 Lord Algernon; "for I never knew him to 
 enter a church during the last two shooting 
 seasons that we have passed together, al- 
 though the parish church w\as only a quarter
 
 174 MEREDITH. 
 
 of a mile from the house lie rented in Nor- 
 folk." 
 
 A deep sigh was the only notice taken by 
 my mother of this insidious speech, and 
 again her companion renewed his comments. 
 
 " I was very much amused last evening/' 
 said he, '' when I heard Lady Selina Mel- 
 lingcourt propose to accompany you to 
 church, and still more so when I saw Mere- 
 dith making signals to convey to her his 
 disapproval of such a measure, when I dare 
 be sworn she had not the slightest intention 
 of going. Mrs. Audley, and Buttevant, are 
 more frank, for they openly profess their 
 dislike to going to church." 
 
 " I hope they will not do so to me," said 
 my mother, " for I consider such frankness, 
 as you are pleased to term it, extremely of- 
 fensive." 
 
 The carlnage having at that moment 
 reached the porch of the church, further re- 
 marks were prevented; and as my mother
 
 MEREDITH. 175 
 
 entered it, all eyes being directed to her, 
 she felt her cheeks glow at being seen tete- 
 a-tete with a stranger, instead of being ac- 
 companied by her husband, with whose 
 return home the whole of the neighbourhood 
 was acquainted. She thought — but per- 
 haps it might be only fancy — that some of 
 the congregation examined her and Lord 
 Algernon Montagu with a curiosity in which 
 no small portion of impertinence was min- 
 gled; but a sense of what was due to the 
 sacred temple in which she found herself, 
 checked these wandering thoughts, and re- 
 stored her to that deep and heartfelt devo- 
 tion that never failed to animate her breast 
 when in the house of God. 
 
 The eyeglass of Lord Algernon Montagu 
 was frequently raised during the service, to 
 which he appeared to shew very little atten- 
 tion. He looked around as if in a theatre, 
 instead of a place of divine worship; and 
 having noticed two or three pretty girls in
 
 17G MEREDITH. 
 
 tlio adjacent pews, regarded tliem more I're- 
 quently than tlie prayer-book which the pew- 
 opener had pLaced on the desk before him. 
 The sermon referred so particularly to the 
 sinfulness of those who neglect attendance 
 at divine worship, and who think only of 
 the pleasures and vain enjoyments of the 
 world, that my mother could not help think- 
 ing that it had been selected by Mr. Aubrey, 
 the good rector, with the intention of pro- 
 ducing some effect on tlie mind of her hus- 
 band. The discourse was an eloquent one, 
 and appealed powerfully to the feelings, for 
 the preacher was deeply impressed with the 
 importance of his subject. He drew a 
 forcible picture of the state of that man 
 who, passing his time in sinful pleasures, 
 sa^v the approach of death with terror and 
 dismay, and dared not trust in the efficacy 
 of a deathbed repentance. Many persons 
 looked towards the pew in which my mother 
 was seated during the sermon, and the con-
 
 MEEEDITH. 177 
 
 sciousness that they considered several por- 
 tions of it applicable to her husband, pained 
 and mortified her. The irreverent conduct 
 of her companion, too, was very annoying, 
 and she heartily wished him away, being 
 convinced that no salutary change would be 
 effected by his attendance at divine worship, 
 while he conducted himself so improperly as 
 he was then doing. 
 
 The service over. Lady Kavenshaw, Lady 
 Emily Mordaunt, and Mrs. Compton Daven- 
 port, drew up in the porch of the church, to 
 await my mother's approach. The first 
 salutations over. Lord Algernon Montagu, 
 who was an old acquaintance of both the 
 first-mentioned ladies, was greeted with ex- 
 pressions of mingled surprise and pleasure 
 by them. 
 
 " Who could have dreamed of seeing you 
 here?" said Lady Eavenshaw. 
 
 '^ I could not believe my eyes when I saw 
 i3
 
 178 MEREDITH. 
 
 you enter tlie church," observed Lady Emily 
 Mordaunt. 
 
 " Were you ever before at church, since 
 you left college?" asked Lady Raven- 
 shaw. 
 
 " No, I'll answer for him," replied Lady 
 Emily. " He has a fair excuse, however, 
 for coming here," continued she, " for even 
 an infidel would be delighted to accompany 
 Mrs. Spencer Meredith !" 
 
 *' And so, I hear, you have a large party," 
 said Lady Ravenshaw, " and that Lady Se- 
 linaMellingcourt and her husband are among 
 the number. Well, I confess tliat did sur- 
 prise me. And how do you like this lady, 
 my dear Mrs. Spencer Meredith?" 
 
 " I have seen so little of her, that it would 
 be difficult to pronounce any opinion on so 
 short an acquaintance," replied my mother. 
 " She only arrived yesterday evening." 
 
 "How long does she intend to remain?" 
 demanded Lady Ravenshaw.
 
 MEREDITH. 179 
 
 " I have not the least notion," was the 
 answer. 
 
 " Really, my dear friend, it is quite pre- 
 posterous that you should permit yourself 
 to be treated in such a manner. Two 
 women, of whom you know nothing, are 
 brought down to your house without any 
 invitation from you, and yet are domiciled 
 with you, sans ceremonie. Had these 
 ladies possessed one spark of delicacy or 
 good breeding, they would not, under any 
 circumstances, and particularly under ej;* 
 isting ones" — and Lady Ravenshaw laid a 
 peculiar stress on the word — " have intruded 
 themselves on you. The world will make 
 very severe animadversions on your counte- 
 nancing them, I can assure you ; and it will 
 be in vain that your friends, Lady Emily 
 Mordaunt, Mrs. Compton Davenport, and 
 myself, shall assert your ignorance of the 
 reputations of your female visitors, and of 
 the circumstance that renders one of
 
 180 MEREDITH. 
 
 tliem, at least, vl peculiarly unfit guest for 
 you." 
 
 " Yes," interrupted Lady Emily Mor- 
 daunt, "you really ought not to submit to 
 this insult on the part of your husband ; I 
 know it will injure you in the eyes of the 
 world, and so thinks Mrs. Compton Daven- 
 port." 
 
 "I must acknowledge," said that lady, 
 " that my opinion perfectly coincides with 
 that of Lady Eavenshaw and Lady Emily 
 Mordaunt ; but at the same time I must en- 
 treat you not to name me in any remon- 
 strance you may be disposed to make to Mr. 
 Spencer Meredith, for it miglit embroil my 
 husband with him, which would be very dis- 
 agreeable indeed, on account of the support 
 he has always given Mr. Compton Daven- 
 port in his elections." 
 
 " We can't visit you while Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt is your guest," said Lady Ea- 
 venshaw. " You know how prudish Lord 
 Eavenshaw is."
 
 MEREDITH. 181 
 
 " And Mr. Morclaimt, too," added Lady 
 Emily. 
 
 " / may, tlirougli motives of policy, be 
 compelled to make acquaintance with these 
 ladies," observed the wife of the M.P. for 
 the county; "for Mr. Spencer Meredith 
 would very probably resent any slight offered 
 to them while in his house ; and my husband 
 would never forgive me if I offended his 
 most powerful supporter in the county. 
 Nevertheless, it is very disagreeable, my 
 dear madam, to act against one's conscience, 
 as I shall certainly do, in making the ac- 
 quaintance of Lady Selina Mellingcourt and 
 Mrs. Audley." 
 
 " I am really at a loss to understand what 
 all this means," said my mother. " Are 
 not Lady Selina Mellingcourt and IMrs. 
 Audley universally received in the best so- 
 ciety?" 
 
 "I do not deny that they are," replied 
 Mrs. Compton Davenport ; " but really, after 
 what Lady Eavenshaw and Lady Emily
 
 182 ^ MEREDITH. 
 
 Mordaunt have told me of their conduct, I 
 think they do not merit this toleration." 
 
 " And so you also would think," added 
 Lady Eavenshaw, " if you knew what the 
 world proclaims with regard to the friend- 
 ship of Lady Selina Mellingcourt and Mr. 
 Spencer Meredith." 
 
 My mother's cheeks became suffused with 
 blushes. Shame and indignation struggled 
 for mastery in her breast, but the latter 
 triumphing, she proudly informed her soi- 
 disant friends, that she was sure Mr. Spencer 
 Meredith would introduce no ladies to her 
 that were not fit and proper acquaintances ; 
 and she requested that in future she might 
 be spared from similar communications. 
 
 No sooner had she entered her carriage 
 than Lord Algernon Montagu remarked how 
 very amusing it was to hear two women, 
 whose adventures had furnished such fre- 
 quent topics to the Scandalous Chronicle as 
 Lady Ravenshaw and Lady Emily Mordaunt
 
 MEREDITH. 183 
 
 had done, betray so much severity towards 
 persons accused of no deeper errors than 
 their own. " But so it ever is," continued 
 he; " those who are the most erring are 
 always the first to attack others. People 
 never can have said more about i\\Q friend- 
 ship of Lady Selina Mellingcourt and Mere- 
 dith than was said about his friendship with 
 this same Lady Eavenshaw, whose prudery 
 sits very awkwardly on her in the eyes of 
 those who, like myself, are acquainted with 
 her past proceedings. It is absurd that she 
 should betray a jealousy towards Meredith, 
 that you, his wife, have too much savoir 
 vivre to exhibit. The young and beautiful, 
 however, are seldom addicted to jealousy, 
 and for an obviouS reason — the facility 
 afforded them by the possession of these 
 attractions to make reprisals. And well do 
 husbands who neglect youthful and hand- 
 some wives, to devote themselves to women 
 in no way worthy to be compared with
 
 184 MEREDITH. 
 
 tliem, deserve retaliation ; and fortunate is 
 lie to whom devolves the happiness of as- 
 sisting in perpetrating so just an act of 
 vengeance. Don't you agree with me, Mrs. 
 Spencer Meredith?" 
 
 " The subject is one so unfit to meet the 
 ears of a right-minded woman, that I am 
 as much surprised that you should enter on 
 it with me, Lord Algernon Montagu, as 
 that you should ask my opinion." 
 
 The gravity with which my mother uttered 
 this well-merited reproof silenced her com- 
 panion for a few minutes; and when he 
 was about to utter an apology, the carriage 
 stopped at her door, and she was relieved 
 from his presence. Shouts of laughter met 
 her ears as she approached the breakfast- 
 room, and when the servant had thrown 
 open tlie door, she beheld Lady Selina Mel- 
 lingcourt and Mr. Audley engaged in playing 
 battledore and shuttlecock, while the gentle- 
 men of the party were betting largely on
 
 MEREDITH. 185 
 
 the game, and vociferating tlieir encourage- 
 ment to tlic players. The entrance of my 
 mother evidently produced a disagreeable 
 effect on all present, but more especially on 
 my father, who did not attempt to disguise 
 his ill-humour at the interruption to the 
 game. 
 
 "What!" said he, "returned already? 
 Old Aubrey must have given you a much 
 shorter sermon than he usually favours his 
 congregation with, to enable you to be back 
 so soon. And you too, I find, are turned 
 religious," continued he, addressing himself 
 to Lord Algernon Montagu, with a satirical 
 smile, shared by Lady Selina Mellingcourt, 
 who assured my mother, that to her must 
 be attributed the merit of Lord Algernon's 
 conversion. 
 
 " Yet knowing Montagu as we do," said 
 Lord Henry Buttevant, " church is the last 
 place to which I should expect him to lead, 
 or be led by, a lady."
 
 186 MEREDITH. 
 
 This stupid remark caused a laugh from 
 the group, and Lord Algernon begged them 
 to remember that it was only single ladies 
 that he objected to conduct to church, but 
 that he had great pleasure in accompanying 
 married ones. 
 
 " I have been forming a friendship with 
 your son this morning," said Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt, addressing my mother. " He 
 is a charming boy, and I have been making 
 him better acquainted with his father." 
 
 " It will require all your amiability to 
 tame down the little savage !" observed my 
 father, " for I never saw so spoiled a child." 
 
 At this moment, I rushed into the room, 
 and throwing my arms around my mother's 
 neck, nearly stifled her with my kisses. 
 
 " You see he can be very loving when 
 he likes to be so," said Mr. Mellingcourt. 
 " This morning Lady Selina coaxed him 
 with sugarplums for half-an-hour before he 
 would consent to kiss her."
 
 MEREDITH. 187 
 
 " An irrefragable proof of his bad taste!" 
 remarked my father. 
 
 " Why did you dislike kissing this pretty 
 lady?" asked Lord Algernon. 
 
 " She is not a pretty lady," answered I; 
 " it is mamma who is pretty." 
 
 Some of the party laughed aloud at my 
 naivete J but my father bit his lip in anger ; 
 and though Lady Selina smiled, the in- 
 creased colour in her cheeks announced that 
 she did not much relish my frankness. 
 
 " You are a stupid dolt !" said my father, 
 " for every one thinks this lady" — pointing 
 to Lady Selina — " pretty, and every one 
 would be glad to have the good fortune 
 offered to you." 
 
 " You may kiss her," answered I, "as 
 much as you please, and she wont be angry." 
 
 The lady's cheek grew crimson, her 
 friend Mrs. Audley tittered, and the men, 
 with the exception of Mr. Mellingcourt and 
 my father, laughed outright.
 
 188 MEREDITH. 
 
 " Leave the room, you stupid boy!" said 
 tlie latter, " and do not come among us 
 again unless you are sent for." 
 
 I ran to my mother and clung to her 
 side, while I exclaimed — " Indeed, mamma, 
 I have not been naughty! but I did not 
 want to kiss that lady whom papa kissed." 
 
 " Send him away, the troublesome little 
 story-teller !" said my father, his face fluslied 
 with anger, and that of Lady Selina scarcely 
 less crimsoned. 
 
 My mother rose, and taking me by the 
 hand, led me from the room ; but ere she 
 could reach the door, I again assured her 
 " I did not tell a story, and that papa 
 kissed the lady." I felt my mother's hand 
 tremble as she held mine, and I remarked 
 that slie grew very pale. 
 
 " Don't be vexed, dear mamma!" said I, 
 " and I will be so good; but I don't know 
 what I have done to make papa angry. Is 
 it nauglity to refuse kissing ladies? or is it 
 Avicked to tell when papa kisses them?"
 
 MEREDITH. 189 
 
 My motlier seemed at a loss what to say ; 
 but, after a moment's hesitation, she pressed 
 me to her heart, and told me never to re- 
 peat what I saw unless papa or mamma 
 asked me. 
 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt evinced con- 
 siderable embarrassment during the re- 
 mainder of the day ; her husband appeared 
 sullen ; and my father displayed a more 
 than ordinary degree of sternness, as if to 
 awe and deter my mother from recurring to 
 my awkward disclosure. The rest of the 
 Sabbath was passed as none had hitherto 
 been beneath that roof. The whole party 
 played at billiards before they rode out, 
 and returned not until an hour after the 
 one named for dinner. When the ladies 
 left the dining-room, Mrs. Audley sat down 
 to the pianoforte and sang barcaroles, while 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt kept up, with 
 evident effort, a desultory conversation with 
 my mother, often interrupted by half-sup- 
 pressed yawns and other symptoms of ennui.
 
 190 MEREDITH. 
 
 On the Sabbath evening my mother had 
 been, during the absence of my father, ac- 
 customed to assemble her small household 
 in the dining-room, and to read the evening 
 service and a short sermon to them. To 
 continue this custom would, she now felt, 
 be the cause of an angry discussion with 
 my father, and she consequently did not 
 attempt it; but when making this sacrifice 
 in order to avoid his sarcastic reproofs, she 
 was not prepared to see him, when tea had 
 been removed, order cards. She cast an 
 imploring look at him, but he met it only 
 by a stern frown. She then approached 
 him, and, in a low tone of voice, entreated 
 that he would not play on the Sabbath ; but 
 this appeal only served to excite his wrath, 
 and petulantly telling her that he would do 
 as he pleased in his own house, he invited 
 his guests to cut for partners. 
 
 Lord Algernon Montagu drew a chair 
 near his hostess, and in his most insinuating
 
 MEREDITH. 191 
 
 tone, told her that as she disapproved cards 
 he had declined playing. " You see I am 
 not incorrigible," said he ; " and if you 
 would but encourage my religious aspira- 
 tions, you might bring back a lost sheep to 
 the fold." 
 
 My mother maintained an air of reserve 
 and coldness in the hope of checking the 
 tone of familiarity this flippant young man 
 assumed towards her; and turning away 
 from him, beheld significant smiles ex- 
 changed between Lady Selina Mellingcourt 
 and my father. She was half tempted to 
 leave the room, that her presence might no 
 longer sanction the desecration of the Sab- 
 bath ; but a fear of exciting still more the 
 anger of her husband, and by so doing ren- 
 dering him more reckless than ever, de- 
 terred her. Although sitting at a distance 
 from the card-table, she was made aware 
 that large stakes were won and lost ; angry 
 exclamations and recriminations were ut-
 
 192 MEREDITH. 
 
 tered by the losers ; and slie tremUed to 
 hear oaths pronounced, which, if no sense 
 of religion or propriety checked, the pre- 
 sence of women ought to have prevented. 
 This breach of decency convinced her more 
 than all the assertions of her female neigh- 
 bours in the morning ; and the insinuations 
 of Lord Algernon IMontagu, that Lady 
 Selina Mellingcourt and Mrs. Audley had 
 lost all right to the respect or consideration 
 of the men with whom they were engaged 
 at play, and the perfect sang froid with 
 which they heard the curses, loud and deep, 
 left no doubt, if, indeed, a doubt could have 
 existed in her mind, that they were habitu- 
 ated to them. That her husband could 
 thus insult her by bringing beneath the 
 roof where she was content to live in seclu- 
 sion with her child, women so lost to all 
 sense of delicacy and propriety as to sanc- 
 tion such language — nay, not only to sanc- 
 tion, but to encourage by laughing at what
 
 MEREDITH. 193 
 
 should have shocked them, inflicted a deep 
 pang on her heart. While thus absorbed 
 in painfd reflections, she was unconscious 
 that the eyes of Lord Algernon Montagu 
 were fixed on her flice with an expression 
 of such undisguised admiration as to have 
 drawn the attention of both the ladies, v\dio, 
 though engaged at the card-table, occasion- 
 ally found time to watch the movements of 
 her companion and herself. 
 
 " What would I not give to know the 
 subject that has so deeply occupied your 
 thoughts during the last half hour, that 
 you have neither heard when spoken to, nor 
 opened your lips," said Lord Algernon Mon- 
 tagu. " Judging by the gravity of your 
 looks, I should pronounce that your reflec- 
 tions were of a sombre nature; and yet so 
 you.ng, so fair, and gifted with tliat great 
 essential to happiness, wealth, I cannot divine 
 what cause of chagrin you can have." 
 
 " Gravity does not always indicate cha- 
 VOL. I. K.
 
 194 MEREDITH. 
 
 grin," replied my mother. " But pray oblige 
 me, Lord Algernon Montagu, by selecting 
 any other subject of conversation save my- 
 self; for there is none you could choose that 
 would not be more agreeable to me.'' 
 
 " But if you happen to be the only one 
 I can think of, or speak of, what is to be 
 done?" asked Lord Algernon, endeavouring 
 to throw into his countenance as much ten- 
 derness as it could assume. 
 
 " Then I must decline conversing with 
 you," replied my mother, coldly, and rising 
 from her chair, she moved towards the card- 
 table. 
 
 " Are you disposed to risk a few pounds 
 on the rubber ?" asked Mrs. Audley. 
 
 " I never bet, or play at cards," answered 
 my mother. 
 
 '' Then you have a great loss," observed 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt, *' for cards offer 
 the most delightful excitement to break the 
 tiresome monotony of life."
 
 MEREDITH. 195 
 
 " I am sure," added Mrs. Audley, " that 
 more than half the women I know could not 
 support existence without cards; but this 
 you will discover when you have lived a 
 few seasons in London." 
 
 " You have revoked, Meredith," said Lord 
 Henry Butte vant, "which gives me the 
 game. Look over the tricks, and you will 
 see I am right." 
 
 " Yes," said my father, after having 
 turned over the cards, " you are right, 
 Buttevant, I have certainly revoked, but 
 that was wholly owing to Mrs. Meredith's 
 talking and confusing my memory. Before 
 you came near the table," said my father, 
 looking angrily at his wife, " I was winning 
 every thing; but no sooner did you inter- 
 rupt me, than I forgot my game, and com- 
 mitted this egregious error, by which I lose 
 two hundred to you, Buttevant." 
 
 " Why, Mrs. Meredith hardly opened her 
 lips," said Mr. Mellingcourt. " It was Mrs. 
 k2
 
 19G MEUEDITH. 
 
 Auclley and Lady Selina that kept talk- 
 ing." 
 
 " It's confonndedly annoying," resumed 
 my fatlier, not noticing Mr. Mellingcourt's 
 exculpation of my mother, '' when we were 
 game and game, and that I had four by 
 honours, and the odd trick, that I should 
 lose all by Mrs. Meredith's coming here 
 and interrupting our play. I wish she had 
 stayed at the other end of the room, and 
 then this could not have happened." 
 
 My mother grew pale, and her lips 
 trembled as she attempted to speak. Slie 
 keenly felt this open exhibition of dislike 
 on the part of her husband — for to dislike 
 alone could she attribute his unjust accusa- 
 tion of her interrupting his play, — as she 
 felt certain that he was aware that it was 
 not she, but the other two ladies, who had 
 diverted his attention from his game. She 
 felt displeased at observing Lord Algernon 
 Montagu's eyes fixed on her with an ex-
 
 MEREDITH. 197 
 
 pressioii of deep interest and pity, and saw 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt exchange glances 
 with my father, as if directing his attention 
 to this exhibition of Lord Algernon's sym- 
 pathy. 
 
 The whist-party did not break up nntil a 
 late hour. Mr. Mellingcourt congratulated 
 himself on having won a considerable sum ; 
 and my father displayed an irritability that 
 denoted he had no reason for self-gratula- 
 tion. It was a relief to my mother that he 
 did not, as on the previous night, enter her 
 dressing-room, for she dreaded, fatigued and 
 nervous as she felt, being exposed to an- 
 other lecture, in the ill-humour in which 
 he then was.
 
 198 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 While dressing for breakfast next morn- 
 ing, lier faithful attendant, Lbckly, be- 
 trayed various symptoms of agitation, and 
 more than once cleared her throat as if to 
 prepare for speaking. 
 
 " What is the matter, my good Locldy?'^ 
 asked her gentle mistress. " You look dis- 
 composed." 
 
 " I really feel so, madam; and yet I do 
 not know whether or not I ought to trouble 
 you on the subject." 
 
 " If I can be of use to you, Lockly, do
 
 MEREDITH. 199 
 
 not hesitate to reveal the cause of your un- 
 easiness." 
 
 *' I now wish, madam, that I had not 
 touched on it, for, on reflection, I fear you 
 cannot remedy what I have to complain of; 
 and it is wrong of me to anoy you by re- 
 peating it." 
 
 " As you will, Lockly ; but you know 
 I have too great a regard for you not to 
 take a lively interest in all that concerns 
 
 you." 
 
 " I fl?o know it, madam, and most grate- 
 ful do I feel for your great kindness. The 
 truth is, madam, that short as the period 
 has been since my master and his company 
 have arrived here, tlie house has been 
 turned topsy-turvy by the ladies' maids and 
 valets, and the new servants, playing cards, 
 singing, and speaking evil on the Sabbath. 
 Their impudence, too, is beyond all belief 
 and bearing. Why, would you credit it, 
 madam? these two French women had the
 
 200 MEREDITH. 
 
 audacity to criticise your dress — nay, more, 
 (pardon me for the repetition,) to ridicule 
 it. They said, their ladies had told them 
 that your dress was that worn years and 
 years ago; and that you looked like a 
 heroine in an old novel, just rescued from 
 some dungeon where you had been long 
 shut up by a cruel husband." 
 
 " Oh! if that be all, my good Lockly, 
 pray don't let it vex you. My dresses/? (7 ^'e 
 grown dreadfully old-fashioned, it is true; 
 and you were quite right when you wished 
 me to have some new ones." 
 
 " But they did not confine themselves to 
 remarks on your dress alone, madam," 
 resumed Lockly, positively sobbing with 
 mingled feelings of tenderness for her gentle 
 mistress and anger for her detractors ; " they 
 said it was no wonder my master stayed 
 away so long and seemed ashamed " 
 
 " Tell me no more, my good Lockly," 
 said my mother, kindly, but lirmly; '' it is
 
 MEHEDITIL 201 
 
 not right that I shoiikl hear the conversa- 
 tion of the steward's room." 
 
 "Ah! madam, it is not right that you 
 should be forced to keep company with 
 hidies who, if only half what their servants 
 say of them be true, are no fit companions 
 for any lady of virtue and good conduct ; 
 and to think that yoii^ madam, who are a 
 an — yes," sobbed Lockly, " a real^ perfect 
 angel, if there ever was one on earth, should 
 be " 
 
 " Pray be calm, my poor Lockly," said 
 my mother, pouring out a glass of water, 
 and making her attendant, who was now 
 grown hysterical, drink a portion of it. 
 
 '' You must not, indeed you must not, 
 repeat, nor, if possible, think of, the con- 
 versation of these people." 
 
 " But to be obliged to listen to their 
 wickedness, and to see them romping in the 
 most improper way with the valets, oh ! 
 madam, it is more than lean stand." 
 k3
 
 202 MEREDITH. 
 
 " Then you must take shelter in your 
 own room, Lockly, where, with a good 
 book, you can pass your time more profit- 
 ably." 
 
 " And so I will, madam ; and I beg your 
 pardon for troubling you. I ought not — I 
 now feel that I ought not — to have pestered 
 you with all this ; but it sha'nt happen 
 again, that it sha'nt," said Lockly, wiping 
 her eyes, and loving her mistress better 
 than ever, as she noticed the paleness of her 
 face, and rightly judged that it proceeded 
 from the pain inflicted on her by her own 
 ill-judged complaint. " Yes," thought 
 Lockly to herself, " my good and gentle 
 lady knows more than I thought, and she 
 can bear it with patience ; while I, like an 
 unfeeling fool, must go to add to her afflic- 
 tion by repeating their bad conduct, which 
 she, poor lady, has no power of preventing." 
 
 The late breakfast was hardly over, when 
 the carriage of Mrs. Compton Davenport
 
 MEREDITH. 203 
 
 drove to the door. My father looked 
 pleased when that lady was announced, 
 although, under different circumstances, he 
 would have considered her visit a disagree- 
 able interruption. He asked Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt and Mrs. Audley to accom- 
 pany my mother to the reception-room, and 
 attended them himself, that he might mark 
 the manner of Mrs. Compton Davenport 
 towards them, inwardly determining that 
 unless it was as polite and attentive as 
 could be desired, her husband should not 
 have his support at the next election. He 
 had, however, no reason to be dissatisfied 
 with his fair neighbour, for no sooner had 
 she poured forth a profusion of civil speeches 
 to my mother, and expressions, of pleasure 
 at Ills return, than she requested to have 
 the honour of being presented to Lady 
 Selina Mellingcourt and Mrs. Audley, whose 
 acquaintance she professed to have long 
 desired an opportunity of forming.
 
 204 MEREDITH. 
 
 When the ceremony of introduction was 
 gone through, she addressed both ladies in a 
 strain of adulation, which, notwithstanding 
 that my mother was aware of the selfish 
 motive for it, surprised and disgusted her. 
 The whole party were warmly pressed to 
 name a day to dine at Compton Park. 
 " And now, my dear Mrs. Meredith," added 
 its mistress, " I trust that as Mr. Spencer 
 Meredith is returned, you will no longer be 
 such a recluse, and that we shall have the 
 happiness of seeing you frequently among 
 us. You will hardly believe," continued 
 she, addressing herself to my father, " that 
 Mrs. Meredith has resisted the often-tried 
 entreaties of all her neighbours to accept 
 their hospitalities during your absence, and 
 that she has not once dined with any of 
 us." 
 
 " She has deprived herself of much grati- 
 fication," said my father, bowing to Mrs* 
 Compton Davenport, " and evinced any-
 
 MEREDITH. 205 
 
 thing but good taste in avoiding such agree- 
 able society." 
 
 Seeing that the wife of the county mem- 
 ber was neither young nor good-looking, 
 and was, moreover, disposed to be very civil 
 to them, both Lady Selina Mellingcourt and 
 Mrs. Audley received her advances very 
 graciously, and when she had departed, 
 joined with their host in praising her ap- 
 parent good nature and good humour. Lord 
 Algernon Montagu could not repress a smile, 
 Avhich resembled a sneer, as he listened to 
 these unmerited commendations. 
 
 '' May I inquire your opinion of this good- 
 natured lady ?" said he to my mother. " She 
 did not," continued he, " impress me with a 
 very favourable notion of her good nature 
 when we met her at church, on Sunday last, 
 nor of her sincerity to-day.'' 
 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt looked sus- 
 piciously towards my mother, and my father, 
 somewhat angrily, observed, that lie, who
 
 206 MEREDITH. 
 
 had known Mrs. Compton Davenport for 
 many years, had never the least cause to 
 call in question either her good nature or 
 sincerity. 
 
 The party proposed riding out to see an 
 interesting ruin in the neighbourhood ; and 
 my mother, glad to be released from the 
 presence of two ladies whose society afforded 
 her no pleasure, saw them retire to prepare 
 for their ride with satisfaction. 
 
 They had been gone above an hour, 
 when, as she sate in the library, engaged in 
 the perusal of a favourite author, Lord 
 Algernon Montagu entered the room. The 
 expression of my mother's face denoted that 
 she felt more surprise than pleasure at seeing 
 him, and he, unmindful of the coldness of 
 her reception of him, congratulated himself 
 on the good fortune of being furnished with 
 an excuse, by the lameness of his horse, for 
 leaving his party, and returning to the 
 house. My mother, desirous of avoiding a
 
 MEREDITH. 207 
 
 tete-d-tete^ rang the bell, and ordered that I 
 might be sent to her; but, unfortunately, 
 I had been taken out to walk half an hour 
 previously, and, consequently, she found 
 herself condemned to submit to the gene of 
 Lord Algernon Montagu's company. 
 
 ^' How delighted I am to find you !" said 
 he, looking at her with affected sentiment. 
 " What a relief to exchange the society of 
 two such women as Lady Selina Melling- 
 court and Mrs. Audley for yours !" 
 
 " I beg that you will choose some other 
 subject," replied my mother; "for I dislike 
 compliments, and especially such as are 
 paid at the expense of other women." 
 
 " You are so superior to all women, that 
 it would be absurd to institute comparisons. 
 Yes, loveliest of women, who can see without 
 admiring, who can know without loving 
 you?" 
 
 My mother arose, with the intention of 
 leaving the room, but Lord Algernon, placing
 
 208 MEREDITH. 
 
 himself between her and the door, attempted 
 to seize her hand, and declared she should not 
 go until she had heard him. My mother's 
 pride and delicacy was deeply wounded by 
 this insolence ; her countenance betrayed 
 an indignation for which he was not pre- 
 pared; and, somewhat awed, he fell on his 
 knees, and intreated pardon for revealing a 
 passion the violence of which had hurried 
 him into its avowal. He again snatched 
 her hand, which she was struggling to re- 
 lease from his grasp, when the servant 
 threw open the door, and I bounded into the 
 room, rushing eagerly to embrace lier. Lord 
 Algernon Montagu hastily, and in much 
 embarrassment, arose from his kneeling 
 posture ; while I asked whether he had been 
 naughty, and had been demanding pardon. 
 My mother took my hand, and left the 
 room, greatly agitated by the unexpected 
 scene that had taken place, and deeply 
 mortified that a servant had been a witness
 
 MEREDITH. 209 
 
 to it. Close to the door, she encountered 
 the footman, who had caught Lord Algernon 
 on his knees before her, and her cheeks be- 
 came flushed as she marked the expression 
 of curiosity so visible in his face, and con- 
 jectured the unworthy suspicions to which 
 the conduct of Lord Algernon was so well 
 calculated to give rise. Tears filled her 
 eyes as she reflected on the position in which 
 she found herself placed; and my caresses 
 and innocent assurances that Lord Algernon 
 was very sorry for being naughty, and 
 would not be so any more, did not soothe 
 her feelings. 
 
 She remained a prisoner in her own room 
 until the party returned at a late hour; 
 when my father, having entered her dressing- 
 room, told her, with no little asperity of 
 manner, that on future occasions it would 
 be more prudent, as well as correct, for her 
 to accompany the ladies in their rides or 
 drives, than to remain at home alone, to
 
 210 MEREDITH. 
 
 encourage Lord Algernon Montagu to return 
 for the purpose of enjoying her society 
 Ute-a-Uter 
 
 " His attentions to you have already been 
 so marked as to excite observation," con- 
 tinued he; " and though no one can accuse 
 me of being addicted to jealousy, I confess 
 that I have remarked with surprise the 
 matter-of-course sort of air with which you 
 receive them. What, for example, could 
 be more extraordinary than your taking him 
 to church alone in your carriage? Had 
 this occurred in London, you would have 
 furnished a topic of scandal for all the clubs 
 and Sunday chronicles of slander." 
 
 " The fault was not mine," replied my 
 mother. " I had no idea that I should be 
 left in the awkward position of a tete-d-tete 
 with a stranger on the Sabbath morning, or 
 I should have breakfasted in my own room. 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt had offered to 
 breakfast with me, and accompany me to
 
 MEREDITH. 211 
 
 church ; and it was not until I descended to 
 the salle a manger^ where I found Lord 
 Algernon Montagu, that she sent her ex- 
 cuses for not fulfilling her promise. I knew 
 not, without risking to incur the censure of 
 rudeness, how to prevent Lord Algernon 
 Montagu from accompanying me to church, 
 although his presence was anything but 
 agreeable to me." 
 
 '' Then you should have remained at 
 home, and if you must pray, have prayed in 
 your own chamber." 
 
 " I have never, unless prevented by 
 severe illness, omitted attending divine wor- 
 ship on the Sabbath-day.' ' 
 
 " Spare me a homily on your religious 
 notions," said my father, with a sneer; 
 " learn, for it is high time you should, a 
 little of Vusage du monde^ of which you 
 stand dreadfully in need, and which will 
 enable you, without rudeness, to repel at- 
 tentions too marked to be tacitly permitted
 
 212 MEREDITH. 
 
 by any married woman who respects her- 
 self." 
 
 Thns saying, he quitted the room, leaving 
 my poor mother to weep over this new proof 
 of his injustice and unkindness.
 
 MEREDTTIT. 213 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 The next clay, returning with my gouver- 
 nante from a walk, when the party were at 
 luncheon, I escaped from her, and tapping 
 at the window of the dining-room, shewed 
 my face, rosy from exercise, and my curls 
 agitated by the wind. The animation of 
 my countenance attracted my father; he 
 arose from the table, opened the window, 
 and bade me enter. I presented the bunch 
 of wild flowers, which I had gathered in my 
 ramble, to my mother, as had always been 
 my wont, and, grown less timid, ventured to
 
 214 MEREDITH. 
 
 look around. My eye fixed on Lord Algernon 
 Montagu, and I asked him whether he was 
 still as naughty as he had been the day 
 before. He looked embarrassed, and my 
 mother blushed deeply as she endeavoured 
 to direct my attention from him, by asking 
 me some question about my walk ; but Lady 
 Selina Mellingcourt maliciously demanded of 
 what naughtiness Lord Algernon had been 
 guilty? 
 
 " I don't know what he did," answered I; 
 ^' but he knelt down and asked mamma's 
 pardon on his knees, as I always do when I 
 have been naughty; and mamma was very 
 angry, and would not stay in the room with 
 him." 
 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt looked slily in 
 my father's face ; and he glanced angrily at 
 my mother ; while Lord Algernon Montagu, 
 in much confusion, which he vainly strove 
 to conceal, stammered something about his
 
 MEREDITH. 215 
 
 having acted the naughty boy, and begged 
 pardon for it, in play with me. 
 
 " No, no, you did not play with me," 
 said I; "for when I came into the room, 
 you were on your knees before mamma." 
 
 Some of the party laughed, others looked 
 grave; but the expression of Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt's face, as she again regarded 
 my father, was most malicious. My mother 
 was so agitated, that I felt something was 
 wrong, although I could not guess what it 
 was. Thinking to soothe her, I asked her 
 to forgive Lord Algernon, and promised that 
 he would not be naughty any more. Then 
 turning very gravely to the supposed delin- 
 quent, I informed him that he never must 
 tell stories any more, for mamma did not 
 like people who told untruths. This sage 
 advice produced a laugh, in which it was 
 evident that my father's attempt to join was 
 not natural; but which Mr. Mellingcourt
 
 21G MEREDITH. 
 
 greatly enjoyed, for he renewed it more than 
 once, and beckoned me to his side, in order 
 to elicit more particulars of what he con- 
 sidered to be so good a joke. He even ven- 
 tured to make some ill-timed comments, well 
 calculated to add to my father's ill humour, 
 relative to the espionage of children, before 
 the conclusion of which, I was dismissed 
 from the room, conscious that I had said or 
 done something that had displeased, but not 
 aware of what it could be. 
 
 Afraid again to incur the reproof of her 
 husband by staying at home, my mother 
 determined to accompany the party on 
 horseback, and retired to put on her riding- 
 habit. She had only entered her dressing- 
 room, when my father followed her, and 
 angrily insisted on her explaining what I 
 meant by saying that Lord Algernon ]\Ion- 
 tagu had been on his knees to ask her 
 pardon. 
 
 " That gentleman," answered she, " for-
 
 MEREDITH, 217 
 
 getful of what was due to your hospitality, 
 and to my honour, had the bad taste and 
 folly to make me an avowal of attachment, 
 as insolent as it was unwelcome." 
 
 " Why did you not instantly inform me 
 of this?" demanded he. 
 
 " Because," replied my mother, " I treated 
 his impertinence in a way that will, I be- 
 lieve, prevent a repetition, and I thought 
 my informing you of it might lead to some- 
 thing disagreeable." 
 
 '•^ You expected, no doubt, that I should 
 either blow out his brains, or give him a 
 chance of performing the same pleasant 
 operation upon me," observed my father, 
 with a sneer. " All ladies, and particularly 
 romantic ones, indulge in such fancies; 
 mais nous avons changes tout cela. If a 
 husband were to challenge every individual 
 that makes a declaration of love to his wife, 
 all those who have good-looking ones would 
 have nothing else to do. A sensible man 
 
 VOL. I, L
 
 218 MEREDITH. 
 
 leaves the care of his honour to his wife ; 
 and if she be not silly or stupid, she will 
 know how to prevent avowals that prove 
 little for her tact or address. Montagu's 
 declaration to you convinces me that you 
 are miserably deficient in dignity and know- 
 ledge of the world ; and that his discovery 
 of these facts encouraged the step he has 
 taken. It is fortunate, indeed, that I did 
 not take you to London, for your gaucherie 
 and ignorance of what is due to yourself and 
 me, would have exposed us both to general 
 animadversion and ridicule. What! tears 
 again ? Why, there is no speaking to you 
 without your weeping. You are a perfect 
 Niobe ; and above all things, I dislike women 
 who are ready to shed tears on every occa- 
 sion. Eed eyes and noses spoil any face; 
 and unless you wish to become as hideous 
 as the parson's wife, you should guard 
 against them." 
 
 My poor mother passed some time before
 
 MEREDITH. 219 
 
 she could check her tears, notwithstanding 
 the counsel of her husband, and the risk of 
 red eyes and nose. 
 
 The painfulness of her position increased 
 daily, and the consciousness that she had 
 entirely lost the affection of him to whom 
 her heart would still fain cling, became yet 
 more deeply impressed on her mind. " So 
 fondly, too, as he once loved me !'' murmured 
 she. " What have I done to destroy a passion 
 so warm?" Many an unhappy woman has 
 asked herself the same question, when doomed 
 to experience indifference or unkindness 
 from him who for a brief period had made 
 her the idol of his worship ; and many more 
 will continue to suffer in bitterness of heart, 
 while they bestow their affections on men of 
 libertine pursuits and selfish dispositions, 
 who, ever incapable of pure or lasting at- 
 tachments, only find interest in the chase of 
 beauty, and satiety in the possession. 
 
 Although my mother had tried every 
 l2
 
 220 MEREDITH. 
 
 application to remove the trace of tears, her 
 eyes still bore evidence to their recent pre- 
 sence : and far from having the delicacy to 
 avoid noticing, or at least of betraying their 
 notice of this circumstance, Lady Selina 
 Mellingcoiirt and Mrs. xiudley exchanged 
 significant glances of intelligence when they 
 had remarked the alteration in the face of 
 her whose youth and beauty so much ex- 
 cited their envy and dislike. Never had 
 my mother appeared to such disadvantage 
 as on that occasion. Her amazone, the 
 fashion of five years gone by, was as unlike 
 those of the two London ladies as possible ; 
 and her hat, totally dissimilar from theirs, 
 exceedingly disfigured the fair face it shaded. 
 There is something inexplicable in the power 
 of fashion; and the homage ofiered to it is 
 not confined solely to the gentler sex. 
 Fickle as Fortune herself is acknowledged 
 to be, Fashion, equally so, is nearly as blind, 
 and so despotic as to compel the adoption
 
 MEREDITH. 221 
 
 of her arbitrary laws without reference to 
 their fitness, to her slaves, commanding the 
 tall and short, the fat and thin, to follow 
 the same mode, however unsuitable it may 
 be to their appearance ; nay, so universally 
 are the decrees of this despot submitted to, 
 that the few who dare assert their indepen- 
 dence of her dictates are looked upon as 
 being absurd and eccentric; and however 
 fair and beautiful they may happen to be, 
 attract ridicule instead of admiration. 
 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt and Mrs. And- 
 ley could not suppress the laughter which 
 my mother's outre appearance called forth, 
 although they made successful efforts to 
 explain it by attributing it to some other 
 source ; my father's vanity was wounded at 
 seeing his wife an object of ridicule, but in- 
 stead of letting his displeasure fall on those 
 who displayed such ill breeding, he reserved 
 it all for her, and vented it in angry looks 
 and whispered reproaches. The gentlemen
 
 222 MEREDITH. 
 
 of the equestrian party were well disposed 
 to overlook the obsoleteness of the toilette 
 of my mother in the admiration excited by 
 the lovely face and graceful figure which no 
 dress could conceal nor unbecoming mode 
 disfigure. Lord Algernon Montagu in par- 
 ticular fixed his eyes on her with such an 
 expression of intense admiration as to em- 
 barrass and distress her when she became 
 sensible that she entirely engrossed his 
 attention. The worst horse in the stables of 
 her husband was assigned to her; and, 
 always a timid rider, she became still more 
 alarmed in the course of a few minutes, 
 when she discovered that her steed was not 
 only addicted to stumbling, but was prone 
 to start from one side of the road to the 
 other on the least instigation. Each of the 
 men, with the exception only of him who 
 ought to have been the first, offered to ex- 
 change horses with my mother, while he 
 expressed aloud, and in no courteous phrase,
 
 MEREDITH. 223 
 
 his surprise at her alarm, which he insisted 
 there was nothing to justify, as her horse was 
 rather disposed to be sluggish than frisky. 
 
 A woman, however nervous, becomes less 
 sensitive to fear when she observes that her 
 safety is cared for, and, above all, by him 
 she loves. His anxiety for her gives her 
 courage by proving his tenderness; and 
 with all the fond abandon peculiar to one 
 beloved, she reposes her confidence in that 
 tender watchfulness. But when the painful 
 consciousness of neglect and unkindness is 
 forced upon her, mental chagrin operates 
 to increase personal apprehension ; and she 
 who finds herself uncared for by him on 
 whom she counted, becomes a moral as 
 well as a physical coward. 
 
 Such was the case with my mother. 
 Every start or stumble of the animal she 
 rode terrified her ; and in proportion to her 
 pusillanimity became the intrepidity of Lady 
 Selina Mellingcourt and Mrs. Audley, and
 
 224 MEREDITH. 
 
 consequently the ill liumour of my father, 
 who repeatedly and sarcastically demanded 
 why she did not take example from those 
 ladies, and not render herself ridiculous by 
 her absurd fear. Lord Algernon Montagu 
 kept close to her horse, requested to lead it, 
 or to change her saddle to his own, and by 
 gentleness and attention offered a striking 
 contrast to the rudeness of her husband; 
 but my mother, observing the glances of 
 intelligence exchanged between the ladies, 
 and the occasional sneer of my father, re- 
 ceived Lord Algernon's assiduities so coldly 
 as to discourage their continuance, although 
 he still rode by her side. How forcibly and 
 painfully did this ride remind her of those 
 tdkentete'd-tete with her husband during the 
 brief days of happiness that followed their 
 union; when, wholly engrossed by her, he 
 was more easily alarmed for her safety than 
 she, was. The very road they were now 
 traversing had Ibrmerly been a favourite 
 ride. Every turn of it recalled past ex-
 
 MEREDITH. 225 
 
 pressioiis of tenderness — a tenderness then 
 believed to be indestructible ; but of which 
 not a trace now remained, except in her 
 memory, where it lived as if to render her 
 sense of his present coldness and unkind- 
 ness still more poignant. 
 
 Desirous to display her courage and horse- 
 manship, Lady Selina Mellingcourt, malgrc 
 the counsel of my father, pushed her high- 
 spirited steed into a gallop, when he, excited 
 into ardour by the other horses, ran away, 
 and was quickly out of sight. The rest of 
 the party reined up their horses, lest a pur- 
 suit should only urge the speed of Lady Se- 
 lina' s ; but my father boldly leaped his over 
 a very high fence, and crossing a field [is 
 rapidly as possible, endeavoured to encoun- 
 ter Lady Selina, and arrest the flight of her 
 horse. 
 
 " What a tremendous jump !" said Mr. 
 Mellingcourt. " By eTove ! I would not have 
 taken it for a cool thousand !" 
 
 Le3
 
 226 MEEEDITH. 
 
 ^^ You certainly would not, or, at least, 
 did not, to save your wife !" observed Lord 
 Henry Buttevant. 
 
 "Do not be alarmed, I entreat you!" 
 said Lord Algernon Montagu, remarking the 
 exceeding paleness of my mother's face, as 
 she anxiously followed with her eyes the fast 
 receding figure of her husband, who, urging 
 his horse to his utmost speed, in the next 
 moment disappeared in the direction which 
 that of Lady Selina Mellingcourt had taken. 
 A fearful presentiment of evil oppressed her, 
 and the agitation it occasioned, far from 
 being attributed to the true cause — anxiety 
 for the safety of her husband, and alarm for 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt, — was imagined by 
 the heartless people who surrounded her to 
 proceed solely from feelings of jealousy, 
 excited by the evident devouement of my 
 father to that lady. 
 
 Lord Henry Buttevant, who had ridden 
 to a hill at a little distance, which com-
 
 MEREDITH. 227 
 
 nianded a view of the route taken by Lady 
 Selina, was now seen galloping off in that 
 direction. Lord Algernon Montagu pro- 
 posed that Mr. Mellingcourt and Mr. Audley 
 should proceed after him, to render any as- 
 sistance that might be required, while he 
 remained with the two ladies ; but my mo- 
 ther insisted on accompanying them, and 
 though so agitated as to be hardly able to 
 retain her seat, she advanced rapidly to- 
 wards the desired point, and soon saw a 
 group on the road, among which she quickly 
 discerned my father in safety. The re- 
 vulsion in her feelings occasioned a burst of 
 tears, which not all her efforts could subdue, 
 and their traces were visible on her pale 
 cheeks, as she approached the group, con- 
 sisting of Lady Selina Mellingcourt, Lord 
 Henry Buttevant, and my father. Lady 
 Selina had not yet recovered from the ef- 
 fect of her recent alarm; and my father, 
 reckless of what the observers might be dis-
 
 228 MEREDITH. 
 
 posed to tliiiik of liis conduct, was kvisliiiig 
 oil her every attention that tenderness couki 
 dictate. He had neither eyes nor ears for 
 his wife, who, shocked by this open disphiy 
 of his affection for her rival, felt a sickness 
 at heart that occasioned a sudden faintness. 
 Lord Algernon Montagu observed it in 
 time to prevent her falling from her horse, 
 and while he supported her in his arms, 
 sent off Mr. Audley to a neighbouring cot- 
 tage in search of a glass of water for her. 
 
 " In the name of wonder, what is the 
 matter?" demanded my ftxther, as his wife 
 returned to consciousness. 
 
 " Mrs. Meredith was so alarmed for your 
 safety," replied Lord Algernon Montagu, 
 " that she was nearly fidling from her 
 horse." 
 
 " She alarmed herself very needlessly," 
 was the answer. *' But some women think 
 it necessary never to miss an opportunity of 
 making a scene."
 
 MEMDITH. 229 
 
 " Talking of scenes," observed Mr. Mel- 
 lingcourt, " Lady Selina is famous fov 
 them. Why, she has destroyed all the plea- 
 sure of our ride by her escapade. Not 
 that / was the least alarmed, for I kne^v 
 well enough there was nothing likely to 
 happen to her. Nevertheless, it is a bore 
 to see other people frightened." 
 
 " If Lady Selina had not the most per- 
 fect seat imaginable, and the finest hand in 
 the world, she would inevitably have been 
 thrown," said her admirer; " for, although 
 I pushed my horse to his utmost speed, I 
 only just reached the turn of the road in 
 time to stop hers; and had he proceeded 
 further, the velocity of his pace must have 
 exhausted her !" 
 
 " Mr. Mellingcourt has so much presence 
 of mind when others (and particularly his 
 wife) are in danger, that he knows no fear!" 
 remarked Lady Selina, with a sneer. 
 
 '' It were to be wished that others were
 
 230 MEREDITH. 
 
 equally free from nervousness," observed my 
 father, looking angrily towards my mother ; 
 ** for nothing is, in my opinion, so tiresome 
 as the exhibition of groundless alarm.''
 
 MEREDITH. 231 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The party returned slowly from thek ride, 
 and found a new guest added to their circle 
 in the person of Lord Thomas Mellicent, the 
 son of an Irish marquis. The presence of 
 this personage appeared to afford anything 
 but satisfaction to the owner of the mansion, 
 whose countenance assumed an expression 
 of gloom, the moment he beheld him. But 
 not such was the effect produced on Lady 
 Selina Mellingcourt, whose eyes sparkled 
 with pleasure when she saw him. 
 
 " You are doubtlessly surprised at my
 
 232 MEREDITH. 
 
 visit," said Lord Thomas, addressing my 
 father; " but happening *to hear that you 
 were here, and passing within twenty miles, 
 I determined to cross over, and accept your 
 old invitation, in case I ever passed within 
 reach of your house. Ainsi me voilci.^'' 
 
 His host did not appear to remember 
 ever having given this asserted invitation, 
 nor did he receive Lord Thomas with any 
 degree of cordiality; but that gentleman 
 was not disposed to notice the coldness of 
 his reception. Determined to establish 
 himself as a guest, — for a few hours, at all 
 events, and for a few days, or Aveeks, if he 
 could accomplish the point of obtaining an 
 invitation for a protracted stay, — he was 
 not scrupulous as to the measure of polite- 
 ness accorded to him. Putting on, there- 
 fore, a certain free-and-easy air peculiar to 
 liim, he made liimself perfectly at home for 
 the time beini>\ At dinner, lie mana^'cd to 
 secure a place next Lady Sclina Melling-
 
 MEREDITH. 233 
 
 court; and altliougli their host was placed 
 at the other side of that Lady, Lord Thomas 
 contrived to occupy so much of her atten- 
 tion, that she could hardly find time to an- 
 swer the petits soins of him, to whom, 
 during the previous days, all her amiability 
 had been directed. The gallantries of Lord 
 Thomas were as undisguised as they were 
 particular, and implied that he felt pretty 
 sure of their being acceptable to her to 
 whom they were paid. And, truth to say, 
 although Lady Selina Mellingcourt would 
 have wished that they were less engrossing 
 on the present occasion, — for she dreaded ex- 
 citing the jealousy of her host, — she never- 
 theless was not sorry to find Lord Thomas 
 Mellicent as gallant and devoted as when, a 
 few months before, his attention had aroused 
 the amour j^Topre, if not the tenderness, of 
 her other admirer. 
 
 Lord Thomas seemed to be on very 
 friendly terms with Mr. Mellingcourt, who,
 
 234 MEREDITH. 
 
 evidently gratified by witnessing the un- 
 easiness which his presence occasioned to 
 their host, was more than usually commu- 
 nicative towards him. 
 
 " I had a sort of presentiment that we 
 should soon meet you, Mellicent," said he; 
 " for when I saw a note directed to you the 
 other day from Lady Selina, I guessed you 
 would come." 
 
 Lady Selina blushed, and looked greatly 
 embarrassed; while my father darted a 
 glance of anger at her, that denoted no less 
 surprise than indignation. 
 
 '' What can you be thinking of, Mr. Mel- 
 lingcourt," said Lady Selina, recovering a 
 little from her embarrassment ; " I certainly 
 did not write to Lord Thomas Mellicent." 
 
 " What your motive for denying this fact 
 can be I have yet to learn," replied Mr. 
 Mellingcourt ; " but that you did write 
 admits not of a doubt; for perceiving a 
 cover of yours addressed to your footman
 
 MEREDITH. 235 
 
 in London, and having a little commission 
 to give him, I opened the envelope to save 
 postage, and saw a letter in your writing 
 directed to Lord Thomas." 
 
 My father looked furious, Lady Selina 
 deeply mortified, and Lord Thomas, tri- 
 umphant, at this proof of the lady's prefer- 
 ence, while Mr. Mellingcourt smiled mali- 
 ciously as he remarked the evident discom- 
 fiture of his wife and his host. It was not 
 unusual with this mean and unworthy man 
 to avenge himself on his wife for any sar- 
 casm or imagined slight on her part by 
 discovering her secrets, and revealing them 
 to the person she most wished should remain 
 in ignorance of them ; thus leaving the lover 
 to punish the infidelities the husband had 
 neither sufiicient sense of morality nor ho- 
 nour to prevent or to avenge. 
 
 The whole party laboured under a visible 
 constraint during the remainder of the 
 evening. Lady Selina, fearful of arousing
 
 236 MEREDITH. 
 
 to a still greater degree the but too evident 
 displeasure of lier host, refrained from giving 
 the encouragement to the attentions of Lord 
 Thomas Mellicent which it was plain he ex- 
 pected. Nevertheless, he took a seat by 
 her, and so precluded her from having any 
 explanation with her deeply-mortified and 
 offended admirer, who, with frowning brows 
 and compressed lips, sat watching her move- 
 ments, while her contemptible husband re- 
 mained in a corner, affecting to look over 
 some prints, but really occupied in observ- 
 ing the annoyance of his wife and her ad- 
 mirers. 
 
 Cards were, as usual, introduced, but, 
 contrary to the general custom, every one 
 declined playing, under the plea of fatigue 
 from their ride, and soon after twelve o'clock 
 the party broke up and retired for the 
 night. 
 
 In two hours afterwards, loud voices in 
 the corridor awoke those who had sunk into
 
 MEREDITH. 237 
 
 repose, and my mother, among the rest; 
 having hastily enveloped herself in her rohe 
 de chambre and a shawl, she rnshed to- 
 wards the spot whence the sounds proceeded. 
 There she found all the guests of the house 
 assembled en deshabille, while her husband, 
 Lord Thomas Mellicent, and Mr. Melling- 
 court, were engaged in a violent altercation, 
 which Lady Selina Mellingcourt was vainly 
 endeavouring to subdue by uttering decla- 
 rations of her perfect innocence in the whole 
 affair. 
 
 " Lmocent or not innocent," said her 
 husband, " I require all present to testify 
 that both these gentlemen," pointing to his 
 host and to Lord Thomas Mellicent, " have 
 been detected in Lady Selina's chamber; 
 and ere long I shall have to summon you 
 as witnesses to this fact before a court of 
 justice." 
 
 No sooner did Lady Selina's soi-discmt 
 friend, Mrs, Audley, hear this sentence,
 
 238 MEREDITH. 
 
 than she rapidly retreated, saying, '' del, 
 quelle idee ! To be brought before a court 
 of justice ; cross-examined by an odious man 
 with a large wig! Really, Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt ought to have been more 
 guarded in her conduct ! Fi done ! To 
 allow herself to be exposed in such a man- 
 ner! It is too bad." ^ 
 My mother retreated to her chamber, 
 overpowered by the contending emotions of 
 grief, shame, and terror, that filled her 
 mind. Little prone as she was to judge 
 harshly, however appearances might justify 
 harsh judgment, the fact of two men meet- 
 ing in the night in the chamber of Lady 
 Selina, left no doubt that the conduct of 
 that lady had been highly culpable; and 
 that her own husband should have brought 
 such a woman beneath the same roof with 
 her was an outrage that shocked as much 
 as it humiliated her. It Avas now, alas ! but 
 too evident to her that not only had she
 
 MEREDITH. 239 
 
 lost his affection, but that he no longer en- 
 tertained the least respect for her ; or other- 
 wise he never would have made her the 
 associate of such a woman as Lady Selina 
 Mellingcourt was now proved to be. 
 
 While she wept in bitterness of spirit, 
 Lockly entered the room, exclaiming, " Ah ! 
 madam, all that I have heard during the 
 last few days is but too true. Oh ! what a 
 wicked, wicked woman! I could hardly 
 believe what her maid and the valets more 
 than insinuated with regard to her conduct ; 
 but now there is no room to doubt. Mr. 
 Mellingcourt has ordered his carriage to be 
 got ready, and will not hear of her going 
 with him, although, as her maid says, Lady 
 Selina has been down on her knees to ask 
 him. Ah! if he had taken more care to 
 prevent his wife from doing wrong he need 
 not now shew this severity! But it is 
 always so; those who make no effort to pro- 
 tect the honour of their wives are the most
 
 240 MEREDITH. 
 
 resentful when an exposure of tlieir guilt 
 occurs." 
 
 A knock at her dressing-room door, 
 startled my mother, and Lockly having 
 opened it, received a message from Mrs. 
 Audlej, requesting to see her mistress. 
 
 Soon afterwards Mrs. Audley made her 
 appearance, and short as the time had been 
 since she had been seen en bonnet de unit 
 and robe de chanibre, she was now in a 
 travelling dress, her shawl and bonnet 
 already on. 
 
 " I could not depart, my dear Mrs. Mere- 
 dith," said she, ^' without wishing you good 
 bye, and thanking you for your kind hospi- 
 tality." Observing the traces of tears and 
 the agitation of her hostess, she resumed, " I 
 cannot wonder that you feel this sad business 
 severely. I, too, am profoundly touched, 
 for I really liked this unhappy w^oman; 
 and never imagined she was capable of the 
 conduct that is now but too clearly proved.
 
 MEREDITH. 241 
 
 I fear, however, that she is a very hard- 
 ened person; for, would you believe it, 
 she has had the impudence to ask me to let 
 her go to London with me, as her husband 
 has positively refused to allow her to travel 
 with him, or to grant her the use of his 
 carriage. After such an expose as has just 
 taken place, I could not on any account 
 permit her to come with me; nay, I have 
 thought it best to end all acquaintance with 
 her at once, and so have declined any inter- 
 course, directly or indirectly, with her for 
 the future. Eeally one must not allow 
 oneself to be mixed up in such disgraceful 
 aifairs ; and, if I might take the liberty of 
 offering you my advice, I would suggest the 
 propriety of your sending her word that you 
 require her to leave your house with as 
 little delay as possible ; for it will be very 
 injurious to your reputation to have it 
 known that after sucli a detection Lady 
 VOL, T. M
 
 242 MEREDITH. 
 
 Selina Mellingcourt and you remained under 
 the same roof an hour." 
 
 While Mrs. Audley was still speaking, 
 the sound of carriage wheels driving up to 
 the door of the mansion was heard, and a 
 servant announced that Mr. Audley was 
 ready to set out, and only waited for her. 
 
 -"Adieu! my dear Mrs. Meredith," said 
 she; "I hope we shall meet again some- 
 where or other. Do not let this sad affair 
 grieve you too much. Eemember the old 
 song, * On en revient toujour s a ses pre- 
 oniers amours ;\i\di as Mr. Spencer Meredith 
 was, I have heard, once extremely in love 
 with you, he may yet return to his duty. 
 Adieu! — adieu!" and seizing the cold and 
 trembling hand of her hostess, she shook it, 
 and quitted the room, leaving the latter 
 confounded at her nonchalance and heart- 
 lessness.
 
 MEREDITH. 243 
 
 CHAPTER XYIL 
 
 My mother remained for some time in deep 
 thought. What was she, what ought she, 
 to do ? To order Lady Selina Mellingcourt 
 to depart immediately, as Mrs. Audley ad- 
 vised, was a measure that she shrunk from ; 
 for though her feelings as a wife had been 
 outraged, those of a woman, and a tender, 
 pitying one, forbade this stern, though, pro- 
 bably, just proceeding. Nevertheless, for 
 herself to leave the house, and thus forsake 
 her erring husband, when her presence 
 might be of use to him, would be acting 
 M 2
 
 244 MEREDITH. 
 
 contrary to her sense of duty. And yet to 
 see Lady Selina Mellingcom% after what had 
 occurred, would be most painful to her. 
 
 Locldy, who had quitted . the chamber 
 when Mrs. Audley entered it, now returned, 
 and announced that Mr. Mellingcourt had 
 departed. 
 
 " Would you credit it, madam," added 
 she, " that wicked maid of Lady Selina's 
 refused to dress her mistress, or to stay with 
 her, now that her guilt has been made 
 known ; although there can be no doubt 
 she was well acquainted with it for a long 
 time — ay, and profited by it, too, for many 
 and extravagant were the presents she re- 
 ceived from Lady Selina, on whose conduct 
 she, nevertheless, often passed many an in- 
 delicate joke in the steward's room. Well, 
 bad as she is, I must say I pity her; a 
 lady highly born and bred, to be insulted 
 by her own servant, not because she has 
 acted ill, for that she knew before, but
 
 MEREDITH. 245 
 
 merely Ijccause tlie iiiiliappy lady is ex- 
 posed." 
 
 ''And has Lady Selina no one to assist 
 her?." asked my mother, her woman's heart 
 prompting pity even for her nn worthy rival. 
 " Go to her, my good Locldy, and see that 
 • her comfort be attended to, until, as must 
 soon be the case, she thinks fit to leave tliis 
 house." 
 
 "Certainly, madam; as you desire it, I 
 will go to Lady Selina Mellingcourt, al- 
 though, if the truth must be told, I would 
 rather " 
 
 " Pray make no objections, my good 
 Lockly, but oblige me by going at once." 
 
 Hardly had her femme de chamhix de- 
 parted, when the report of pistol-shots, one 
 following quickly on the other, struck on 
 my mother's terrified ear. She was seized 
 with a violent fit of trembling, and a fearful 
 presentiment of evil took possession of her 
 mind. She attempted to move, with the 
 intention of leaving the room, but she found
 
 246 MEREDITH. 
 
 herself incapable of rising, until having 
 poured out a little cold water, and swallowed 
 it, she regained sufficient force to walk into 
 the corridor. The iii'st object that struck 
 her was Lord Thomas Mellicent, hurrying 
 along with rapid strides, and his countenance 
 greatly agitated. He started when he saw 
 my mother, and endeavoured to avoid her ; 
 but she in her terror seized his coat, and 
 urged him to explain the cause of his ap- 
 parent agitation, and whence had proceeded 
 the shots she had heard. 
 
 " I must go this instant!" said Lord 
 Thomas, gently disengaging himself from 
 my mother's grasp. " My carriage waits. 
 I have not a moment to lose." 
 
 Ere my mother could utter another word. 
 Lady Selina Mellingcourt rushed from her 
 chamber, and approaching Lord Thomas, 
 said, " I guess all that has occurred. You 
 are about to lly. For pity sake, take me 
 with you!" 
 
 "It is impossible — quite impossible!" re-
 
 MEREDITH. 247 
 
 plied Lord Thomas Melliceiit. ^' Remember 
 the consequences, the inevitable conse- 
 quences, of such a step." 
 
 " You are thinking of their effect on you^ 
 not on 7ne," said Lady Selina, reproachfully ; 
 " and had you the least portion of the love 
 you have so often and so lately avowed for 
 me — nay, had you a spark of compassion in 
 your breast, you would not — you could not — 
 abandon me, under present circumstances." 
 
 " You shall hear from me, indeed you 
 shall, the moment I reach a place of safety," 
 answered Lord Thomas Mellicent, and rush- 
 ing from the presence of both ladies, he 
 rapidly descended the stairs, leaving Lady 
 Selina uttering angry reproaches, while my 
 mother, trembling with emotion, stood lean- 
 ing for support against a marble column. 
 After a moment's pause, she addressed Lady 
 Selina — " If you wish to quit this house," 
 said she, " my carriage is at your service ; 
 and if you require money, my purse is at 
 your command."
 
 248 MEllEDITH. 
 
 " But where, where am I to go?" de- 
 manded Lady Selina, bursting into aparoxysm 
 of tears. " I have no home, no friend ! My 
 husband will not receive me : he has sworn 
 that he will not, and I know his cold nature 
 and unfeeling heart too well to doubt that 
 he will adhere to his resolution. He who 
 has just left us refused to let me be the 
 partner of his flight, and deserts me at a 
 crisis when I most stand in need of that 
 affection he led me to believe he possessed 
 for me." 
 
 "Go to your brother, — he will not cast 
 you from him. Whatever may have been 
 your errors, the tie of blood will plead for 
 you in his heart. Go to him, and endeavour 
 by your conduct for the future to atone for 
 the past." 
 
 At this instant there was a noise in the 
 hall, steps were heard ascending the stairs, 
 voices urged the necessity of sending for a 
 surgeon immediately, and a group ap- 
 proached, bearing my father, to all appear-
 
 MEREDITH. 249 
 
 ance dead, with the breast of his shirt and 
 his waistcoat stained by the ensanguined 
 stream that was flowing from a wound in 
 his chest. Lady Selina Mellingcourt rushed 
 from the appalling sight, which had no 
 sooner met his poor wife's eyes than she 
 sunk, fainting, to the ground. 
 
 Scarcely need I mention that Lord Thomas 
 Mellicent and my father had fought a duel, 
 in which the latter was severely wounded. 
 
 When my mother was restored to a state 
 of consciousness, she hurried to the chamber 
 of her husband, in spite of the entreaties of 
 those around her, and left not his side until 
 the arrival of the surgeon. With her own 
 hands she applied linen to stanch the 
 wound, and bathed his burning brow with 
 eau cVHongrie. All her presence of mind 
 and activity were restored to her in this 
 trying moment ; and when, in an hour after, 
 she saw her husband open his languid eyes, 
 and fix them on her with an expression of 
 M 3
 
 250 MEREDITH. 
 
 kindness, to wliicli she had long been a 
 stranger, she pressed her lips on his brow, 
 and a faint smile indicated that he was 
 sensible of, and pleased at, this mark of 
 affection. 
 
 The surgeon insisted on her leaving the 
 room while he probed the wound, and en- 
 deavoured to extract the ball; but she re- 
 mained at the door, breathless with terror, 
 and her heart overflowing with pity, as she 
 heard the groans occasionally wrung from 
 her husband, by the torture he was under- 
 going. He fainted under the operation, and 
 she believing, from the exclamation of his 
 valet, that he was dead, rushed into the 
 chamber, and would have thrown herself on 
 the bed; but the surgeon having assured 
 her that the insensibility of my father was 
 but temporary, and that on resuming con- 
 sciousness the sight of her alarm would be 
 injurious to him, she mastered her feelings. 
 
 When he again opened his eyes, he found
 
 MEREDITH. 251 
 
 her bending over his pillow with an expression 
 of such pity and aiFection on her countenance, 
 that he was evidently gratified and touched 
 by it. It was found impossible to extract 
 the ball, which was lodged in the chest, but 
 the surgeon declared it had certainly not 
 touched any vital part, and that if fever 
 could be kept off, he hoped for the recovery 
 of his patient. An express was sent to 
 London to bring down one of the most emi- 
 nent of the faculty there, and in the mean- 
 while my mother installed herself as nurse 
 in the sick room, leaving it neither day nor 
 night. But in all her alarm and agitation, 
 she was not neglectful of Lady Selina Mel- 
 lingcourt; for while my father slept, she 
 ordered a carriage to be prepared for her, 
 sent an upper housemaid and footman to 
 attend her on the road, and inclosed bank- 
 notes to defray the expenses of the journey, 
 adding a message, by Lockly, that sanguine
 
 252 MEREDITH. 
 
 hopes were entertained by the surgeon of 
 the recovery of Mr. Spencer Meredith. 
 
 Unfeeling as Lady Selina had hitherto 
 proved herself to be, the forbearance and 
 womanly pity which marked my mother's 
 conduct towards her at this trying period, 
 made a transitory impression on her mind, 
 though it failed to open her eyes to the 
 enormity of her past conduct. She did not 
 adopt the advice given to her to place 
 herself under the protection of her bro- 
 ther. Subsequently, however, her worthless 
 husband, having discovered from the lawyer 
 he consulted that his own culpable negli- 
 gence in permitting her to receive the 
 marked attention of my father and others, 
 precluded him from legal redress, and that 
 any attempt to obtain it would only draw 
 odium on himself, he desisted from instituting 
 proceedings, and was compelled to pay her a 
 suitable allowance.
 
 MEREDITH. 253 
 
 The skill of his surgeons, and the un- 
 ceasing care and attention of my mother, 
 were repaid, after some weeks, by the slow 
 but gradual convalescence of my father; 
 but Sir Antony Roper prepared both the 
 patient and my mother not to expect that 
 he would ever again be restored to the same 
 robust health he had enjoyed previously to 
 his wound. This admirable surgeon had 
 discovered that the lungs of his patient had 
 been injured by the bullet, which was lodged 
 near them. My father was conscious of his 
 own precarious state, and became from the " 
 date of this knowledge in every respect an 
 altered man. Sensible of the value of the 
 treasure he possessed in his wife, deeply did 
 he deplore the folly and heartlessness of his 
 past conduct towards her; and anxiously 
 did he seek to expiate it, by the exercise of 
 a patience in the endurance of pain, and a 
 resignation to the probable result of his 
 wound, little to be expected from his former
 
 254 MEREDITH. 
 
 habits. He could hardly bear my mother 
 to quit his sight; and lavished on her a 
 thousand proofs of the tenderness that for 
 years he had denied her. The love his 
 indifference, and even unkindness, had failed 
 to impair in her breast, was permitted, now 
 that every exhibition of it afforded him the 
 utmost gratification, to betray itself with all 
 the warmth and devotion imaginable ; and 
 not even during the first halcyon days of 
 happiness that followed their union, had his 
 affection for her been so fervent as now, 
 when, like a ministering angel, she bent over 
 his pillow, watching every look, and antici- 
 pating every want. Who that could have 
 beheld them in the seclusion of the sick 
 chamber, their looks beaming with tender- 
 ness, and their words expressive of the 
 deepest attachment, could have believed 
 that, a few days before, the fond husband 
 experienced only indifference for his wife, 
 and lavished his affection on another. Nor
 
 MEREDITH. 255 
 
 was it his danger alone that produced this 
 revulsion in his feelings. No, it was the 
 devotion, the unchanged love, of my mother, 
 which in the hour of trial, when the com- 
 panions of his pleasures and the partner of 
 his guilt left him, clung to him, while, with 
 all her woman's fondness, she breathed not 
 a word that could remind him of the errors 
 which he was now so cruelly expiating. He 
 seemed to awake from a dream, and when 
 looking on the beautiful face that bent over 
 him with such an expression of unutterable 
 love and pity, he wondered how he ever 
 could have been insensible to its charms, 
 and was ready to execrate his own blindness 
 and folly for having preferred the worthless 
 object that had alienated him from his ad- 
 mirable wife. I, too, became dear to him; 
 and, seeing the tenderness he evinced to- 
 wards my mother, soon grew familiar and 
 affectionate with him. She was even more 
 gratified with his caresses to me than with
 
 256 MEREDITH. 
 
 tlie expressions of gnititucle and unalterable 
 love he was continually pouring out to 
 her. 
 
 For a length of time, my father lingered in 
 a state of great weakness, unable to bear the 
 movement of a carriage, in order to try the 
 efficacy of a change of air, recommended 
 by his physician. Hope would sometimes 
 whisper that years were yet in store for 
 him, and he Avould believe the charmer; 
 but, alas ! the liat had gone forth, and in 
 four years after the fatal duel with Lord 
 Thomas Mellicent, he breathed his last, in 
 the arms of his wife. 
 
 Sincere and heartfelt had been his repent- 
 ance during the time that had been alloAved 
 him to prepare for death ; and humbly and 
 thankfully had he accepted the promises 
 held out by the religion that cheered him to 
 the last by the hopes it inspired. He died 
 uttering blessings on his heart-broken wife, 
 and urging her to live for my sake. Thus,
 
 MEREDITH. 257 
 
 if his life had Leen marked by errors, his 
 death-bed offered an example edifying to 
 all who witnessed his resignation and de- 
 votion during the last years.
 
 258 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 For a long time the physicians entertained 
 but little hope of my mother's ever recover- 
 ing from the injury her health had sustained 
 by her grief for my father. Her consti- 
 tution, never a strong one, was so much 
 weakened by the fatigue and anxiety occa- 
 sioned by his long illness, that it was un- 
 able to bear up against the grief that op- 
 pressed her; and during the remainder of 
 her life she continued to be a valetudinarian, 
 generally confined to her sofa, and obliged 
 to be lifted in and out of the carriage to
 
 MEREDITH. 259 
 
 take the air. She could not bear me from 
 her sight, consequently I was not permitted 
 to be sent to a public school. A preceptor 
 was found for me, and under his tuition 
 I made a progress that fully satisfied the 
 expectations of my doting mother. My 
 father, whose fortune was not entailed, be- 
 queathed the whole of it to his widow for her 
 life, with reversion to me at her death. 
 
 This great wealth had perhaps some in- 
 fluence, although her singular personal 
 beauty alone might have accomplished it, 
 in attracting suitors to my mother, many 
 of whom, and Lord Algernon Montagu 
 among the number, had, after her year of 
 mourning had expired, addressed proposals 
 of marriage to her. Her acquaintance with 
 these interested admirers had been much too 
 slight to warrant the step they had taken ; 
 but as she lived in a state of total seclusion, 
 refusing to receive visitors, they had re- 
 course to this measure, of the success of
 
 260 MEREDITH. 
 
 wliicli, 110 one wlio knew lier could have en- 
 tertained a hope. 
 
 At fifteen years old, my preceptor was 
 changed for one calculated to forward niy 
 studies, and, encouraged by my mother's 
 commendations, I applied myself diligently 
 to work with him. Unbroken in upon by 
 the fellowship of other youths, and uncon- 
 taminated by their example, my mind re- 
 mained as pure as that of a girl, at an age 
 when, by evil communication, most boys 
 have lost their innocence. Those were 
 happy days! And now that many years 
 have since elapsed, I look back to them as 
 the green oasis in the desert of a troubled 
 life, and grieve that I valued them not suf- 
 ficiently. The first interruption to my 
 happiness was occasioned by the illness of 
 my mother. So gradual had been its slow 
 and insidious progress, that the growing 
 paleness of her cheek, and increasing lan- 
 guor of her frame, alarmed me not, until
 
 MEREDITH. 261 
 
 I one day remarked the grave aspect of lier 
 physician as he left her chamber, and saw 
 the portentous shake of the head he gave 
 "when questioned by my preceptor rehative 
 to his patient. I hurried to her dressing- 
 room, and clasping her in my arms, could 
 not repress the tears that rushed to my 
 eyes, as the apprehension of her danger first 
 made my heart thrill with agony. She also 
 wept, as she but too well divined the cause 
 of my tears; and the fond mother over- 
 came, for a brief time, the resigned Chris- 
 tian in her heart. 
 
 " Yes. I must soon leave you, my dear 
 son!" said she, as soon as the rising sobs, 
 which for some minutes impeded speech, 
 allowed her utterance. 
 
 " Oh! do not say so, mother — dearest, 
 dearest mother! I will not, cannot, lose 
 you !" sobbed I. 
 
 " You, like me, my own Henry, must 
 learn resignation to the Divine will; and
 
 262 MEREDITH. 
 
 this hard lesson will be best acquired by 
 laying a foundation for indulging the 
 blessed hope that our separation, though 
 bitter, will not be eternal. Without this 
 hope, I could not contemplate our parting 
 as a Christian woman ought ; and you, my 
 son, will strengthen it by promising me so 
 to live, that in another, a better world, we 
 shall be re-united !" 
 
 I think I see her now, with that pale, 
 yet still beautiful face, shaded by the deli- 
 cate lace borders of her cap, her shadowy 
 form enveloped in the folds of a white 
 wrapping-dress, and her transparent hands 
 fondly pressing mine, as her dark and 
 lustrous eyes beamed on me with unutter- 
 able fondness. Convinced that her days 
 were numbered, — and oh ! what bitter sor- 
 row did that conviction inflict on my heart ! 
 — I could not for a moment banish the fear- 
 ful thought from my mind. I would gaze 
 on her for hours, as if to imprint every
 
 MEREDITH. 263 
 
 lineament of that fair and still beauteous 
 countenance on my memory ; listen to every 
 sound of that low, musical voice, until tears 
 would spring to my eyes at the thought 
 that it would soon be stilled in the silence 
 of the grave; and then rush from her 
 chamber, to indulge in those bursts of pas- 
 sionate grief that her presence checked. 
 Every reference to the future — that future 
 she was not to share — excited my feelings 
 to agony, and I resented such from others 
 with anger. When the gardener, in my 
 presence, proposed the erection of a new 
 green-house, to increase the stock of plants 
 and flowers for the next year, I angrily 
 turned from him, and concealed myself 
 in the thickest shades of the shrubbery, to 
 think of ivhere she, who so loved plants and 
 flowers, would be sleeping when his plan 
 was carried into execution ; and I breathed 
 a wish that I, and all around, might finish 
 with her existence !
 
 264 MEREDITH. 
 
 One clay, when the housekeeper waited 
 on my mother for orders, and asked whe- 
 ther she shoukl increase the usual stock of 
 preserves then about to be made, especially 
 a peculiar one, to which her mistress had 
 been partial, I noticed my mother's cheek 
 grow paler as she faintly answered, " No, 
 my good Atkinson, you need not prepare 
 that, but let there be a large provision of 
 raspberry jam and apricots, for my son likes 
 them." 
 
 These things may seem trivial, and not 
 worth the trouble of noting; but they had a 
 deep effect on me. The consciousness of her 
 own approaching end, and the forethought 
 for even my epicurean fancies, when she 
 should be no longer on earth, made a sick- 
 ness of heart steal over me, the cause of 
 which, I believe, she guessed, for I found 
 her eyes fixed on me with such an expres- 
 sion of unutterable tenderness, that tears 
 started to mine. I could hardly bear to
 
 MEREDITH. 265 
 
 leave her presence, even to take the air and 
 exercise which she insisted on my daily 
 doing. In my dreams I wonld start up, 
 fearful that she might pass away whilst I 
 slept ; and I would steal to her chamber to 
 satisfy myself that she still lived. 
 
 Summer passed away, and autumn had 
 now ftir advanced, when the increasing de- 
 bility of my mother warned us that all must 
 soon be over. She was perfectly conscious 
 of her approaching dissolution, and so re- 
 signed to it, that I, selfish and thoughtless 
 as I was, felt almost jealous that she could 
 contemplate our separation with such calm- 
 ness, while my heart was torn with anguish 
 at the thought. Seated by her bedside, 
 anxiously watching every change of her 
 pale face, she beckoned me to draw still 
 nearer to her. 
 
 " This may be the last time I can speak 
 to you, my son!" said she, "for I am about 
 to leave you. Eemember that my deathbed 
 
 YOL. I, N
 
 266 MEREDITH. 
 
 was clieered by that religion which supported 
 me through the trials of my youth, and 
 which has enabled me to bear the ill health 
 with which it has pleased the Almighty to 
 afflict me. I am sustained by the blessed 
 hope of being united to my husband, and of 
 welcoming you, my dear son, when it shall 
 please God to summon you from this world 
 to that better, brighter scene, where there 
 are no more partings. Bless you, bless you, 
 my son. Let me be laid by the side of your 
 father. I can no longer see you; let me 
 hear your voice once more. Bless — bless !" 
 
 Her eyes closed — she gave a faint moan, 
 and all was over. 
 
 I could not believe that she was indeed 
 gone for ever. I pressed my lips to her 
 cold ones ; I held her in a convulsive grasp 
 to my heart, but the rigidity of her atte- 
 nuated frame soon forced on me the convic- 
 tion that life was indeed extinct. In a vio- 
 lent burst of passionate sorrow, I threw my-
 
 MEREDITH. 267 
 
 self by her side, and seizing her hand — that 
 hand which had so often and fondly grasped 
 mine, I wept in uncontrollable anguish, 
 until, exhausted, I fell into a state of insen- 
 sibility. 
 
 n2
 
 2G8 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 ^' He must be removed from the body," were 
 tlie first Avords I heard, when, with return- 
 ing consciousness, I became sensible of what 
 was passing around me. " The hodyV 
 how those two words shocked me ! And it 
 was thus they named that which, but a few 
 minutes before, had contained tlie ethereal 
 spark — had been instinct with life, with 
 thought, and with aifection. The pale lips, 
 now closed in the rigidity of death, had but 
 lately spoken words of love to me ; the eyes, 
 now shut for ever, had beamed with tender-
 
 MEREDITH. 269 
 
 ness on me; tlie accents, still fresh in my 
 ear, I should never more hear on earth ; and 
 the hands that had so often clasped mine 
 lay white, and cold as marble to my touch ! 
 Yes, it was plain that which was before me 
 was but a body — a lifeless, inanimate body — 
 insensible alike to my anguish or to my 
 love. jS^evertheless, I could not bear to hear 
 it so called ; and affection so vanquished the 
 natural horror with which death inspires the 
 young, that I could hardly be persuaded to 
 leave all that now remained of that dear 
 mother on whom I had so fondly doted, nor 
 that other eyes than mine should behold her 
 pale corse. 
 
 Her faithful attendant Lockly promised 
 me that no other hand than hers should 
 perform the last, offices for her departed 
 mistress, and that when they were fulfilled, 
 I should again be admitted to her chamber. 
 Pacified by this promise, I retired to my 
 own room ; and having thrown myself on my
 
 270 MEREDITH. 
 
 bed, I wept, until, in a deep slumber, I lost 
 the consciousness of the dreary, cheerless 
 present. In dreams, the past was restored 
 to me; my mother was again by my side, 
 not as I had for many weeks been accus- 
 tomed to see her, but as in former times I 
 remembered her — blooming and beautiful. 
 Her eyes beamed on me with aifection, her 
 red lips opened to speak words of love, and 
 her accents sounded musically as ever in 
 my ears. She gently chided me for believ- 
 ing that she could leave me, and I in a 
 transport of joy threw my arms around her 
 neck ; when my preceptor awoke me by 
 taking oiF my clothes, and administering a 
 calming medicine which the family physician 
 had thought it advisable should be taken. 
 
 How fearful is the first awaking after 
 some heavy affliction ! The sense of it 
 coming afresh to the mind, and with re- 
 newed bitterness, while the frame, recruited 
 by slumber, renders the feelings more acutely
 
 MEREDITH. 271 
 
 sensible of their tortures than when, ex- 
 hausted by the first shock, the mind and body- 
 had sunk beneath its weight! I took the 
 offered opiate, allowed myself to be undressed, 
 and fell into a heavy slumber, from which I 
 did not awake until a late hour the next 
 day. A bright sun was shining through 
 my windows, and a blue and cloudless sky 
 was mirrored in the calm lake in front of 
 them. Myriads of birds were sending forth 
 their joyous notes from the umbrageous 
 trees and shrubberies in the vicinity of the 
 house, and all nature looked bright and 
 beautiful. I turned from the sight in dis- 
 gust and anger ; for so deep was the gloom 
 within my breast, that I could not support 
 the external gaiety that reigned around, 
 while she who so loved to contemplate all 
 that I now turned from was sleeping in 
 death, and could never more behold the 
 beautiful scenery before me. I should have 
 liked to have seen the sun clouded, the land-
 
 272 MEIIEDITII. 
 
 scape sliaded in gloom, and nature as sad 
 and cold as my own breast ; but tliis contrast 
 revolted me, and I hastily pulled down the 
 blinds, that I might not behold it. I ex- 
 perienced a sense of shame when the pangs 
 of hunger made themselves felt, after nearly 
 twenty-four hours of abstinence from food. 
 "What ! in grief such as mine could I wish 
 to eat, and could the wants of the body thus 
 triumph over the agony of the mind? I 
 almost hated myself as I partook of the food 
 placed before me at the repast that had al- 
 ways hitherto been partaken with my 
 mother; and when it was concluded, I re- 
 paired to her chamber. 
 
 The worthy Lockly had performed the 
 last sad duties of her office to the dear de- 
 parted. The pale, but still beautiful face, 
 with the dark silken tresses, a la Madonna^ 
 was siuided by a nightcap, the delicate lace 
 borders of wliich were less white than that 
 cold still face, on the checks of which the
 
 MEREDITH. 27o 
 
 jetty eyelashes rested. The features, so 
 finely chiselled, looked like those of some 
 exquisite marble statue, and the mouth 
 seemed still to wear the sweet smile which 
 had so often delighted me. 
 
 " Oh ! could I but retain for ever that 
 lovely image, even as it now is," said I, " I 
 should not feel so lone and desolate," and a 
 plenteous flood of tears poured from my 
 eyes. I motioned to Lockly to leave the 
 room, which she, after a few unavailing 
 efforts at consolation, consented to do, and 
 I, having bolted the door to preclude inter- 
 ruption, threw myself on my knees, and 
 pressed my lips to the cold ones of my 
 mother. I addressed her by the most en- 
 dearing epithets, implored her not to forget, 
 in the pure regions she was called to, the 
 son she left alone on earth to deplore her 
 loss, and to live on her memory. I Avatched 
 that calm, still face, and was almost disap- 
 pointed that it relaxed not its rigid expres-
 
 274 MEREDITH. 
 
 sion ; while I, my voice half-choked by deep 
 emotion, poured forth the anguish of my 
 heart. It is terrible to be alone with the 
 loved and lately dead, when so much of the 
 semblance of life remains as to half cheat 
 one into the hope that the intensity of grief 
 experienced may be known by its object, 
 and that we are not yet wholly and for ever 
 sundered. But when the voice, once so 
 fondly listened to, makes no impression on 
 the cold still ear of death — when tears, 
 burning tears, fall unheeded on the marble 
 cheeks, and the icy lips return no pressure 
 — then is it that we feel the bitterness of 
 grief renewed, in the crushing consciousness 
 of the total separation between the living 
 and the dead — then is it that the pale 
 image of the object so fondly loved in life, 
 so like, yet so unlikcj but increases the 
 poignancy of sorrow ; and one turns from it 
 with agony to weep^ yet soon returns to 
 gaze again, jealous of losing one of the few
 
 MEREDITH. 275 
 
 hours still left, ere the envious grave shall 
 hide it for ever from our sight. 
 
 Moments passed under such circumstances 
 add the gravity of years of experience to life> 
 and I left the chamber of death as if ten 
 had been added to my age. I thought that 
 I now had experienced all the bitterness of 
 grief, but the succeeding day, when that 
 face, so lately pure, and fair as Parian 
 marble, assumed an ashy hue, and the features 
 began to lose something of their symmetri- 
 cal beauty, a feeling of dread and horror 
 became mingled with my sorrow. Every 
 hour rapidly changed the countenance, until, 
 unable any longer to contemplate it without 
 terror, I made no further objection to the 
 lid of the coffin being fastened down, al- 
 though every blow of the hammer seemed 
 to strike at my heart ; and, in order to re- 
 strain myself from interfering to prevent 
 their continuance, I was obliged to remem- 
 ber that she who was inclosed in that coffin
 
 276 MEREDITH. 
 
 was wholly insensible to tlie sounds that 
 produced such torture to my feelings. And 
 now, when she was hidden for ever from my 
 view, and that black box was all that re- 
 mained, how did I accuse myself for having 
 consented to its being closed, when I might 
 for another day have contemplated the face 
 v/hich, however changed, was still dearer to 
 my heart than all on earth beside. How 
 many bitter burning tears fell on the coffin, 
 as, seated by it, my aching head reposed on 
 its edge. All around the chamber was still 
 and silent as the grave. The servants moved 
 with stealthy steps in the house, as if afraid 
 to break the death-sleep of the mistress they 
 had so fondly loved ; or perhaps actuated by a 
 sentiment of respectful pity for the grief of 
 the orphan. Nought save the carolling of 
 birds was to be heard, and their music 
 sounded sadly to my cars, while the bitter 
 consciousness that Iters who used to enjoy
 
 MEREDITH. 277 
 
 the melody were sealed in death, filled my 
 heart with anguish. 
 
 How many times, during the nights that 
 intervened before the funeral, did I awake 
 from troubled dreams, and start from my 
 couch, when, remembering that the corse 
 of my mother still rested beneath the same 
 roof with me, I used to hurry to her cham- 
 ber, and press my lips again and again on 
 the coffin that contained all that remained 
 of that beautiful and gentle being. But too 
 soon did the hour arrive, when even this 
 melancholy consolation was to be denied me. 
 Tlie day of interment was come, and I was 
 not only to witness the removal of my dead 
 mother from the home which her love and 
 care for me had rendered so happy a one, 
 but I was to follow her remains to the tomb. 
 Well do I remember the agony of that hour, 
 and the efforts I made to bear up against 
 the overpowering anguish of my feelings
 
 278 MEREDITH. 
 
 during the affecting burial ceremony, the 
 voice of the good pastor who pronounced 
 the ritual, trembling with emotion as he 
 read it, until, when the coffin was lowered 
 into the vault, and the first shovel of earth 
 was thrown on it, I lost all consciousness, 
 and did not revive until two hours after.
 
 MEREDITH. 279 
 
 CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 It was during convalescence, after a long 
 illness that followed, that the good Lockly, 
 who seldom left my bedside, and was some- 
 what given to gossip, confided to me the 
 errors of my father, and the trials to which 
 my dear mother had been subjected. The 
 memory of my father was not spared by her ; 
 for, fondly attached to my mother from her 
 infancy, she was less disposed to pardon or 
 forget the wrongs of her mistress, than was 
 that gentle mistress herself. 
 
 "I fear, sir, that I am wrong," would
 
 280 MEREDITH. 
 
 Lockly say, "in relating to you the bad 
 conduct of your father; but the person I 
 loved the most on earth — and such a person, 
 too — suffered so severely from it, that the 
 relation may prove a warning to you, sir, 
 and prevent your being, as he was, the cause 
 of misery to some worthy lady." 
 
 There were moments durinor the narra- 
 tive when my anger and indignation were 
 so much excited against my father, that my 
 cheeks burned and my eyes sparkled, and I 
 was obliged to recall to memory the last 
 years of his life, when his penitence and 
 tenderness for my mother and myself were 
 so marked, ere I could think of him with 
 that sentiment of respect which a son ought 
 to entertain for a dead parent. The par- 
 ticulars narrated to me by the garrulous 
 Lockly became so amalgamated in my 
 mind with those remembered in my child- 
 hood, that it seemed to me as if I had wit- 
 nessed all, and even now, so vivid is the
 
 MEREDITH. 281 
 
 recollection, that it appears as if only months 
 instead of long long years had elapsed since 
 they occurred . 
 
 My health had suifered so severely from 
 the effect of grief at my poor mother's death, 
 that the physicians consulted on the occa- 
 sion deemed it expedient that 1 should be 
 removed to a milder climate. My guardian, 
 Lord Lymington, the only male relative of my 
 mother, and to whom she had written when 
 all hope of recovery had been given up, to 
 entreat his acceptance of the trust she meant 
 to confide to him, came down a few months 
 after her decease, indisposition being his 
 alleged excuse for not having sooner taken 
 any interest in his orphan ward. 
 
 Lord Lymington was then about fifty 
 years old, still remarkably good-looking, 
 being Men conserve^ and with pretensions 
 to appear still a young man. Possessed of 
 great wealth, he had unfortunately devoted 
 this adA^T-ntage solely to his own personal
 
 282 . MEREDITH. 
 
 gratification, and seldom bestowed a thought 
 on aught that did not directly interfere 
 with the cherished idol of his worship — self. 
 Although often tempted to put on the 
 chains of wedlock, he had never assumed 
 them, being, as it was said, in his youth, 
 always prevented by the dread that as man 
 and wife are considered to become one, his 
 identity might be confounded with that of 
 what a wife is styled — his better half, and 
 that his comfort, or even a single portion of 
 it, might be compromised. He had there- 
 fore, although fond of female society, con- 
 tinued a bachelor, and applauded his own 
 sagacity in forming and in hitherto adher- 
 ing to a resolution that precluded him from 
 many of the annoyances to which his con- 
 temporaries who had become Benedicts 
 were exposed. The whole stock of aifection 
 generally implanted in tlie human heart to 
 be called into action by its fellow-beings, 
 was entirely bestowed by Lord Lymington
 
 MEREDITH. 283 
 
 on self, and it may be doubted whether all 
 the ties of nature formed by man in the 
 relative positions of son, husband, father, 
 brother, and friend, ever exceeded, if they 
 equalled, the sum expended by this indivi- 
 dual on himself. This undue expenditure 
 brought with it its own punishment, for the 
 whole powers of his mind being directed to 
 but one focus — the study to avoid sufiering 
 any of the bodily or mental ills to which all 
 of poor human kind are subject, noc unfre- 
 quently occasioned even greater annoyances 
 than those he sought to evade. Lord Lym- 
 ington had read that " the proper study of 
 mankind is man," and mistaking the true 
 sense of the philosophic poet who wrote the 
 line, applied that which was meant for man- 
 kind generally to his own individual case. 
 So bland were his manners, and so even 
 seemed his temper, that he was, on a first 
 acquaintance, sure to captivate the good will 
 of those with whom he came in contact.
 
 281 MErtEDITH. 
 
 Nor did they discover liow much too favour- 
 ably they had judged him, until, on a 
 greater intimacy, encouraged l)y his ur- 
 banity, they ventured to appeal to his sym- 
 pathy when labouring under some of the 
 trials from vdiich none are exempt. Too 
 quickly then they found that he listened to 
 the relation of their afflictions with an in- 
 diiFerence which not even his habitual good 
 breeding could conceal ; and that he ever 
 after carefully avoided their society. 
 
 He had lately been suffering from a slight 
 indisposition, which his egotistical fears had 
 magnified into a serious one; and when he 
 arrived at Meredith Park, was accompanied 
 by his physician, who had lately advised 
 his lordship to pass the ensuing winter in a 
 warm climate. My pallid face alarmed my 
 guardian, not for me but for himself, as he 
 dreaded the trouble my bad health might 
 impose on him, or the danger to which a 
 contact with me miglit expose him.
 
 MEREDITH. 285 
 
 ^' Good God ! Porson, liis hand is burning 
 hot !" said Lord Lymington, as he fjuickly 
 withdrew his own from the friendly pres- 
 sure with which he had seized mine. " Feel 
 his pulse, Porson!" resumed his lordship; 
 and he looked so anxiously in my face that 
 I felt disposed to like him, believing, witli 
 all the credulity peculiar to youth, that a 
 warm interest for me occasioned the anxiety 
 I witnessed. 
 
 " A winter in a mild climate would be 
 very advantageous to this young gentleman, 
 my lord," said Doctor Porson, " and it hap- 
 pens very opportunely that your lordship is 
 about to try the same remedy." 
 
 "I see what you mean, Porson, but it is 
 not to be thought of — quite out of the 
 question, Porson;" and he glanced signifi- 
 cantly at the doctor, to prevent him snying 
 anything more on the subject. 
 
 After looking out on the pleasure grounds 
 and park for a few minutes, he suddenly
 
 286 MEREDITH. 
 
 remarked that lie feared Meredith Park 
 was a very unhealthy place. 
 
 The vivid green of the lawn, he said, indi- 
 cated damp, and my pale face spoke little, as 
 he was pleased to say, in favour of the air. 
 "The father and mother, too, died here!" 
 continued Lord Lymington, in a voice 
 meant to be a whisper, but which was per- 
 fectly intelligible to me ; nevertheless, I still 
 attributed his evident uneasiness to anxiety 
 for me. " I don't feel quite well, Porson," 
 said Lord Lymington, after a few minutes. 
 
 " Indeed! my lord ; what, pray, are your 
 lordship's symptoms ?" 
 
 " A sort of languor, a sense of fatigue 
 and exhaustion. How is my pulse?" 
 
 Doctor Porson's large gold repeater, with 
 its massive chain and seals, was now drawn 
 forth; the sleeve of Lord Lymington's coat 
 was carefully turned up ; and, after count- 
 ing the beats of the pulse for a few seconds, 
 the sapient doctor pronounced that a
 
 MEREDITH. 287 
 
 luncheon and glass of old sherry were all 
 that was required to restore his lordship to 
 his usual state. The luncheon was ordered, 
 and many injunctions given that "the 
 cotelettes a la minute should be particularly 
 tender;" " and suppose," added Lord Lym- 
 ington, " that while they are being pre- 
 pared, you mix a camphor julep for me." 
 The doctor assured his lordship that his 
 digestion would be impaired by his taking 
 any medicine before eating, but the malade 
 imaginaire declared the necessity of his 
 having something to invigorate his stomach 
 previously to essaying its powers on the mut- 
 ton cotelettes^ so the Doctor went in search 
 of the medicine chest, without which Lord 
 Lymington never took even the shortest 
 journey. '' Be sure to bring down the 
 thermometer," added the peer, " in order 
 that there may be no mistake about the 
 temperature of the room I am to sit in. 
 You had better also prepare a digestive
 
 288 MEREDITH. 
 
 pill, lest I may suffer from the tough meat 
 one is always sure to encounter in tlie 
 country." 
 
 My preceptor now waited on my guar- 
 dian, who received him very graciously. 
 He examined his countenance attentively,, 
 and it w\as evident that the result was 
 satisfactory. When Mr. Kivers was expect- 
 ing to be questioned respecting the progress 
 of his pupil, he looked somewhat surprised 
 to be asked whether he thought it likely 
 that tender mutton-cutlets could be had for 
 luncheon. 
 
 ^' I have not the least doubt, my lord," 
 was the pleasing answer, '' for I am very 
 particular with regard to tender meat." 
 
 "Indeed!" said Lord Lymington; "I 
 am very glad to hear it." 
 
 " The mutton here is of a peculiarly fine 
 flavour, as is also the beef, as we have an 
 excellent breed of small Scots bullocks, and 
 I venture to pronounce that your lordship
 
 MEPiEDITII. 289 
 
 will be pleased with botli," continued my 
 tutor. 
 
 " Is this a healthy place, Mr. Eivers?" 
 
 '^ Eemarkably so, my lord; the soil is 
 gravelly, the air pure and mild, and the 
 temperature equal." 
 
 " Yet the recent deaths in the family, 
 and the delicate appearance of your pupil, 
 might induce me to draw a different con- 
 clusion, Mr. Elvers." 
 
 '' The air of Meredith Park had nothing 
 to do in the affliction to which your lord- 
 ship refers ; and the delicate appearance of 
 my pupil arises from his only recent reco- 
 very from a very serious illness, occasioned 
 by the severe trial to which he has been 
 exposed." 
 
 ^' Nothing grave, nothing hereditary — 
 eh?" 
 
 " Nothing, my lord." 
 
 '^ But do you not think, Mr. Rivers, that 
 the undue sensibility that must have existed 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 290 MEREDITH. 
 
 to account for the illness occasioned by tlie 
 trial to wliicli you referred is indicative of 
 a weak constitution? Sensibility is de- 
 structive to health ; no constitution can 
 resist the inroads it makes. It is in itself 
 a malady, and one of the worst, and people 
 should be taught to conquer it as early as 
 possible. I should not now be alive, had I 
 not vanquished mine, which I did at a very 
 early age, a precocious firmness of mind and 
 an unusual clear-sightedness having enabled 
 me to discover how injurious such weakness 
 might prove to my own happiness." 
 
 Mr. Rivers bowed, and remained silent, 
 and Dr. Porson administered his camphor 
 julep to Lord Lymington. 
 
 " So you think," resumed his lordship, 
 " that your pupil is not consumptive !" 
 
 " I am persuaded he is not, my lord." 
 
 "Is he naturally of a lively, cheerful 
 temper?" 
 
 '' I considered him peculiarly so, my lord, 
 before the recent afflictions."
 
 MEREDITH. 291 
 
 " Well, if I could be quite sure that he 
 would soon recover his health and spirits, I 
 should be disposed to take him with me to 
 the Continent." 
 
 " Nothing would, I am of opinion, be so 
 conducive to the recovery of his spirits as 
 change of scene, for here, my lord, where 
 everything reminds him of his mother, his 
 grief is kept fresh in his mind." 
 
 " Do not mention my plan, Mr. Rivers, 
 until I have finally decided on the measure. 
 It requires mature consideration, for should 
 his recovery be slow, / should be subjected 
 to the annoyance — and a very serious one 
 it would be — of seeing before me a pale 
 face and dejected countenance, of hearing 
 sighs, or of having bodily sufiering forced 
 on my attention. Charity, the old proverb 
 says, begins at home ; and I assure you, it 
 would be aught but charitable towards 
 myself to entail any such annoyances on 
 
 02
 
 292 MEREDITH. 
 
 Here a servant annonnced that luncheon 
 was served ; and Lord Lymington proceeded 
 to the dining-room, inviting Mr. Rivers to 
 partake of it. 
 
 " Sensible man, Porson, very sensible 
 man," whispered the Peer to his physician. 
 
 " Does your lordship think so?" was the 
 only remark made by the Doctor, who, fear- 
 ful of seeing a rival for his patron's favour 
 start up in every person thrown in his way, 
 was cautious of encouraging any partiality 
 towards Mr. Pvivers. 
 
 " Capital cotelettes, Mr. Ptivers; tender 
 and juicy." 
 
 " I am glad your lordship likes them; 
 and I think I can assure your getting some 
 excellent sherry, or claret, if you prefer it." 
 
 '^ Famous sherry !" said the Peer, smack- 
 ing his lips, "and, by Jove! just what I 
 could have wished — another hot cotelette.'' 
 
 " I thought, my lord, that sent up hot 
 and hot, the cotelettes might tempt your 
 lordship."
 
 MEREDITH. 293 
 
 " And you tliouglit like ii sensible man, 
 Mr. liivers. But you do not eat ; you are 
 not abstemious, I hope, — eh?" 
 
 " I am afraid of spoiling my appetite for 
 dinner, my lord, and had partaken of some 
 roast chicken with my pupil only just be- 
 fore your lordship arrived." 
 
 " Eight, Mr. Elvers; never spoil your 
 appetite for dinner. Nothing denotes such 
 a want of taste, as well as a want of good 
 breeding, as people sitting down to dinner 
 witli spoiled appetites. I make it a point 
 never to invite people a second time, who 
 are so unmindful of the comfort of others, 
 unless, indeed, they happen to be retailers, 
 or better still, makers of hon mots^ in which 
 case I approve their preiwyance in having 
 taken off the keen edge of their appetites, 
 in order not to interrupt the telling their 
 good stories." 
 
 " Perhaps your lordship had better not 
 venture on another glass of that sherry,"
 
 294 MEREDITH. 
 
 said Dr. Porson, with a deprecatory look, 
 as he saw the Peer in the act of pouring 
 out a second glass of sherry. 
 
 " Phoo, stuff and nonsense!" replied the 
 Peer, raising the glass to his lips, and im- 
 bibing its contents with evident satisfaction. 
 
 " Why, you have drank three glasses of 
 wine, Porson, yet you object to my having 
 two, and I see you have eaten four cotelettes 
 to my two." 
 
 " My constitution, my lord, requires more 
 stimulants than your lordship's." 
 
 " So you always say; and if the stimu- 
 lants made you any merrier or more amusing, 
 I should not object to your habits of self- 
 indulgence." 
 
 The Doctor's face grew red with anger, 
 but his prudence checked the exhibition of 
 any symptom of displeasure ; as he civilly 
 observed, that his profession was too grave 
 to admit of its followers giving way to the 
 levity calculated to amuse their patients.
 
 MEREDITH. 295 
 
 " Suppose we take a walk, Mr. Elvers," 
 said Lord Lymington. " It will assist my 
 digestion. Eing for Dunington, Doctor, 
 that he may bring my clogs and great 
 coat." 
 
 " I hope your lordship will not forget to 
 tie your Cashmere scarf around your throat, 
 for the air is somewhat damp, and let me 
 recommend you not to walk fast, lest it 
 might impede the process of digestion, and 
 disturb the action of the gastric juices; 
 let me also suggest the propriety of post- 
 poning the dinner-hour until eight, instead 
 of seven o'clock, that your appetite may 
 have time to recover."
 
 296 MEREDITH. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 " And so the poultry and mutton are re- 
 markably good here, Mr. Rivers, eh?'' 
 
 " Excellent, my lord." 
 
 " And the air?" said Lord Lymington. 
 
 *' As I before had the honour of observing 
 to your lordship, is peculiarly mild and 
 equal," replied Mr. Rivers. 
 
 " Then, by Jove! I shall make up my 
 mind to remain here a few days, get better 
 acquainted with my ward, and by so doing, 
 be able to form a judgment whether or not 
 his accompanying me to the Continent would
 
 MEREDITH. 297 
 
 Ijc conducive to my comfort. You liiive tra- 
 velled, I presume, Mr. Elvers?" 
 
 " Yes, my lord, I made the tour of France, 
 Spain, and Italy, with Lord Medlicott." 
 
 '^ Indeed ! He is a very sensible young 
 man. A monstrous good judge of eating. 
 Keeps the best cook, and gives the most 
 recherches dinners in London. Medlicott 
 has acquired no little consideration, I assure 
 you, Mr. Rivers, by his good taste in eating. 
 Did you direct that as well as his education?" 
 
 " I endeavoured to do so, my lord. When 
 I first became acquainted with his lordship, 
 I found his education had been sadly neg- 
 lected, and his taste in the pleasures of the 
 table wholly uncultivated. I considered it 
 to be my duty to instruct Lord Medlicott to 
 the utmost of my power ; and during our 
 extended tour, I sought, while pointing out 
 the objects connected with classical or his- 
 torical lore most worthy of attention, to 
 draw his notice also to the delicacies peculiar 
 03
 
 298 
 
 MEREDITH. 
 
 to eacli country. If I did not find his lord- 
 ship so apt a scholar as could be wished in 
 the attainment of learning, I had no reason 
 to complain of his progress in gastronomy. 
 Ere we had completed our tour, his palate 
 was so exercised in the dainties and culinary 
 art of the countries we travelled through, 
 that he could detect the least failure in the 
 qualities or modes of preparing the dishes 
 ordered ; hence his knowledge on these points 
 gave him a superiority over those with whom 
 his want of intellectual cultivation would 
 have reduced him to an equality, while with 
 persons of superior intelligence and attain- 
 ments (for all such like good eating) it re- 
 deemed him from contempt." 
 
 " You could not have done better, Mr. 
 Eivers. You reasoned like a sensible man, 
 and the proof of the success of your system 
 is, that nothing short of a command from 
 royalty would induce any of Medlicott's 
 convives to break a dinner engagement
 
 MEREDITH. 299 
 
 with liim, so higlily appreciated is his savoir 
 vivre and skill in gastronomy. You would 
 not, perhaps, object to accompany my ward 
 to Italy?" said Lord Lymington, after a few 
 minutes' pause. 
 
 " Certainly not, my lord ; more especially 
 if my pupil was to have the honour of tra- 
 velling in the suite of his noble guardian." 
 
 " Then, by Jove! it shall be so, Mr. 
 Eivers, and I will install you in the office 
 of caterer for my table during our travels. 
 You shall be the Amphytrion in all save the 
 expense of our dinners ; and should you be 
 as extravagant as LucuUus himself, I shall 
 not object to it." 
 
 Thus encouraged, my preceptor launched 
 forth into an animated monologue on plats 
 recherches, and an elaborate description 
 of the qualities of the various viands to be 
 used in their concoction, the erudition of 
 which would not have disgraced Apicius 
 himself. During his dissertation, he dis-
 
 300 MEKEDITII. 
 
 played a kiio^vleclge of tlie classical epicu- 
 reanism of tlie ancients, and the most ap- 
 proved inventions of the moderns, which so 
 captivated Lord Lymington, that on enter- 
 ing the house, after a long walk, he declared, 
 to the no slight displeasure of the jealous- 
 minded Doctor Person, that he was delighted 
 at having found so agreeable a fellow-tra- 
 veller as Mr. Eivers, for the sake of whose 
 society he was Avilling to be encumbered 
 with his ward. 
 
 " Such a perfect knowledge of cookery, 
 and so refined a taste, I have rarely met 
 united," said my guardian. 
 
 '' May it not be feared, my lord, that 
 Mr. Kivers's acquirements in gastronomy 
 may lead your lordship to transgress the 
 rules I have found it requisite to lay down 
 for the preservation of your lordship's 
 health." 
 
 " Health! health!" said Lord Lyming- 
 ton. '' I hear of nothing but health! I
 
 MEREDITH. 301 
 
 wish I could feel instead of only hearing of 
 this blessins;." 
 
 " Permit me to observe, my lord," an- 
 swered Doctor Porson, " that I do not think, 
 everything considered, your lordship has 
 any reason to complain either of my want 
 of skill or attention, or the result.'* 
 
 " Why, by Jove! I know not that I 
 can boast of any extraordinary health, 
 my good Doctor. I am told that I must not 
 eat this, nor touch that; and these prohi- 
 bitions extend to precisely the only things 
 I like to eat. Then the few, the very few 
 delicacies of which I am permitted to par- 
 take, I have hardly tasted, before I am re- 
 minded that I am exceeding the bounds 
 allowed. All pleasure of my repasts is de- 
 stroyed, when I see you looking like a 7)16- 
 mento mori at every morsel I touch, and at 
 every glass of wine I drink. Now, whether 
 I am to die of repletion or starvation seems 
 to be the question; and as I prefer good
 
 302 MEREDITH. 
 
 dinners to bad ones, I expect that when I 
 sacrifice so much to your system of regime^ 
 I ought at least to have the benefit of it." 
 
 " But, my lord, is there a day that your 
 lordship does not transgress the bounds of 
 prudence by indulging your appetite?" 
 
 " If I did not, Doctor Porson, I should 
 have no occasion for your services. I 
 thought your skill might enable me to feast 
 with impunity, by providing antidotes for 
 the bane of good dishes ; but if I am only 
 to be cured by starvation, I see no use in a 
 physician." 
 
 '' There is surely a great difference, my 
 lord, in the avoidance of the most ex- 
 citing cookery, and starvation! I have 
 always allowed sufiicient food, and only pro- 
 hibited that which is improper." 
 
 '' But if I can only eat that which you 
 call improper " 
 
 " Your lordship must excuse me if I say,
 
 MEREDITH. 303 
 
 that I have seen no deficiency in your lord- 
 ship's appetite." 
 
 " So you say ; but what is it in compa- 
 rison to your own, Doctor ? Why, you eat 
 more at one repast than I do at four. You 
 preach abstinence, it is true, but you are 
 far from practising it." 
 
 " The quantity and quality of food which 
 a person in perfect health may partake of 
 with impunity, would be extremely dan- 
 gerous for an invalid, my lord." 
 
 " You are, I suppose, the person in per- 
 fect health, and I am the invalid. Doctor ? — 
 a proof that your treatment of self succeeds 
 better than your theoretical management of 
 your unfortunate patients." 
 
 " Allow me, my lord " 
 
 " I will not allow you to continue this 
 tiresome discussion, Doctor. I hate argu- 
 ments, and am sure they do not tend to 
 aid the process of digestion."
 
 304 MEREDITH. 
 
 '' Many persons, my lord, are of a con- 
 trary opinion; for tlie effect produced on 
 the gastric juices by " 
 
 " Spare me, spare me, for mercy sake, 
 Doctor ! For if you once get on the gastric 
 juices, mine will inevitably turn to bile — so 
 tired am I of hearing of them." 
 
 The doctor looked and felt sulky, and 
 from that moment indulged a dislike towards 
 my preceptor, for having been the cause, 
 although an innocent one, of his discussion 
 with his patient. To prevent my accom- 
 panying my guardian to the Continent, and 
 consequently to separate Lord Lymington 
 from his new favourite, Mr. Elvers, nov/ 
 became the object of his thoughts. The 
 first scheme to accomplish this which sug- 
 gested itself to the Doctor, was to persuade 
 my guardian that he had discovered certain 
 symptoms in me which would render a so- 
 journ on the Continent injurious to my 
 health. In thinking that this reason would
 
 MEREDITH. 305 
 
 have any influence on one so wholly sellish 
 as Lord Lymington, except inasmuch as 
 the presence of an unhealthy young man 
 might impede his own personal comfort, 
 proved that the Doctor was not as well 
 acquainted with the sentiments and feelings 
 of his patient as might be expected, from 
 the length of time which he had been domi- 
 ciled with him. The first attempt to con- 
 vince Lord Lymington that my safety would 
 be endangered by going to Italy, only drew 
 from him a declaration that, however that 
 might be, he could not abandon his project 
 of securing the attendance of Mr. Rivers, 
 whose knowledge in gastronomy, and pleas- 
 ing manners, rendered his society so pecu- 
 liarly agreeable to him. 
 
 " I don't want to take the young man 
 with me," said Lord Lymington ; " but, by 
 Jove! I will, rather than lose such a travel- 
 ling companion as Rivers, offer him a much 
 larger salary than he gets for being j)re-
 
 306 MEREDITH. 
 
 ceptor to my ward, and which doubtless he 
 will accept !" 
 
 When Doctor Porson discovered that his 
 scheme for separating Lord Lymington 
 from his new favourite would he as much 
 defeated by my being left behind as if I 
 went, and still more so, as in the present 
 engouement of the Peer for Mr. Elvers, he 
 would be very likely to make a permanent 
 engagement with him, he determined to 
 change his tactics, and encourage my being 
 taken to the Continent. 
 
 With so capricious a man as Lord Lym- 
 ington is, thought Porson, the chances are 
 that he will soon grow as tired of the so- 
 ciety of Rivers as he has done of mine ; for 
 I, too, in the commencement, was a favourite. 
 And then, being merely the preceptor of his 
 ward, the Peer will not be saddled with him, 
 and can without embarrassment bow him 
 out when it suits his lordship's fancy, as he 
 has done other favourites before. If, how-
 
 MEREDITH. 307 
 
 ever, he engages Elvers as a travelling 
 companion for himself, there would be an 
 awkwardness, as well as some difficulty, in 
 getting rid of him — so it is better to have 
 the young man of the party." 
 
 Thus reasoned the sapient Doctor Porson ; 
 and in accordance with this reasoning he 
 said all in his power to promote his recent 
 plan of my accompanying my guardian, in 
 defiance of the sneering remarks made by 
 the Peer on his sudden change of opinion on 
 this point. Among the many failings of 
 Lord Lymington, suspicion was one of the 
 most prominent. This mean sentiment led 
 him to analyze the motives that actuated 
 every one about him, and incapable of ap- 
 preciating goodness or disinterestedness, — 
 for he had no sympathy with either, — he 
 was prone — drawing his knowledge from 
 self — to attribute the most interested and 
 vulgar motives, when not unfrequently kind 
 ones only existed. With regard to those of
 
 308 MEREDITH. 
 
 Doctor Porsoii, however, he was not far 
 wrong ; and lie gloried in liis own sagacity 
 in detecting them — a sagacity for vfhich he 
 was solely indebted to the similarity in 
 selfishness which existed between that per- 
 son and himself. 
 
 " Hah! hah!" said the Peer to himseli; 
 as he marked the tergiversation in the Doc- 
 tor's opinions. " My worthy physician is 
 alarmed at the growing favonr of Mr. 
 Eivers with me, and dreads a rival near the 
 throne! — Good. This led him to advise 
 my ward's being left in England ; and now 
 that he finds that wonld avail him nothing, 
 as I was determined to have Rivers as a 
 travelling companion, he urges me to Poke 
 my ward too. Ah ! Monsiew le Docteur! 
 Monsieur le Docteur! you are no match 
 for me ! I read your thoughts and schemes 
 much more easily than I can this news- 
 paper!" — and he threw aside the one he 
 had been endeavouring to decipher — a
 
 MEREDITH. 309 
 
 task which he found impracticable without 
 the aid of spectacles, to the use of which he 
 had a peculiar objection, because it re- 
 minded him of the infirmities of age, which 
 he was most unwilling to remember. " Yet 
 Person thinks himself a monstrous clever 
 fellow, and imagines I am by no means nu 
 fait of his plans. It is pleasant to detect 
 the motives of my dependents!" — and he 
 chuckled as he soliloquized. ^' There is my 
 steward, Stevens, jjar ea'emple; he posi- 
 tively toadies Dunington, because he fan- 
 cies that my valet has some influence over 
 me ; and Dunington abhors Doctor Person 
 lest he should acquire any. I can scarcely 
 conceal my risibility v/hen Dunington, of a 
 morning, with a long face and melancholy 
 whine assumed for the occasion, assures me 
 that he is afraid my lordship is not near so 
 well now as when my lordship was under 
 the care of Doctor Malcolm. 
 
 " This is a sly blow aimed at Doctor Por-
 
 310 MEREDITH. 
 
 son, who has neglected to conciliate his good 
 will ; and Dunington, short-sighted fool as he 
 is, thinks I do not detect his jealousy. I en- 
 courage all these people in their selfish pro- 
 jects, while they believe I am such a simpleton 
 as not to suspect them ; and I play them ofi" 
 one against the'other, for my amusement." 
 
 Thus did Lord Lymington dwell with 
 self-complacency on his own discrimination, 
 vain of this mean failing — suspicion, the 
 result of which had been, to leave him with- 
 out a single friend in the world, and destitute 
 of the slightest sympathy with any good or 
 noble emotion. 
 
 When the fine-flavoured mutton and deli- 
 cate poultry of Meredith Park had ceased 
 to excite his palled appetite, my guardian 
 proposed to set out for the Continent. He 
 settled, to the no slight annoyance of Doctor 
 Person, and in a tone that left no hope of 
 altering his decision, that Mr. Kivers, and 
 not the Doctor, should accompany him in his 
 coach.
 
 MEREDITH. 311 
 
 " I shall be pleased and honoured, my 
 lord, provided a seat in the same vehicle is 
 assigned to my pupil, whom I should be very 
 loth to be separated from on the route," 
 said Mr. Eivers. 
 
 "Could he not travel with Porson and 
 my valet, Dunington?" asked Lord Lyming- 
 ton, with an expression of countenance that 
 denoted he considered this a much prefer- 
 able arrangement. But, to the Peer's sur- 
 prise and annoyance, my preceptor remained 
 firm in requiring that I should travel in the 
 same carriage with himself; and Lord 
 Lymington for the first time yielded to the 
 desire of another, and that other in a de- 
 pendent situation. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 T. C. Savill, Printer, 107, St. Martin's Lane.