,i^, 
 
 / 
 
 LI B RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVLR.5ITY 
 
 Of ILLINOIS
 
 
 /
 
 y
 
 THE 
 
 DOUBLE MARRUaE, 
 
 A NOVEL. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. A. CRAWFORD, 
 
 AUTHORESS OF " THE LABY OF THE BEDCHAMBER." 
 
 Little avails it now to know ji • Al C *V i V T 
 
 Of ages past so long ago, 
 Nor how they rolled ; 
 Our theme shall he of yesterday, 
 "Which to oblivion sweeps away, 
 Like days of old." 
 
 Longfellow, 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES.— VOL. L 
 
 LONDON : 
 T. C. NEW BY, PUBLISHER, 
 
 30, WELBECK STREET, 
 
 1852.
 
 82*3 
 
 U.I 
 
 THE 
 
 I DOUBLE MARRIAGE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 'Tis like a rolling river, 
 
 That murm'ring flows, and flows for ever." 
 
 Gay. 
 
 " My dear Miss EUersly," said Miss Kitty 
 Chatterton, as one morning, attired for a 
 ^ riding excursion, in her skirt and polka jacket 
 "^ and whip in hand, she burst into the room 
 where her friend was sitting, or rather reclin- 
 ing, upon a sofa, engaged in reading ; " Who 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
 4^
 
 2 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 do you think arrived at Woodside yesterday 
 evening ? — come, I will give you three 
 guesses." 
 
 " A gentleman or a lady ?" replied Miss 
 Ellersly, languidly laying down her book. 
 
 " Oh a gentleman to be sure/' returned 
 Miss Kitty ; " ladies are seldom worth gues- 
 sing about." 
 
 "It is Mr. Carrington, I suppose," said 
 Miss Ellersly. 
 
 '' No, not Mr. Carrington," rejoined Miss 
 Kitty, " although he too is arrived at Sea- 
 point, as he came yesterday morning by h e 
 coach, and has taken lodgings for the vaca- 
 tion just under the cliff." 
 
 " It is old Mr. Langley, or Mr. Stanhope, 
 I dare say ;" replied Miss Ellersly. 
 
 " How stupid," exclaimed Miss Kitty, 
 " I thought you could guess better. It is 
 Mr. Morley. Do you not remember you 
 were setting your cap at him last summer ?" 
 
 " How ridiculous ! What things you do
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 6 
 
 take into yoiir head, Kitty !" said Miss El- 
 lersly, looking much vexed, 
 
 *' Do not be angry, my dear," replied the 
 laughing Kitty ; " I would set my cap at 
 him myself if it were any use, for he is 
 really agreeable if you can make him talk, 
 although he always looks as if he had a 
 mind to run away from one. He is not so 
 young certainly, and I do not think he is so 
 handsome as Mr. Carrington — do you ? but 
 he is not at all plain, and then he has a 
 good fortune." 
 
 "I really never examined Mr. Morley's 
 features as accurately as you seem to have 
 done, Kitty," replied Miss Ellersly, pee- 
 vishly ; " but what does it signify, whether 
 he comes here or not ? — he is a confirmed 
 old bachelor." 
 
 " Not at all, my dear, you are quite mis- 
 taken," said Miss Kitty ; " I am certain he 
 will be married to Grace Neville. I am 
 almost sure they are engaged." 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Indeed !'* exclaimed Miss EUersly, 
 rousing herself from her indolent position ; 
 " Come, tell me, Kitty, why do you think 
 they are engaged, and what do you know 
 about it ?" 
 
 " Oh, a great deal more than you ima- 
 gine," replied Miss Kitty ; " the last time 
 Mr. Morley was at Woodside, he left a large 
 portmanteau there. This was as much as 
 to say, ' I am coming back soon again,' was 
 it not ? And why should he come so soon 
 again, if he and Grace were not gojng to be 
 married ? — It is much before the time of his 
 usual summer visit likewise, — Depend upon 
 it, you will hear of the matter soon." 
 
 " Perhaps so," replied Miss Ellersly, 
 thoughtfully ; " but how did you know about 
 his leaving the portmanteau, Kitty ?" 
 
 " I had it from the very best authority," 
 replied Miss Kitty, with some importance ; 
 " Harris, Mr. Neville's butler, mentioned it 
 to Betsy our cook, and said he should
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 like Mr. Morley to be married to Miss 
 Grace, for he was a fine, open-handed gen- 
 tleman ; and now I am certain the large 
 wedding cake in Mr. Pastry's window must 
 be intended for them. I am just going to tell 
 the Lennoxes all about it. I dare say they 
 will be the bride's maids. I did all I could 
 the other day to get out of Jane Pastry who 
 the cake was intended for, but it was all to 
 no purpose; she would not say, she is so 
 close. I have no doubt Mr. Carrington will 
 break his heart ; I am sure he hkes Grace 
 Neville, and I rather think she had a fancy 
 for him at one time. But what are you 
 doing within, this beautiful morning ? Do 
 come and take a walk with me. I was on 
 the point of riding over to the Lennoxes, but 
 will put it ofi*, if you will join me in a walk." 
 " Excuse me," replied Miss Ellersly, 
 shortly ; " I am not going out this morning, 
 I want to finish this book — they have sent 
 for it two or three times from the library."
 
 6 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Well, if you cannot come, I must go 
 and take my ride ; I dare say we shall meet 
 somewhere or other — perhaps on the walk 
 this evening, so good bye ;" and so saying, 
 Miss Kitty Chatterton left the room. 
 
 " I do think I have vexed Miss EUersly,'' 
 said Kitty to herself, as she descended the 
 stairs ; " but I cannot help it ; it is quite 
 plain from what Betsey the cook told me, 
 that Miss Neville is going to be married. 
 Poor Miss EUersly ! she is a dear friend of 
 mine, but still I do like to tease her some- 
 times. How very old she was looking this 
 morning^; I really think her day is quite 
 gone by.'' 
 
 Miss Ellersly laid down her novel and 
 went into the garden to walk off her chagrin 
 — she was too much out of sorts to read 
 any more. Miss Chatterton was right, she 
 had thought of Mr. Morley last summer, 
 and it was the consciousness of it which 
 had prevented her naming him ; when
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 7 
 
 Miss Kitty had bid her guess who was Mr. 
 Neville's newly arrived guest. 
 
 The quiet governess of Miss Ellersly's 
 little niece Lizzy, was sitting at a work- 
 table in a distant corner of the room, during 
 this conversation, waiting until her pupil 
 came in from her morning walk. 
 
 What were her cogitations while the dia- 
 logue was going on between the two friends ? 
 Suppose we peep into her mind, and see 
 what she is thinking of. She is a plain 
 elderly woman, the daughter of a clergyman, 
 and was obliged, like many others who have 
 had better expectations in their younger days, 
 upon the death of her father, to become a 
 governess. In this way she has for the last 
 fifteen years been creeping on through life, 
 lowly and unmarked, but with a contented 
 and peaceful mind. 
 
 "What constant companions, and dear 
 friends those two ladies are ! Vapid, un- 
 interesting, and gossiping; these are the
 
 8 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 electric telegraphs, which disseminate all 
 the news of the day, whether real or ima- 
 ginary, through this town of Seapoint. 
 They are not naturally either ill-natured or 
 malicious, but they talk at random, are fond 
 of what is vulgarly called quizzing, particu- 
 larly Miss Kitty Chatterton, who is younger, 
 livelier, more thoughtless, and perhaps less 
 censorious than Miss EUersly. Both have 
 minds equally uncultivated, and scarcely 
 ever look into any book but a novel. Men 
 have in general some profession, some study, 
 or some occupation — work for the hands or 
 the head. But women, if not engaged in 
 domestic concerns, (and before marriage 
 women have seldom much in that way to 
 perform,) after they have done with their 
 governesses and schools, have but little to 
 interest or amuse them, except the grand 
 concern of being settled in life. This, in 
 many cases, frequently ends, if attained, 
 in being wofuUy unsettled; if not at-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARItlAGE. 9 
 
 tained, in being disappointed, and having 
 their tempers embittered. The best way 
 is never to think about it at all. What are 
 they to do with all their time then? The 
 study of languages, music, drawing, botany ; 
 the circle of the sciences is all within their 
 reach. If they do not like any of these, let 
 them work ottomans, knit, net, crochet, any- 
 thing for the sake of employment ; but do 
 not allow them to spend one half of their 
 time in running, gossiping from one house 
 to another, and the other half in perusing 
 indiscriminately, and too frequently to the 
 exclusion of all other works, the novels after 
 novels which issue from our public press. 
 Many of these, it is true, are clever, talented, 
 original, and form a varied, attractive, and 
 innoxious dessert if partaken of sparingly, 
 after the intellectual soul has feasted upon 
 more nourishing and substantial food. But 
 though agreeable enough for a bonne bouche, 
 just as you eat a bit of preserved ginger, 
 
 B 3
 
 10 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 a piece of plum cake, or a buttered muffin ; 
 they will as certainly enfeeble the mind, and 
 unfit it for more profitable studies, as feed- 
 ing entirely upon the above-mentioned dain- 
 ties will give the gastric fever to the little 
 glutton who devours them/' 
 
 Thus thought the quiet little governess — 
 "What a cross, ill-natured old woman!" 
 some will say.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Man may for wealth or glory roam, 
 But woman must be blest at home ; 
 To this should all her studies tend, 
 This her great object and her end/' 
 
 Nugent. 
 
 The town of Seapoint, situated in one of 
 the southern counties of England, stretches 
 out irregularly and picturesquely along the 
 acclivities of an iron-bound coast for the 
 length of at least a mile, extending itself here 
 and there to the verge of the sea, which lashes 
 against, and throws its white foam over, the 
 rocks that have for ages opposed its pro- 
 gress. 
 
 On the inland side it is partly surrounded
 
 12 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 by pleasant lanes, deep valleys, and undu- 
 lating hills; and partly by an extensive 
 common, over which the sea breezes blow so 
 refreshingly, as to render it one of the most 
 salubrious towns in England. 
 
 It is altogether an agreeable place to re- 
 side in ; there are reasonable markets, good 
 schools, and cheerful society. 
 
 A few gentlemen of moderate fortune, 
 living on their own estates in the immediate 
 neighbourhood, with the clergyman, medical 
 man, and solicitors, who make up the most 
 respectable portion of the inhabitants of a 
 country town, mingled sociably together. 
 
 Among these, Mr. Neville, the banker, 
 was accounted, and with reason, the weal- 
 thiest ; and his eldest daughter, Grace, 
 although perhaps some might have vied 
 with her in beauty, was certainly the one 
 who possessed the greatest amiability of 
 character, of all the young people who 
 helped to form the little world of Seapoint.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE, 13 
 
 I do not mean to say that there were 
 not many amiable young people there. 
 On the contrary, there were some who were 
 gentle, others charitable; others sensible, 
 several very well meaning'; many, per- 
 haps, with more natural endowments and 
 cleverness than Grace had ; but Grace 
 was the best educated, both as to religious 
 instruction and solid acquirements. Her 
 grandfather, an old clergyman, who had 
 taken up his residence for the last ten years 
 of his Hfe with his married daughter, had 
 carefully attended to her education ; and 
 although she was only fourteen years of age 
 when he died, he had laid the foundation of 
 religion, truthfulness, and good sense — all of 
 which acquirements were invaluable in her 
 after-walk through hfe. 
 
 Not that there was any thing very shining 
 in the character of Grace : it was like that 
 soft green on which the eye loves to repose. 
 There was nothing in it to dazzle, nothing 
 in it to overpower ; but every thing that is
 
 14. THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 valuable in woman seemed blended there in 
 its due proportion, as far as the frailty of 
 human nature permits. 
 
 But, after all, it is not at the age in which 
 Grace now is, that a character can be well 
 described. 
 
 It is only time, place, circumstance, which 
 develop the mind ; and at present, to all 
 appearance, Grace is pretty, gentle, obliging, 
 and rather timid. 
 
 The Society at Seapoint was, as I said 
 before, good, in the common acceptation of 
 the word. Nevertheless there was the same 
 proportion as is to be found in every country 
 town, of tittle-tattle going on. Little mis- 
 chief-makings — unfounded reports — ridicu- 
 lous suppositions — facts unostentatiously 
 exaggerated by being diffused through the 
 alembic of many minds, like" the well-known 
 story of the three black crows, which, when 
 pursued to its fountain-head, proved to be — 
 
 " Something that was as black, sir, as a crow."
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 15 
 
 It is very true, however, that there are 
 always people in those places who never 
 hear a word of what is talked about on 
 those subjects. 
 
 They are those who, either from being 
 immersed in business of their own, or from 
 having well-cnltivated minds, give them- 
 selves but httle trouble concerning the 
 trivial reports of the day. 
 
 Such people contrive to keep themselves 
 aloof from the bickerings, coolnesses, and 
 differences which others fall into, and which 
 are the reasons that many eschew a village 
 or small town as they would the plague. 
 
 The family of Mr. Neville was of this 
 class. He was occupied in his banking 
 business ; Mrs. Neville, a plain-mannered, 
 sensible woman, was taken up in regulating 
 her house, and instructing her two younger 
 daughters, Emma and Lucy, assisted by 
 Grace; while Grace herself had so many 
 pursuits, some of a serious, others of a
 
 16 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 lighter nature, that she was perfectly free 
 from this prevailing foible. 
 
 Even her neighbour, Miss Kitty Chatter- 
 ton, seldom ventured to entertain her with 
 any of her various suppositions. Grace was 
 a great deal too quiet and matter-of-fact for 
 her; she thought her scarcely pretty, and 
 not at all agreeable, and often wondered 
 what the men saw to hke in her. " Grace 
 was a good girl, certainly," she said, " and 
 would make a nice wife for an old widower 
 like Dr. Davis, with his six children : she 
 wondered if he thought of her still. She 
 was sure he did at one time." 
 
 The last time she met Grace she had tried 
 to teaze her about old Dr. Davis; but 
 Grace only laughed at her, and the more she 
 talked, the more Grace seemed amused. 
 This did not please Miss Kitty at all, so she 
 went on another tack, and began to allude 
 to a Mr. Frederick Carrington. At this 
 Grace blushed and looked displeased ; and
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 17 
 
 somebody coming up at the time, prevented 
 Miss Kitty's further impertinence. 
 
 " Ha ! ha 1 Miss Grace/' thought she, 
 "I see how the land Kes ; but Frederick 
 Carrington is poor, and your papa will never 
 give his consent. I dare say, now, he 
 would like that rich cousin of yours — at 
 least, you call him a cousin, although I be- 
 lieve he is half-a-dozen degrees removed — 
 Mr. Morley. I know every one says he is 
 a confirmed old bachelor : however, we shall 
 see ; and, at any rate, I can have a fine quiz 
 about him next time we meet." 
 
 The opportunity soon arrived. Grace was 
 returning from a country walk one fine after- 
 noon, leading one of her little sisters by the 
 hand, when she met Miss Kitty Chatterton 
 riding. 
 
 Kitty stopped her frisky little pony, and 
 immediately began : — 
 
 '' Oh, Grace ! so there you are, and quite 
 by yourself, I declare/', screamed out Miss
 
 18 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Kitty. " What have you done with your 
 beau, Mr. Morley ? — I heard he arrived last 
 night. Oh, you may well blush, and pre- 
 tend to look surprised about it — everybody 
 in the county knows you are engaged to 
 him." 
 
 " I engaged to Mr. Morley l" exclaimed 
 poor Grace, with much vexation. " Really, 
 Kitty, you ought not to set such reports 
 afloat : I assure you we have neither of us 
 ever dreamed of such a thing. You know 
 Mr. Morley is a cousin of my mother's, and 
 it is very natural he should spend some time 
 with us occasionally." 
 
 " Ha ! ha !" rejoined Miss Chatterton, 
 with a loud laugh ; " you may say what 
 you like, demure Miss Grace, but it is all 
 quite true. You and he are certainly en- 
 gaged. I told Frederick Carrington about 
 it yesterday, and said I'd be sure to send 
 him green ribands when you are married." 
 
 " Oh, Kitty, how jcould you tell Mr. Car-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 19 
 
 rington, or any one else, such a story?'* 
 exclaimed Grace, trying to conceal her agi- 
 tation. " Instead of setting such a report 
 afloat, pray, Kitty, if you hear it spoken of, 
 contradict it. You may believe me — I as- 
 sure you, you may believe me — ^there is not 
 a word of truth in it." 
 
 " Good bye, Grace ! good bye !" said 
 Miss Kitty, touching her pony, and nodding 
 and laughing. " I contradict it, when I'm 
 sure it is true ! — no, indeed, I shall do no 
 such thing. Mind, you send me a bit of 
 the bride-cake to dream on, and pray send 
 Frederick Carrington a large piece. Good 
 bye ! good bye I" And so saying, the 
 thoughtless young lady gaUopped off full 
 speed. 
 
 Miss Kitty had not proceeded far, how- 
 ever, before she stopped to speak to a group 
 of young people who were approaching. 
 
 " How do you do, Bessie ? — how do you 
 do, Annie? Where are you going, Mr.
 
 20 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Carrington, looking so grave ? — I am glad 
 to see you out. Miss Ellersly ; I hope you 
 have quite got rid of the heavy cold you 
 caught at our last ball. Do you know who 
 I met just now ? — I dare say you met her 
 too — ^though I don't think you could, for 
 now I remember she was going the other 
 way — Grace Neville all alone — no, not quite 
 alone, her little sister was with her, but she 
 was not accompanied by her intended ; I dare 
 say she was expecting him. He is a gentle- 
 manly looking man, though not very young. 
 Is he not ? I always thought Grace was a 
 sly one. Oh ! you must not run away, Mr. 
 Carrington, you must wait and hear what I 
 said to Miss Neville about you." 
 
 " About me, Miss Chatterton !" exclaimed 
 the handsome but reserved - looking Mr. 
 Carrington, while a deep glow could be 
 seen upon his dark cheek. 
 
 " Yes, about you, Mr. Carrington," re- 
 turned the giggling Kitty. " I told sly
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 21 
 
 Miss Grace I would send you a bunch of 
 green ribands when she was married to Mr. 
 Morley." 
 
 " Miss Kitty Chatterton honours me 
 highly by giving me so much of her 
 thoughts," replied the young man coldly 
 and rather haughtily. 
 
 Miss Kitty only laughed the more — 
 touched her pony with the whip, then shook 
 it at Mr. Carrington — nodded to the rest 
 of the party, and gallopped on. 
 
 Mr. Carrington walked on silently and 
 musingly by the side of his two companions. 
 " It is very likely ft may be a match," 
 remarked one of the young ladies. 
 
 " Oh yes !" replied another, "Kitty Chat- 
 terton tells me whenever he is here, they 
 are always together; and you know she 
 must see all that is going on, for they are 
 near neighbours, she and Miss Neville." 
 
 " Kitty Chatterton is very giddy," said 
 a third, "but I do not think she would say
 
 22 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 it SO positively, if she had not some founda- 
 tion for it/' 
 
 " She tells me she knows they were at- 
 tached before he went abroad," observed 
 the first speaker. 
 
 "Very likely," replied one of the others; 
 " Mr. Morley is a relative, and has been in 
 the habit of visiting at the house since she 
 was a child. I do not see why it should 
 not be a match." 
 
 " Young ladies are always thinking and 
 talking about matches," remarked Mr. Car- 
 rington, rather sarcastically. " I cannot ima- 
 gine what they find to talk about after they 
 are married." 
 
 " All the girls say you will certainly be 
 an old bachelor," lisped out a little girl six 
 years of age, looking up in his face and 
 smiling. 
 
 " I think I shall," replied he very gravely, 
 " but no, — come Lizzy," and he stooped 
 down to kiss the pretty child who turned
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 23 
 
 away coquettishly from him, " come, you 
 shall save me from being an old bachelor. — 
 If you promise to wait for me and be my 
 little wife, I will come home from India in 
 twenty years." 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Carrington, you are not going 
 out to India, are you?" exclaimed aU the 
 fair ones with one voice. 
 
 " Yes I am," said he, still stooping down 
 and caressing the little girl ; " come, Lizzy, 
 come, you must tell me ; shall I return in 
 twenty years from India, and make you my 
 wife?" 
 
 " No, no !" exclaimed the pretty Lizzy, 
 laughing, " you will be a very old man then 
 —you will have grey hair." 
 
 " What a prudent little girl ! — true, I 
 shall be an old man indeed," and he laughed. 
 
 " But good bye, ladies — I see you are 
 going in to dinner — let me open the gate 
 for you, — I shall have a long walk over the 
 hills before I return home to mine — fare-
 
 24 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 well — au revoir,'' and he kissed his hand 
 gracefully. 
 
 The young ladies separated after they 
 entered the gate, some one way, some an- 
 other, to their respective homes. All agreed 
 in thinking, upon the testimony of Miss 
 Kitty, that Grace Neville was about to be 
 married to Mr. Morley, or, at least, that she 
 was engaged to him ; and all wondered if 
 it was really true that Mr. Carrington was 
 going out to India. 
 
 It was Mr. Carrington's dinner-hour like- 
 wise, but he had no mind for dinner — ^his 
 solitary mutton chop could wait for his re- 
 turn ; so with long strides, and in a thought- 
 ful mood, he turned his steps in the direc- 
 tion of the open common, from which a 
 view might be had of the distant ocean.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Slow'let me climb the mountain's airy brow, 
 The green height gain'd, in museful rapture lie, 
 
 Sleep to the murmur of the woods below, 
 Or look on nature with a lover's eye. 
 
 Langhornb. 
 
 This was holiday time, and Frederick Car- 
 rington, unshackled by his usual routine of 
 school duties, could strike out at will into 
 those long rambles and fishing excursions 
 which, as a boy, he had so much delighted 
 in ; for though no one was more highly re- 
 spected, or had won more golden opinions, 
 than had Frederick Carrington, his position 
 in Hfe was no higher than that of an usher at 
 
 a school. 
 
 c
 
 26 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 His musings to-day were rather of a 
 gloomy description ; yet at this time they 
 ought to have been otherwise, for brighter 
 prospects than he could have anticipated a 
 few months before were opening upon him. 
 His prospects were brighter, and in the 
 morning his hopes were brighter too ; but 
 Frederick was not a vain or a very sanguine 
 man, and a few idle words spoken by the 
 giddy girls he had accidentally met with on 
 his way, had served to throw a dark cloud 
 over those newly developed hopes. 
 
 Frederick Carrington was the only child 
 of a respectable clergyman, formerly a resi- 
 dent in the neighbourhood, and who had 
 been united in close ties of friendship with 
 the father of Grace Neville. 
 
 Young Carrington was intended from an 
 early age for the church, and received from 
 his good father an education suited to fit 
 him for so sacred a profession. His mother
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 27 
 
 had died early, and this training up of his 
 only child had been to Mr. Carrington the 
 great solace of his existence after her death. 
 
 Frederick had, however, the misfortune 
 to lose this last and much revered parent 
 when he was about eighteen years of age, 
 and this heavy deprivation put an entire 
 stop to his project of entering the church. 
 
 The small pittance his father left behind 
 was insufficient to support him in college, 
 and, by the advice of his friends, Frederick 
 sought, and obtained, the situation of usher 
 in a neighbouring school of high repute, it 
 being patronized by all the best families in 
 the country. 
 
 He had toiled on thus for six years, in 
 the same school, and, at the time in which 
 we write, was the head usher, on whom the 
 weight and responsibility of every thing de- 
 volved. This sedentary life, and the con- 
 stant cares attendant on his position, — for 
 
 c 2
 
 28 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 the clergyman who was the head of the 
 establishment was now a very old man, and 
 unable to undertake any of the duties of the 
 school, — did not agree with Frederick's 
 health. Doctors looked grave. His short 
 cough was attributed to symptoms of pul- 
 monary disease inherited from his mother, 
 and a change of air was recommended — 
 change of air for a poor usher ! 
 
 Just at this period an old schoolfellow of 
 bis deceased father, and whose name he had 
 ;iot heard of for years, unsolicited and unex- 
 pectedly wrote to Prederick to say that he 
 had never forgotten the friendship which, in 
 youth, had subsisted between the late Mr. 
 Carrington and himself, but that until now 
 le had had no opportunity of showing his 
 recollection of it to his son. 
 
 The writer went on to say, that being on 
 a visit with an old acquaintance at Chelten- 
 ham, he had accidentally heard from the
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 29 
 
 son of his friend, just returned home for 
 the vacation from the school where Mr. 
 Carrington was usher, of Mr. Carrington's 
 having been educated for the church, and 
 of the heavy disappointment he had ex- 
 perienced on his father's death, at not being 
 able to make it his profession. That upon 
 this, he had applied to the Bishop of Cal- 
 cutta, now in London, with whom he was 
 on terms of great intimacy, stating the case 
 to him, and mentioning how highly indebted 
 he should feel to his lordship, if he could, 
 in any way, forward the views of one, whose 
 father had been his earhest and dearest 
 friend. 
 
 The Bishop's reply was most favourable. 
 He said that he considered a young man of 
 Mr. Carrington's abilities and character 
 would be an acquisition to the church ; and 
 that as he was about to have an ordination 
 in a few weeks, if Mr. Carrington would
 
 so THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 come up to London, he would ordain him 
 as a literate — not having taken his degree 
 at a rmiversity — and should a chaplaincy in 
 India suit his views, he would be happy to 
 give him an appointment there, whither he 
 himself was about to return in the space of 
 two months. 
 
 This letter was most grateful to Frederick 
 in every respect. Grateful to his feelings 
 as a son, from the proof it contained of the 
 writer's early friendship for his honoiu-ed 
 parent. Grateful as it related to himself, 
 from the laudatory mention he perceived his 
 young pupil must have made of him. The 
 name was not mentioned, but it could be 
 none other than young Talbot, a boy of 
 good abilities, but nervous and shy in the 
 extreme, with whom he had taken great 
 pains, giving up to him as much of his 
 leisure hours as he could well spare, all the 
 other masters having pronounced him in- 
 corrigibly dull.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 31 
 
 Frederick little thought when he took 
 the dispirited boy in hand, that his kindness 
 would be thus returned in a fourfold mea- 
 sure, and that he would be a stepping-stone 
 to hi^ entrance into the church, to which 
 his incHnations and early predilections still 
 made him turn many a longing look. 
 
 The boy had been a delicate child from 
 his birth, and having been left in India 
 — where his father had an appointment 
 in the Company's service, — for a longer 
 period than children are, in general, allowed 
 to remain there, had acquired a constitu- 
 tional indolence, which, with a painful de- 
 gree of shyness, rendered it impossible for 
 him, without the aid of some supporting 
 spirit, to make his way in a public school. 
 
 The task learned with nervous anxiety, 
 died upon his lips when called upon to re- 
 peat it, while his sensitive nature shrank
 
 32 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 from the disgrace which a failure drew upon 
 him. 
 
 Frederick had marked the unhappy boy 
 turning from his untasted meals, and seeking, 
 with soHtary steps, the remote corner of 
 the play-ground, where a row of yew trees 
 shed a melancholy gloom upon the walk 
 beneath, there to indulge, his playmates 
 said, a dogged and sullen disposition. 
 
 Frederick had sought out the boy at 
 those times, and endeavoured to insinuate 
 himself into his confidence, and to study 
 what might be the real temper of his mind. 
 He soon found that young Talbot had 
 kindly and honourable feelings, and no 
 mean abilities, if he could be inspired with 
 self-dependence, and taught to exert himself 
 unremittingly. 
 
 The boy, whom kindness could mould 
 into any form, while severity only drove 
 him to despair and paralyzed his faculties,
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 33 
 
 no sooner perceived that he had found a 
 friend in Mr. Carrington, the head usher, 
 than a new impulse was given to his exer- 
 tions. This was two years ago, and long 
 before that period had elapsed, he had over- 
 come the difficulties with which a too sen- 
 sitive temperament had surrounded him, 
 and did not yield to any boy in the school 
 in displaying a full share of industry and 
 ability ; and all this he owed entirely to the 
 discriminating kindness and good judgment 
 of Mr. Carrington. 
 
 But to return. This offer of a chaplaincy 
 in India was too advantageous — coming too 
 at a time when a change of occupation and 
 climate were insisted on by his medical ad- 
 viser — not to be joyfully accepted by our 
 poor usher, and with it came other views 
 too ; hopes sternly crushed in the bud, 
 opened Hke the wild flowers trampled under 
 foot, whose elastic stems rise refreshed by. 
 
 c3
 
 34 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 the night dews. Grace Neville — yes, Grace 
 Neville rose before him in her timid, quiet, 
 feminine beauty. Others might be fairer, 
 sprighther, more accomplished, — but who 
 was so good ? 
 
 Grace and he had been playmates early ; 
 he had often helped her to learn a hard 
 task, and had instructed her in the biblical 
 questions, for which she got her first prize 
 — a pocket Bible, at the yearly examinations 
 
 held at the school of , and for a 
 
 knowledge of which her grandfather had 
 given her so much credit, when he took 
 upon himself the trouble of instructing her, 
 Grace being only six years old then. 
 
 Often, as a boy, Frederick had thought, 
 what a nice wife Grace would make for a 
 clergyman. Then an old-fashioned par- 
 sonage house, half hidden among orchard- 
 ing, not far from his church, with a few 
 acres of glebe land and a good garden,
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 85 
 
 which he might partly cultivate himself, 
 was the summit of his wishes. There must 
 be a clear stream close at hand where he 
 might spend a leisure hour in fishing ; and 
 as a parson always wishes for a wife, Grace 
 Neville made part of the picture. 
 
 But on his father's death he had banished 
 all those visions, and looked, with a steady 
 eye, on the realities of life. He saw no- 
 thing before him but the toilsome occupa- 
 tion of assisting in a school. 
 
 He met Grace occasionally, it is true, and 
 she was always the same — kind and gentle. 
 
 She never seemed to remember that she 
 was a rich banker's daughter, and that he 
 was only a poor usher ; and he dined at 
 Mr. Neville's house sometimes, but not near 
 so often as he was invited, for he had always 
 some plea of business, study, &c., to excuse 
 himself, except in the vacation, and then he 
 was obhged to go.
 
 36 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Mr. Neville never ceased to see in him 
 the son of his old friend, one who stennned 
 the tide of adversity with a firm, unrepining 
 spirit, and honoured him as such ; he did 
 not suspect him of having any preference 
 for Grace ; but had he done so, and had 
 Frederick a competence, there was no one 
 to whom he would sooner have intrusted the 
 happiness of his daughter.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE, 37 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " Must I those joys, those hopes, resign? 
 Is all her friendship come to this ?" 
 
 On the following day there was a dinner 
 party at Mr. Neville's house. 
 
 He did not live in the town, but had an 
 office there, to carry on his banking business. 
 His residence was a pretty country place 
 called Woodside, about a quarter of a mile 
 from it, near enough for all the conveniences 
 of a town, yet sufficiently removed to par- 
 take of all the enjoyments and accompani- 
 ments of rural life. 
 
 There were gardens and shrubberies, a 
 lawn where the fresh-mown hay diffused it&
 
 S8 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 perfume, and at the bottom of which ran a 
 good trout stream — ^just such a stream as 
 in his boyish days Frederick Carrington 
 used to fancy he should like near his par- 
 sonage house. Altogether it was a charming 
 residence. Grace and her sisters were fond 
 of it, and in summer a bower in the garden 
 was the spot where they most frequently 
 pursued their studies. 
 
 Grace had been sent to a good school 
 for a couple of years after her grandfather's 
 death, and this had initiated her into all 
 the routine of teaching, so that she made 
 a very clever and efficient schoolmistress. 
 
 Mr. Morley had often stood by while 
 Grace was hearing her two httle pupils 
 their French lesson, and had admired her 
 gentleness and good method of instruction. 
 He thought her a very pretty and amiable 
 girl, and had known her from a child ; but 
 as to falhng in love with her, it was the
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 39 
 
 last thing that would have entered into his 
 head. He did not at all contemplate ma- 
 trimony, and, indeed, considered himself, as 
 did many of his friends, a complete and 
 privileged old bachelor. 
 
 He was a cousin, though in a remote de- 
 gree, to Mrs. Neville, who, as a girl, had 
 been accustomed to pay frequent long visits 
 to his mother. This early acquaintanceship 
 he had never dropped, but had, ever since 
 her marriage, been in the habit of coming to 
 see her and Mr. Neville for a few days, be- 
 fore he went on his yearly summer excursion. 
 
 This annual visit was looked upon as a 
 kind of fete in the family, and while he re- 
 mained with them, a round of dinner parties 
 generally took place in their circle. 
 
 As I said before, there was a dinner party 
 at Mr. Neville's, to which all the neighbour- 
 hood were invited, and amongst the rest 
 Frederick Carrington.
 
 40 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Frederick had no excuse to make, as it 
 was vacation time, and he was an idle man 
 for a while ; so, though rather reluctantly, 
 (and he could scarcely tell this time why he 
 was so reluctant,) he promised to join the 
 party. Formerly the great disparity in cir- 
 cumstance and position between himself and 
 Grace Neville, and the danger he incurred 
 of fanning the fire of long-extinguished hope, 
 made him, whenever it was possible, with- 
 draw from the dangerous charm of her 
 society ; but now he should meet her on 
 different ground— his views, his fortune, his 
 situation in life, were changed. 
 
 The truth was, Miss Kitty Chatterton's 
 gossip had made a painful impression on the 
 mind of the young man. Nothing seemed 
 to him more natural than that Mr. Morley, 
 a sensible man, and his own master, should 
 fancy the amiable, unaffected Grace. In 
 his eyes, she was the most charming girl he
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 41 
 
 had ever seen, and why should she not be 
 so in those of Mr. Morley ? He had not 
 heard a rumour of this intended marriage, 
 before his meeting with Miss Kitty Chatter- 
 ton the preceding day, although the report 
 was prevalent ; nobody dreaming that it had 
 been entirely originated and spread by Miss 
 Kitty herself. He had been on the way to 
 take his usual solitary walk, when he fell in 
 with the group of young people before 
 mentioned, all of whom he was well ac- 
 quainted with, and it was with much pain 
 he heard them confirm Miss Kitty's sur- 
 mises. 
 
 This had given an entirely new turn to 
 his meditations ; and he was hardly aware 
 himself what hopes this prospect of a 
 chaplaincy in India had awakened in his 
 bosom, until a sudden cloud was so speedily 
 cast over them. 
 
 Nevertheless this dinner party, though so
 
 42 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 reluctantly accepted, would, he thought, give 
 him an opportunity of observing Grace's 
 behaviour towards Mr. Morley. He had 
 two months to remain in England, before he 
 set sail for India, and a great deal might be 
 done in two months. 
 
 The dinner party passed off like most 
 dinner parties. Politics were discussed 
 among the elder portion of the guests, and 
 balls and entertainments among the younger. 
 
 Poor Prederick was doomed to the mor- 
 tification of sitting near Miss Kitty Chatter- 
 ton, and hearing her remarks upon the 
 attentions Mr. Morley was paying to Grace. 
 Mr. Morley, quiet, dignified and rather 
 silent, might perhaps have talked a Httle 
 more to Grace than to any one else. He 
 was not very fond of female society, and 
 thought it a great bore to be obliged to 
 answer all Miss Ellersly's questions about 
 French operas, ballets, and theatricals, places
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 43 
 
 which he seldom ever frequented, and in 
 which he felt very little interest. 
 
 Miss Ellersly, who was an affected, and 
 not very juvenile, young lady, had spent a 
 few months at Paris and was quite entetee 
 about everything Parisien. 
 
 Now it happened that Mr. Morley did 
 not like Paris. As soon as he was of age 
 he had set out on the grand tour, and had 
 visited, in turn, the capital cities of most of 
 the countries in Europe ; but this he had 
 done, mote with a view to literary and 
 scientific pursuits, than mere amusement. 
 His taste lay in another direction, and he in- 
 finitely preferred the solitary walking tours, 
 in which he had indulged himself of later 
 years. In this way, with his fishing-rod in 
 his hand, and a sketch book and pencil in 
 his pocket, he had walked through great 
 part of France, Switzerland, and Italy. 
 
 Every summer saw him excurse in some
 
 44 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 different direction from what he had done 
 the preceding one, while the winters were 
 spent at home in the old family mansion, 
 where, immersed in literary pursuits, he felt 
 no want of a companion. 
 
 To a man of this kind, the chit-chat of 
 Miss Ellersly w^as any thing but entertain- 
 ing; so it was no w^onder if he addressed 
 himself as much as possible to the quiet 
 Grace, between whom and Miss Ellersly 
 he was seated ; yet nothing particular could 
 have been detected in his attentions towards 
 her, by any eye but the jaundiced one of 
 Frederick Carrington. 
 
 Grace, however, was looking remarkably 
 happy. A pleased expression played about 
 her pretty mouth, and her soft hazel eye 
 sparkled with unusual vivacity. The truth 
 was, she had heard that morning of Fred- 
 erick's good fortune, and a thousand vague 
 and indefinite visions rose unbidden before 
 her.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 45 
 
 Frederick had never spoken of love to 
 
 Jher since his young boyish days. Then he 
 
 ^vould help her to learn her lessons, pet her, 
 
 and call her his little vrife. As she grew 
 
 up, the quick eye of female penetration 
 
 read his secret — her fancies, her choice of 
 
 plays were always consulted first. Her 
 
 hand at the dancing-master's ball, or her 
 
 side in the juvenile pic-nic parties, was 
 
 always seized upon with eagerness. Then 
 
 came the death of Frederick's father, and 
 
 the consequent change in his prospects — no 
 
 parsonage house — no gentle Grace to help 
 
 him in his parochial duties, to visit the sick 
 
 and attend with him the village school, now 
 
 rose before him — he saw but a life of 
 
 poverty and exertion. He knew that he 
 
 had no chance of ever obtaining her hand, 
 
 and he withdrew from bestowing on Grace 
 
 those marks of preference hitherto so sweetly 
 
 accepted by her ; and, indeed, as much as
 
 46 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 he possibly could, from seeing her ; but this 
 last he found more difficult than the first. 
 His character stood too high in the neigh- 
 bourhood for his friends to permit him to 
 separate himself entirely from them, so that 
 he and Grace did see each other frequently ; 
 although, perhaps a single word, or a bow, 
 or passing smile, was all the intercoinse they 
 had. But Grace intuitively understood his 
 feelings, and only loved him the more for the 
 fortitude he shewed. She was satisfied in 
 her own mind that Frederick preferred her 
 to every one else ; and that it was only his 
 poverty and sense of rectitude which pre- 
 vented him from displaying that preference as 
 formerly. 
 
 The gentlemen did not sit long after the 
 ladies retired from the dining-table, but 
 speedily joined them in the drawing-room. 
 
 They found them about to put on their 
 shawls and bonnets, with the intention of
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 47 
 
 taking a walk, and proposed to accompany 
 them. 
 
 No lanes could be more beautiful than the 
 lanes around Woodside. The spring flowers 
 were not yet gone, and the honeysuckles 
 and wild roses perfumed the hedges. 
 
 After a little consultation, the party agreed 
 to set off* in the direction of a particular 
 bank, where grew, in great profusion and 
 quite wild, large patches of the sweet 
 scented violet. The hedge rows were vocal 
 with the melody of birds, and the brilliant 
 red-robin, the dehcate blue eye-bright, and 
 the tall fox-glove bordered the edges of 
 the lanes. 
 
 Grace glanced around to see if Frederick 
 Carrington would not at least endeavour to 
 join her. But no — Miss Kitty Chatterton 
 had seized upon him, and was pouring forth 
 her volubility into ears which scarcely heard 
 a word she uttered, while Mr. Morley, fear-
 
 48 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 ful that he should have to escort Miss El- 
 lersly, sought with apparent eagerness 
 Grace's side. The others followed so 
 closely in twos and threes, that a pretty 
 general conversation was kept up, and their 
 walk, through winding lanes and green fields, 
 then through a deep valley, and home by the 
 high road, gave pleasure to every one except 
 Grace Neville and Frederick Carrington. 
 
 A consciousness of how much she was 
 interested in him, and an idea that he 
 avoided her, prevented Grace from express- 
 ing to Frederick Carrington how rejoiced 
 she felt at his being about to enter the 
 church, and of his prospect of obtaining a 
 chaplaincy in India, while he saw in her 
 silence, and in the attention which he fancied 
 Mr. Morley paid her, a confirmation of Miss 
 Kitty Chatterton's intelligence. 
 
 " Yes," he thought, as he sat silent and 
 absorbed for half an hour in the little par-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 49 
 
 lour of his lodging, with the one candle, 
 which the attentive landlady had placed upon 
 the table, as he entered, to light him to his 
 bedroom, burning dimly with a wick two 
 inches long. " Yes, I see how it is — Grace 
 is engaged to Mr. Morley, but I will have it 
 from her own lips before I go to India." 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 50 THE DOUBLE MAERIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 " In that mansion used to be, 
 Free-hearted hospitality ; 
 His great fires up the chimney roared, 
 The stranger feasted at his board." 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 A FRIEND had called on Mr. Morley a few 
 mornings before he started on his customary 
 tour. 
 
 '* Morley," said Mr. Stanhope, " have you 
 a mind to join a party who are going to ex- 
 curse into the Highlands of Scotland this 
 summer ? There are half-a-dozen of us who 
 have settled to go." 
 
 " My good fellow, I should be most 
 happy," rephed the other, " if I had not set
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 51 
 
 my mind upon a fishing excursion to the 
 Lakes of Killarney." 
 
 " I know you talked of it last summer/' 
 replied Stanhope, " but I was in hopes you 
 had put it off until next year. Are you 
 quite determined about it ? I wish you 
 would change your mind, and accompany 
 us." 
 
 " All my preparations are made, and I 
 start - to-morrow," returned Mr. Morley. 
 "It is not quite a fishing excursion, neither. 
 — You know I have taken a turn for anti- 
 quarian researches lately, and there are 
 several of the old ruins which I see men- 
 tioned in Grose's Irish Antiquities, that I 
 should like to examine. Strange to say, 
 amongst all the countries I have visited, I 
 have never yet been in Ireland. The coast 
 too, along the counties Clare and Kerry, is, 
 I understand, very curious." 
 
 " Yes, I was there once myself," rephed 
 
 D 2 
 
 LIBRARY 
 UNJVERSmr OF ILLINC
 
 52 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Mr. Stanhope ; " a wild, picturesque country. 
 I ran over for a week or two, some years ago, 
 on the invitation of an old school-fellow, 
 Redmund Graham e ; a wild fellow, who was 
 just come into his property thereabout. I 
 liear he quite sobered down afterwards ; but 
 how he kept himself out of the late dis- 
 turbances, I cannot imagine ; for, as a youth, 
 his politics, though a Protestant, were all on 
 the Catholic side. By-the-bye, there is an 
 extensive monastic ruin, in good preserva- 
 tion, in his grounds. I had better give you 
 a letter of introduction to him. He is hos- 
 pitable as a prince." 
 
 " The name does not sound like an Irish 
 name," said Morley ; " it has not got an O 
 or a Mac to it." 
 
 " Nevertheless, the family is truly Irish," 
 replied Stanhope, laughing ; " at least, if a 
 couple of hundred years' residence in Ireland 
 can make them so. I think I have heard
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 53 
 
 Grahame say, too, that his mother was an 
 O'Donoghoo, or a MagilHcuddy. But no 
 matter as to his genealogy. I'll write a few 
 lines at once, and you can either burn them 
 or make use of them, just as you please. 
 Grahame's aunt was married to one of the 
 Clarkes of Somersetshire, which brought him 
 over to this country for a time, when he was 
 a young man, and threw him in my way." 
 
 While Mr. Stanhope was thus speaking, 
 he had drawn a chair towards the table, and 
 had begun writing the note in question. 
 
 Mr. Morley took it, with thanks, but he 
 did not think he should make use of it. He 
 was not fond of making new acquaintances. 
 He was quite English, in the sense that our 
 continental neighbours are accustomed to in- 
 terpret the word ; for he had all that dis- 
 tance and reserve of manner which puts on 
 the appearance of pride, without springing 
 from such a source.
 
 54 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 A well-stored mind, always occupied in 
 some intellectual pursuit, prevented him from 
 feeling any want of society, and his love of 
 independence, of having the power to take any 
 route that sudden inclination prompted him 
 to, made him prefer going on these sort of 
 excursions by himself. 
 
 He liked putting up in an out-of-the-way 
 place, fishing where there was not the trouble 
 of asking for permission ; if there was no 
 fishing he had his sketch-book — if there 
 was nothing to sketch, he could botanize ; 
 and thus he was used to make out his soli- 
 tary summer ramble much to his satisfaction. 
 
 He had travelled in this most delightfully 
 idle manner — delightful to him at least — 
 through great part of Switzerland and Ger- 
 many the preceding summer. One summer 
 he had spent in Norway, another in Italy, 
 and so on. Scotland he had been through 
 twice, and Ireland being new ground, he
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 55 
 
 anticipated much pleasure from his excur- 
 sion. Nor was he disappointed, though it 
 was not exactly the sort of pleasure he had 
 looked for. 
 
 After much wandering about, the month 
 of August found him fishing, botanizing, 
 and sketching alternately, in the remote part 
 of the county Kerry, where Mr. Grahame 
 resided. 
 
 He had no need to make use of his letter 
 of introduction, in order to get sight of the 
 monastery, which he understood was well 
 worth the trouble of examination, for he 
 soon learned from the peasantry that the 
 grounds were free to all, to walk in and out 
 as they liked. Broken-down fences — gates 
 tied with an old rope — paths across the 
 fields in every direction seemed to make a 
 common property of it, whilst the family 
 mansion, seen in a distant perspective 
 through the thick copse-wood of oak by
 
 56 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 which it was surrounded, and in most parts 
 covered over with ivy, had in itself much 
 more the air of an old ruin, than that of a 
 gentleman's residence. 
 
 Mr. Morley had examined the monastery, 
 which, although not mentioned in Grose's 
 Antiquities, was very extensive, copied some 
 curious, half-defaced inscriptions — filled his 
 basket with fine trout from a stream which 
 ran close beside it, and was returning 
 home — videlicet, to the little inn in the 
 neighbouring village, where he had put up ; 
 when, turning short from a lane towards 
 a gate which led to a meadow, bordering on 
 the high road, he beheld his passage inter- 
 cepted by a vision of a young girl sitting 
 on the top of the gate through which he 
 was to pass. She was carelessly balancing 
 herself, and swinging backwards and for- 
 wards her little foot, while she endeavoured, 
 but without success, to entice a large dog,
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 57 
 
 who seemed to look up rather sulkily at her, 
 to leap into the meadow. 
 
 " Come, Diver, come here — that's a good 
 dog — leap. Diver, leap !" exclaimed the girl 
 in animated tones, with a sweet musical 
 laugh, as she alternately beckoned to the 
 dog, and then pointed to the half of the 
 closed gate, which she had left vacant for 
 him to leap over. But Diver, who appeared 
 to be a species of water-dog, and who would 
 have had no objection to have fetched from 
 the water for his mistress stick, or glove, or 
 whatever she chose to throw in for him, had 
 no predilection for kaping gates. 
 
 So eager was the young girl in endea- 
 vouring to impress upon the dog the neces- 
 sity of leaping the gate, that she did not 
 perceive the stranger, who was standing 
 close by, waiting to pass through it. 
 
 " Now, Diver, you shall get no supper until 
 you leap the gate," continued the laughing 
 
 D 3
 
 58 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 girl, " here I am determined to stay until 
 you leap— that's a good Diver— come, leap 
 now— leap ;" and the girl clapped her little 
 white hands and laughed loudly, as Diver, 
 apparently rather moved by his mistress's 
 entreaties, made a half motion as if he would 
 leap. 
 
 While she was thus engaged, Mr. Morley 
 had leisure to observe her. 
 
 She appeared to be little more than a child, 
 although in reality she was eighteen years 
 of age. Her straw hat was thrown so far 
 back, that it would have fallen off, had it 
 not been fastened under her chin by a ribbon ; 
 her gloves were lying on the ground, near 
 the gate ; in truth, she had rolled them up in 
 a ball, and had been making Diver fetch 
 and carry them, before she had resorted to 
 the amusement of teaching him to leap. A 
 profusion of fair hair, with a golden tint 
 through it, partly shaded her deep blue eyes
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 59 
 
 and rather sunburnt face, while her smiling 
 rosy lips displayed teeth di perle elette, as 
 she by turns scolded and coaxed her un- 
 couth favourite, while her short petticoat 
 showed off to advantage her sHght ankles 
 and small feet. 
 
 At length she turned her head, and be- 
 holding a gentleman, with a sketch-book 
 under his arm, and a fishing-rod in his 
 hand, standing as if irresolute what he should 
 do — ^turn back, or wait until she was tired 
 of sitting upon the gate — with a sudden 
 start, a deep blush, and a Hght spring, she 
 was on the ground before him, gracefully 
 apologizing for her apparent rudeness. 
 
 Mr. Morley had felt rather in an awkward 
 position, while gazing on her, as she ba- 
 lanced her pretty httle figiu-e on this unusual 
 resting place. He was puzzled as to what 
 class of society she belonged, but now it 
 flashed across his mind that she most hkely
 
 60 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Avas a Miss Grahame, and he began directly 
 to make a not very clear apology for having 
 intruded into the grounds. 
 
 On this head she put him at ease imme- 
 diately, by assuring him that every one who 
 chose vt^ent to look at the monastery. 
 
 '' Papa would be highly pleased," she said, 
 '' to hear that a gentleman had been taking 
 sketches of it." As she spoke she glanced at 
 the portfolio under his arm — what part of 
 the abbey had he been sketching — she 
 wondered ; had he found out the best point 
 of view? Mr. Morley became confused — an 
 Englishman of his description always gets 
 out of this kind of rencontre in the worst 
 way imaginable, if he wishes to escape 
 making an acquaintance. 
 
 Politeness obliged him to describe, though 
 very unwilhngly, the spot from which he 
 had been taking the sketch. 
 
 " How I should like to see it !" was the 
 immediate reply.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. &1 
 
 Mr. Morley awkwardly enough laid down 
 his fishing-rod, opened the book upon the 
 green bank, and showed his pretty tormentor 
 the unfinished sketch. 
 
 " How Papa would like to see it !" was 
 her next exclamation. 
 
 Just at this instant a sturdy little urchin 
 came running towards them. 
 
 " Ju ! Ju ! sister !" he vociferated with 
 the lungs of a boatswain ; " it is tea time, 
 we want our supper — ^it is past seven 
 o'clock." 
 
 "I am just going in," replied Julia; "you 
 shall have your supper in a few minutes ; 
 desire Thomas to bring in the tea kettle." 
 
 " Well, make haste," returned the child — 
 " come, Diver, come with me," and he 
 scampered off" with Diver at his heels. 
 
 " Papa will be very glad to see you, if 
 you will come in and take tea with us," said 
 the unsophisticated Julia. " I will introduce 
 you."
 
 62 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Mr. Morley absolutely stared with sui- 
 prise — " How forward !" thought he ; but 
 he looked again, and he thought, " How in- 
 nocent !" 
 
 He was, however, on the point of stiffly 
 declining her invitation, but the pretty lips 
 said again, " Do pray come — ^Papa likes to 
 see strangers — he will think me very inhos- 
 pitable, if I do not bring you into tea." 
 
 Mr. Morley was vanquished. The letter 
 of introduction was in his pocket-book. 
 
 " I believe I must introduce myself. Miss 
 Grahame," he replied, after a short hesita- 
 tion, bowing courteously and smiling — '-^ I 
 have a letter from an old college friend of 
 your father in my pocket, Mr. Stanhope." 
 
 " Oh ! I have often heard Papa speak of 
 Mr. Stanhope," returned the enchanted 
 Juha, her blue eyes dancing with animation 
 as she spoke—" But why did you not bring 
 us the letter ? Papa would have been so
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 63 
 
 pleased ! He had a few lines from Mr. Stan- 
 hope a month ago, in which he said his in- 
 timate friend Mr. Morley might perhaps 
 come in this direction." 
 
 Mr. Morley hesitated ; he was but a bad 
 hand at framing excuses. At last he said — 
 
 " My stay in this part of the country was 
 so very uncertain, Miss Grahame, that I did 
 not think — I did not fancy — in short, I did not 
 know that there was such good fishing, and 
 so many interesting subjects for the pencil ;" 
 and here the grave Mr. Morley felt a great 
 inclination to laugh outright. 
 
 Julia was now quite at home with the 
 stranger. This, then, was the identical Mr. 
 Morley, that she had been expecting for the 
 last month ; conjectm^ing what kind of a 
 looking man he was. Was he tall — was he 
 short — was he stout — was he thin? until 
 wearied with fancies, expectancies, and con- 
 jectures, she had at last forgotten to think 
 about him at all.
 
 64 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 She picked up her gloves, tied on her 
 straw hat, and proposed to show him the way 
 to the house. How gaily did she prattle ! 
 with what simplicity, yet with what native 
 eloquence did she express herself ! 
 
 In their walk to the house, of about half 
 a mile, Mr. Morley had found out that his 
 young companion had never been a day ab« 
 sent from this wild neighbourhood ; that her 
 mother had been dead six years ; that she 
 managed all the family — kept house for 
 Papa — taught her little brothers to read and 
 spell — scolded the maids — petted the dogs 
 — galloped about on the pony, and worked 
 in the flower garden. How charming ! what 
 a treat for a philosopher was this simplicity ! 
 Not a word of operas or balls — no mention 
 of " When I was at Paris or Rome " — no dis- 
 sertations on paintings or statues, or the last 
 new novel. 
 
 Mr. Grahame, who had been informed by 
 young Christopher that he had just left Julia
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 65 
 
 talking to a tall gentleman with a fishing-rod 
 in his hand, at the gate leading to the abbey, 
 was standing outside the hall door. 
 
 Julia darted forward and whispered, " Mr. 
 Morley, dear papa — Mr. Stanhope's friend." 
 
 Mr. Grahame advanced immediately, and 
 greeted the stranger with cordial politeness.. 
 When Mr. Grahame spoke, he had an open, 
 frank manner, that was very winning ; al- 
 though, when silent, a dark shade of care 
 rested upon his brow. The impression he 
 generally made, therefore, upon strangerswas 
 favourable, and Mr. Morley was immediately 
 taken by his courteous address. 
 
 A few words more, and Mr. Morley felt 
 that he was received upon the footing of an 
 intimate acquaintance; and this feeling is 
 often very pleasing to a reserved man, who 
 shrinks from the task of making his way 
 amongst strangers. 
 
 But though the reception given him by
 
 66 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 his unexpected and unsought-for host was 
 every way agreeable, Mr. Morley could not 
 but observe the air of complete desolation 
 which overspread both the exterior and in- 
 terior of the mansion. 
 
 The house without, would have been a 
 forlorn-looking ruin, had not ivy, with its 
 long tendrils, concealed the cracks and cre- 
 vices of time. Within, the rooms were 
 uncarpeted, the vdndows without curtains, 
 the paper old, the ceilings discoloured, every 
 thing, in short, marking it as a complete 
 Castle Rackrent. 
 
 The children were of all ages, and came 
 rushing in, looking for their tea from Julia, 
 who appeared to be the eldest amongst them. 
 Fine, open-countenanced, unkempt boys with 
 patched knees and elbows ; — all the mending 
 for them, if the truth was known, done by 
 Julia's hand ; for though wild as themselves, 
 and almost self-taught, her fingers were
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 67 
 
 nimble at her needle and scissors as those 
 of a fairy might be, and she was always 
 ready good-humouredly to answer the various 
 appeals of — " Ju, my elbow has got a great 
 hole in it," — or " Do, Ju, sew this button 
 upon my coat/ 
 
 The tea-table, however, looked very com- 
 fortable, as they all assembled round it, 
 leaving a chair on Julia's left hand vacant 
 for the stranger, who, at a motion from Julia, 
 took his seat beside her. Thomas, the stable 
 boy, had brought in the urn ; Julia was 
 making the tea, and already piles of hot 
 cake and bread and butter began to disap- 
 pear, when all of a sudden there appeared 
 to be a great commotion amongst the young 
 people. Every one jumped up — some 
 pushed a chair here, some there, " Thomas, 
 more cups and saucers," — ''Thomas, more 
 hot cake." 
 
 "What's the matter, my dears? what's
 
 68 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 the matter?" exclaimed Mr. Grahame, who 
 had been talking to his guest across the 
 busy Juha, who was filling cup after cup with 
 indefatigable perseverance; " What is all this 
 noise about ? why do you not sit still ?*' 
 
 " Oh, here's Aunt Milly and Cousins Mary 
 and Jane, and Ellen, and James, all come to 
 take tea with us — there they are, coming up 
 the avenue," cried out half-a-dozen voices 
 at once. 
 
 " Well, we shall be delighted to see them, 
 they are just in time," replied Mr. Gra- 
 hame. 
 
 " Run, Sam, and open the door," whis- 
 pered Julia softly, to a little urchin at her 
 side, " and bring them in ; I have sent Thomas 
 for some more cream." 
 
 Little Sam was always at Julia's beck, and 
 scampered off to do her bidding.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ** Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired." 
 
 Goldsmith, 
 
 Presently the door opened, and little Sam, 
 a boy about six years old, with round rosy 
 cheeks, and a dirty pinafore, ushered in the 
 newly-arrived guests. 
 
 A good-humoured, elderly, unmarried 
 lady, designated as Aunt Milly, entered first, 
 followed by three pretty -looking girls, rather 
 flushed from walking fast, to be in time for 
 tea. Immediately after them came cousin 
 James, a good-looking youth of eighteen. 
 
 Salutations and introductions now took 
 place. Aunt Milly being a great favourite,
 
 70 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE, 
 
 was heartily welcomed by all the young 
 folk. 
 
 " I am so glad you are come this evening," 
 said Julia to Jane, who happened to be the 
 nearest to her ; " this is just the evening we 
 wanted you most." 
 
 Jane nodded and smiled, took off her 
 bonnet, and hung it on the back of her 
 chair, and with a sKght shake of her head 
 shook a profusion of dark curls over her 
 shoulders — she was a brunette. 
 
 " She is pretty too," thought Mr. Morley, 
 " but not near so pretty as Julia." 
 
 The scene at the tea-table was rather a 
 boisterous one. The younger urchins sidled 
 towards their pretty cousins, and two or 
 three favourite dogs came begging for their 
 shares of cake and bread. 
 
 The merits of a new pony, Ellen's papa 
 had bought for her, were discussed, and a 
 ride on it promised to little Sam, provided
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 71 
 
 he did not put his greasy fingers upon her 
 white dress. Cousin James alone was silent. 
 He did not half fancy seeing the stately- 
 looking stranger busily employed in handing 
 the cups and saucers backwards and forwards 
 for the smiling Julia; that corner at her 
 left hand used to have been always taken by 
 himself. 
 
 However, it was altogether a very merry 
 tea-table, and there was something quite new 
 about it to Mr. Morley. Mr. Grahame had 
 relapsed into a taciturnity that had become 
 habitual to him ; but Mr. Morley was so 
 occupied in attending to Julia — reaching her 
 the cream, the sugar, &c. — that he had no 
 time to observe either that, or the melan- 
 choly expression which had taken possession 
 of his host's countenance. 
 
 At length tea was over — the young people 
 looked at each other. What was to be done 
 next ?
 
 72 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Julia said something to Mr. Morley about 
 the adjoining room being cooler, and moving 
 her chair, rose from the table. 
 
 With the exception of Mr. Grahame, all 
 the party rose simultaneously, and followed 
 the footsteps of the fair Julia, who led them 
 into a large, half-furnished apartment. It 
 was dignified with the name of the drawing- 
 room, but had Httle pretensions to that title, 
 being the place where Julia taught her noisy 
 scholars every morning. 
 
 The girls had laid aside their bonnets and 
 slight scarfs, and, seating themselves in a 
 circle, began to consider what was to be done. 
 
 It was too warm, particularly as they 
 should have a long walk home, for Blind- 
 man's buff, or Hotcockles. — What then 
 should they play at ? 
 
 Should it be, Cupid is coming — ^how is 
 he coming ? 
 
 " O, that is stupid !" exclaimed Thady. 
 " Do, Jane, let us have Friar's land."
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 73 
 
 " O no," screamed out Billy, " we'll have 
 Blindman's buff." 
 
 '' Blindman's buff ! Cupid is coming ! 
 Hotcockles," secretly ejaculated the amused 
 Mr. Morley ; " what are we to have 
 next ?" 
 
 " Come Ju' — you are to choose," ex- 
 claimed another voice, "we are losing time." 
 
 " Suppose we play the market-gardener," 
 said the animated Julia. 
 
 There was a general clapping of hands 
 among the younger folk. 
 
 "That wiU do— that will do — I'll be 
 coUifloiuer — I'll be celery — I'll be spinage, 
 and what will you be ? and what will you 
 be?" resounded through the room. 
 
 "What would Mr. Morley be?" many 
 voices demanded. 
 
 "Must I play too?" he replied laughing 
 outright ; " if so, I will be any thing you 
 like to call me." 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 74 
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 '' O but you must choose," Julia ex- 
 claimed. 
 
 " In that case I will be sa^e/' returned 
 Mr. Morley. 
 
 " Just suits you," said saucy Thady, clap- 
 ping his hands. 
 
 The play began — Aunt Milly had chosen 
 to be named aj)ple. The great amusement 
 among the children seemed to be, to call 
 out apple, sage, and onion, that they might 
 have the pleasure of seeing good-humoured 
 Aunt Milly and Mr. Morley changing places 
 with the rest. 
 
 Julia made a charming gardener's wife, 
 and looked so graceful and pretty when it 
 came to her turn to stand in the midst of 
 the circle, that Mr. Morley could not take 
 his eyes off her. 
 
 Soon, in the rapid change of places, Mr. 
 Morley, himself, lost his chair, and had to 
 act the gardener, and, for a philosopher, he
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. Vo 
 
 did not give his narration, or choose his 
 vegetables and flowers amiss. — On the con- 
 trary, he did it with a good deal of spirit. 
 
 His position amnsed him amazingly. — 
 What! he, the grave, retiring Everard Morley 
 to find himself acting small plays, with a 
 parcel of children. — It was really too pre- 
 posterous. 
 
 At length the party seemed out of breath 
 from playing the market-gardener, and by 
 common consent, there was a general pause. 
 
 Something more quiet was necessary for 
 the exhausted group, and after a short con- 
 sultation, the play of questions and com- 
 mands was fixed upon. 
 
 Here Mr. Morley was again quite at fault. 
 Julia, however, off'ered to instruct him, and 
 placing himself at her side, the pretty rosy 
 lips soon initiated him into all the mysteries 
 of the game. 
 
 The forfeits were numerous, and now they 
 
 E 2
 
 7b THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 were to be cried. Aunt Milly, who had re- 
 ceived them into her possession, as they 
 were paid in, gravely held them up, one by 
 one, demanding what commands should be 
 laid upon the owner of each before it should 
 be released ; while the sprightly Jane, who 
 had been blindfolded for the purpose, gave 
 the award. 
 
 '' Fine, very line, superfine !" exclaimed 
 Aunt Milly, and she held up to view a ring, 
 which, with various gloves, bracelets, tor- 
 toise-shell combs, balls, tops, &c., had been 
 deposited in her lap. " What is the owner 
 of this forfeit to do ?" 
 
 " To form a nosegay, and choose a flower," 
 replied the blindfolded. 
 
 It was Mr. Morley's ring, and with a little 
 explanation Julia taught him what he was 
 to do. 
 
 Carnation, heart's-ease, violet, sweet-wil- 
 liam, &c. (fee, were all pointed out in turn.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 77 
 
 Julia was the last named — a moss rose ; and 
 Mr. Morley led her, smiling and blushing, 
 into the centre of the room, as the chosen 
 flower. 
 
 Two or three other forfeits were cried and 
 released, and Mr. Morley admired the quick- 
 ness with which the young urchins per- 
 formed the commands laid upon them. 
 
 Again Aunt Milly's voice was heard, 
 " Fine, very fine, superfine ! What is the 
 owner of this forfeit to do ?" and Julia's 
 tortoise-shell comb was held up. 
 
 '' To go into the corner of the room near- 
 est the door, personate a ballad-singer and 
 sing a ballad," was the response. 
 
 " O Jane," exclaimed the somewhat con- 
 fused Julia, rather reproachfully, " you 
 guessed it was my comb." 
 
 " Not at all, my dear," rephed Jane, " it 
 might just as well have been Sam's new top, 
 and then he would have given us the ' Cru- 
 iskeen Lawn.' Would not you, Sam?"
 
 78 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Yes, I would," said Sam, sturdily. 
 
 '' You must sing, Julia/' they all exclaim- 
 ed with one voice, and Julia, taking her 
 appointed place, sang as follows : — 
 
 I was not thus, ere first I saw thee, 
 Despairing, weeping — lost as now — 
 
 Then beauty's wreath was twined around me, 
 And peace sat smiling on my brow. 
 
 The world may bitterly revile me, 
 Accuse, condemn, neglect, degrade — 
 
 But thou — Oh thou shouldst not despise me, 
 For what I am — thyself hast made. 
 
 Oh thou must look with pity on me, 
 My talents gone — my genius fled, 
 
 And she whom thou once thought so lovely, 
 Will soon be number'd with the dead. 
 
 Yes, brighter eyes may beam upon thee, 
 
 Before thee fairer forms appear, 
 But well thou know'st what thus has chang'd me, 
 
 Ah, say — should not that change endear ! 
 
 Nought now remains of all my beauty, 
 But blighted youth and faded bloom. 
 
 And this sad, breaking heart assures me, 
 I soon shall sink into the tomb.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 79 
 
 And when the cold clay is strew'd o'er me, 
 And of this form but dust remains, 
 
 "Wilt thou not then shed one tear for me, 
 And think of her the earth contains ? 
 
 Mr. Morley was not at all what is called 
 fond of music. He vastly preferred the 
 notes of the thrush and blackbird, to those 
 of Grisi or Jenny Lind, and had often been 
 in Paris when the finest singers displayed 
 their powers at the opera house, without 
 once going to hear them. Nevertheless, 
 there was something in the plaintive air, 
 which Julia rather breathed forth than sung 
 in a soft, low, contralto voice, with an ex- 
 quisitely clear enunciation, that gave him a 
 sort of thrilling pleasure which he had never 
 experienced before ; and when she had 
 finished, he felt that he should like to hear 
 her sing it all over again. 
 
 Was it that he had begun to love music, 
 or that until now nobody had ever sang in 
 such a manner as to please him ?
 
 80 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 But everything must have an end, and the 
 evening was now at its close. Aunt Milly 
 bade the girls put on their scarfs and bon- 
 nets. 
 
 Mr. Grahame, who had been sitting 
 moodily by himself in the parlour, heard the 
 preparations for a departure, and came in to 
 bid them good night. 
 
 He expressed much gratification at Mr. 
 Morley's having honoured his poor house 
 so much by remaining with the young folk 
 — shook him cordially by the hand, and 
 hoped to see him soon again. 
 
 Aunt Milly 's party left the house at the 
 same time with Mr. Morley, but their roads 
 lay in different directions, and they sepa- 
 rated at the end of what was called the 
 avenue, with polite adieus from the young 
 people, and a hope expressed by the good- 
 humoured Aunt Milly that their new ac- 
 quaintance would turn his steps some morn-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 81 
 
 ing in the direction of Ash Hill, which was 
 the name of their residence. This hope 
 was re-echoed by the three girls ; their 
 father, Mr. Nugent, would, they were sure, 
 be most happy to see him. Cousin James 
 alone, preserved a profound silence. 
 
 Mr. Morley mused upon the events of 
 the past evening with mixed sensations 
 which can hardly be explained ; and which, 
 perhaps, he would have found it very diffi- 
 cult to define himself. 
 
 Now it was something very hke a feehng 
 of shame that he experienced. What would 
 not his English friends and acquaintances 
 have said if they had seen him acting market- 
 gardener in that dilapidated old room, with 
 those young girls and children ? And then 
 he thought what could it signify even if 
 they had seen him ? when had he enjoyed 
 such a buoyancy — such an exhilaration of 
 spirits as he did at that present moment ? 
 
 E 3
 
 82 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Not since he was a school-boy — not since 
 he had 
 
 '* Chased the rolling ch'cle's speed, 
 And urged the flying ball." 
 
 It was like a renovation of youth, yet 
 there was something so comic to him in it, 
 that he laughed at himself all the way, as 
 he walked back to the inn, or rather public 
 house, where he was located, and every 
 time he woke that night he laughed aloud, 
 so vivid was the impression made upon his 
 fancy. 
 
 In his sleep he was haunted by visions of 
 the most grotesque description. Now he 
 was a marigold growing in the garden, and 
 the gay Julia was a moss-rose beside him. 
 Aunt Milly was a huge artichoke, while 
 numerous vegetables, fruits, and flowers, alive, 
 and gabbling away as fast as they could, 
 whirled and danced before his astonished 
 eyes in fantastic array.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 83 
 
 During his breakfast on the following morn- 
 ing, Mr. Morley had his pencil and paper 
 beside him, and, while he revolved in his 
 mind the sports of the preceding evening, 
 and thought what an inimitable picture a 
 Teniers or an Ostade would have made of 
 such a scene, he endeavoured to group and 
 sketch the principal actors in it. 
 
 But although Aunt Milly and httle Sam 
 in his pinafore, with himself as market-gar- 
 dener, and some of the other figures, were de- 
 lineated to his satisfaction, he found that the 
 graceful Julia eluded his pencil. 
 
 Then he began to think of Julia as he 
 would have done of a new sort of cowslip 
 or harebell — something to be examined 
 more minutely by a botanist or a philoso- 
 pher; in short, as a variety of a species 
 which, though in the aggregate he did not 
 much value, yet, as being unlike any thing 
 he had yet seen, he wished to have another 
 view of. 
 
 /
 
 84 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 He had never from a boy cared about 
 female society. When he inhabited his old 
 mansion house he Uved shut up in his study 
 during the winter months, surrounded by 
 literary lumber — poring over abstruse au- 
 thors, or else taking pen in hand, and wTiting 
 a philosophical essay, or a poHtical pamphlet, 
 and that too in the best style, as the humour 
 took him. 
 
 Then in summer he had his walking 
 rambles, his fishing rod, with Isaac Walton 
 in his pocket, his botanizing and his sketch- 
 ing. His mind, always at work, made a 
 world for itself. 
 
 Perhaps we ought to give some descrip- 
 tion of the person of Mr. Morley. 
 
 Everard Morley then, at this period, was 
 about thirty-four years of age ; but, partly from 
 the intense study to which he had at times 
 accustomed himself for a series of years, and 
 which had indented his forehead with the
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 85 
 
 lines of thought, and partly, it may be, 
 from exposm^e to sun, wind, and weather, 
 when he was on his walking tours, he looked 
 at least ten years older than he really was. 
 
 In his appearance he was more a fine 
 and striking-looking, than handsome man, 
 the only very good feature in his face 
 being his eyes, which were dark, brilliant, 
 and intellectual ; and when he smiled the 
 expression about his mouth was remarkably 
 pleasing. But as, in general, his air was 
 abstracted, his eyes downcast, and he but 
 seldom smiled, those points of attraction 
 in his countenance were usually unmarked, 
 particularly as he rather retired from, than 
 sought society.
 
 86 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 " But whispering tongues can poison truth." 
 
 Coleridge. 
 
 What were the inhabitants of Seapoint 
 doing, while Mr. Morley was thus pleasantly 
 passing away his time ? 
 
 His absence did not in the least diminish 
 the reports that were in circulation of his 
 intended marriage with Grace Neville. 
 
 The large wedding cake still stood in 
 Miss Pastry's window — an object of admi- 
 ration, for its ornamental architecture, to all 
 the passers-by ; and it was whispered about 
 that a box, no doubt containing some 
 fashionable articles of dress, had arrived 
 from London lately, directed to Miss Neville.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 87 
 
 It was likewise reported that Mr. Neville 
 had been seen going into the jeweller's shop 
 at Seapoint more than once, — that Miss 
 Every, the milliner, was employed in making 
 up "sweetly pretty" white silk bonnets, lined 
 with pale pink, for Grace's two little sisters, 
 and that Miss Cotton, the dress-maker, was 
 finishing off a lavender-coloured, brocaded 
 silk dress, very handsomely trimmed, for 
 Mrs. Neville. 
 
 Now all these circumstances, though each 
 in itself signified but little, amounted when 
 put together — at least, so Miss Kitty Chat- 
 terton observed to all her young friends — 
 to proof positive that Grace Neville would 
 be married to Mr. Morley immediately on 
 his return from Ireland. This she thought 
 likely to take place about the end of August, 
 which would, probably, bring the wedding 
 to the middle of September. 
 
 Added to this, she had just heard that
 
 88 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Mr. Neville had been ordering a new carpet 
 for his drawing-room ; now every one knew 
 that Mr. Neville hated buying anything for 
 his house. She had a thousand times heard 
 him laugh at people who talked of their fur- 
 niture being old fashioned ; he always said 
 what was substantial and convenient was 
 good, and his dravring-room carpet was a 
 good thick Brussels, only a little faded near 
 the window. Nothing but a wedding would 
 make him open his purse strings, on such 
 an account. And then, more mysteriously, 
 did Miss Kitty add to all this weight of 
 evidence, — how Mr. Morley's great port- 
 manteau still kept its place in the corner of 
 the blue state bedroom. 
 
 Miss Kitty doubted, however, if it would 
 be a happy match. She was sorry to per- 
 ceive that Grace Neville was looking pale 
 and dispirited. 
 
 Thus did the report still continue to cir-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 89 
 
 culate, and Frederick Carrington's ears were 
 agonized with speculations of " whether Mr. 
 Morley would continue to reside in the re- 
 tired spot which he had in Wales ?" or 
 ''whether he would take a house at Seapoint?" 
 " whether it was not probable that he would 
 take Grace abroad?" " was it likely that after 
 marriage he would be able to give up so 
 much time to literary pursuits?" &c.,^&;c. 
 
 There was canvassed the improbability of 
 Mr. Morley ever making a domestic cha- 
 racter. True, he was very fond of retire- 
 ment ; but then, all his time was spent in 
 writing. 
 
 When he went from home, his walking 
 tours were always solitary ; he wished for 
 no companion. If in London, his time was 
 passed in the company of men whose tastes 
 assimilated with his own. Mr. Neville's 
 house, in short, was the only place where — 
 as a snail sometimes emerges from his shell
 
 90 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 — Mr.Morley was accustomed to enter a little 
 into general society ; and when there, al- 
 though he did not refuse to mingle in the 
 circle of their acquaintances, yet he certainly 
 was not any addition ; for he neither danced 
 nor played on the flute, nor took a hand at 
 cards, nor made himself useful in any way. 
 Truly they did not envy Grace Neville's lot, 
 in being married to him. 
 
 Thus talked Miss EUersly and Miss Kitty 
 Chatterton to the unfortunate Frederick 
 Carrington, who, finding himself accident- 
 ally seated between them, at an evening 
 party at Dr. Davis's house, could in no way 
 escape. 
 
 At last he could bear it no longer, and 
 starting up, exclaimed — 
 
 " I know. Miss Ellersly, you are waiting 
 for another cup of tea — how stupid of the 
 servant not to bring the tray round again ! 
 I will bring you one in an instant."
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 91 
 
 It was in vain Miss EUersly thanked Mr. 
 Carrington, and assured him she did not 
 Avant any more tea — he was off to search 
 for it. 
 
 And all this time Grace was sitting near 
 her mother at the other end of the room, 
 looking gentle, beautiful, and rather melan- 
 choly, for she thought "how can I have 
 offended Frederick Carrington — he has never 
 been once near me since he entered the 
 room ?" 
 
 No — Frederick had not approached her 
 since their first salutation. 
 
 Grace did not know how much he would 
 have given to have been at her side. To 
 have told all about his preparations for India 
 — his prospects in going out there — how 
 hard he was already studying the Hindos- 
 tanee language — to paint to her what he 
 thought would be the onerous duties of a 
 clergyman among the benighted natives. — Of
 
 92 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 the schools he would have to labour in, and 
 to hint how useful female influence had 
 already been found in those schools. 
 
 And now tea was over, and they were to 
 have some music. Grace Neville both played 
 and sung sweetly, and as it accidentally hap- 
 pened that she was seated near the piano, 
 she was the first person Miss Davis requested 
 to sing, as she opened the instrument and 
 began to arrange the music. Miss Davis 
 was the doctor's sister, and did the honours 
 of the house. 
 
 " I know, Miss Neville, you sing this 
 beautiful duett, for I remember hearing you 
 once sing it with Mr. Carrington at Wood- 
 side," she said, and turning round she 
 beckoned Frederick to come over. 
 
 Miss Davis had opened the music-book, at 
 the sweet old duett of — '' IVe wandered in 
 dreams." 
 
 Frederick approached. He expected that
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 93 
 
 Miss Neville would have asked liim to sing 
 second. But no, Grace v^^ould not sing at 
 all this evening — she could not — she had a 
 cold. 
 
 Miss Davis was so sorry, she was so fond 
 of this duett — she did not think singing ^r^^ 
 would distress Miss Neville much, Mr. Car- 
 rington's second would support her voice — 
 perhaps Mr. Carrington could prevail on her. 
 
 Frederick said something, almost unintel- 
 ligible, about " honour and pleasure ;" it was 
 not like his former manner Grace thought ; 
 something there was in it cold and con- 
 strained. Grace repeated her plea of having 
 a cold, and her voice did seem hoarse as she 
 spoke. 
 
 The truth was, she felt a choking sensa- 
 tion in the throat, which rendered it impos- 
 sible for her to sing. 
 
 Her mother looked at her with some sur- 
 prise and a good deal of anxiety.
 
 94 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " My dear Grace/' she said, " I am afraid 
 you did not wrap yourself up properly this 
 evening coming out." 
 
 Dr. Davis, on hearing his sister mention 
 Miss Neville's reason for not singing, came 
 over to her and besought her, if she felt any 
 soreness of the throat, to put on a linseed 
 poultice immediately when she went home, 
 for the scarlet fever was going about the 
 town, telling her, in his softest accents, that 
 he would call and see her on the morrow. 
 
 Po(j^ Grace ! — how little do the sitters-by 
 at a party, know all that is passing in the 
 heart of a young girl like you. What tumult 
 of the spirits when one person approaches 
 — how each look, each accent is weighed. 
 What chagrin, what wearisomeness, when 
 attentions are preferred by another. 
 
 Coldness and distance from the secretly 
 beloved — interest expressed by him who is 
 considered as a hore.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 95 
 
 Truly the world is a stage, and all the 
 men and women in it players. 
 
 Miss EUersly went home that night happy 
 and elated ; for Mr. Carrington on the point 
 of going to India — and so many men going 
 to India look out for a wife at the last mo- 
 ment — had sat beside her all the time, 
 put cream and sugar into three crf|)s of tea 
 for her, and had actually gone in search of 
 a fourth — so kind of him, was it not ? be- 
 cause he had heard her say before the tea- 
 tray was brought in, that she was dying for 
 a cup of tea ; while Grace Neville lan- 
 guidly told her father at breakfast — 
 although she had not caught the threatened 
 sore throat — that he had had no loss in not 
 being at Dr. Davis's party the preceding 
 night, for that she had never spent so dull
 
 96 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 " The maiden stood at her garden pale, 
 In hopes her love t'espy." 
 
 Old Ballad. 
 
 " Grace Neville looked very pale last 
 night. I do not think she felt well," thought 
 Frederick Carrington, relaxing the speed 
 with which he had been climbing up a nar- 
 row path, leading to the summit of one of 
 the steepest of the cliffs which, piled one 
 upon the other, seemed to guard the coast 
 about Seapoint from the encroachments of 
 the ocean. '' She was so silent too ! — I am 
 sure she has read my heart, and that she 
 pities my disappointment. Yes, I will have
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 97 
 
 the truth from her own Hps — I will ask her 
 if she is engaged." 
 
 The time was arrived for Frederick to 
 present himself before the Bishop of Cal- 
 cutta. A letter from one of the Bishop's 
 chaplains advertised him that the ordina- 
 tion was to take place in a few days. 
 
 He therefore left Seapoint to attend the 
 summons, determining that on his return, 
 should every thing turn out favourably for 
 him with the Bishop, nothing should pre- 
 vent his coming to a full explanation with 
 Grace. He thought he should sail for India 
 with a mind more at ease, if he opened his 
 heart to her, although he assured himself 
 over and over again such a disclosure could 
 be of no use — Grace must be irrevocably 
 engaged. 
 
 Still a little hope, almost unknown to 
 himself, did linger in the depths of his soul, 
 as busy memory, despite his efforts to re- 
 
 F
 
 98 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 press her, would recall past days and early 
 friendship — and trace out a similarity of 
 tastes and opinions. 
 
 " I have no doubt I shall learn to forget 
 her, though perhaps at first it may be a hard 
 task," thought he with a sigh ; "and in India 
 I shall have a vast field for labour and exer- 
 tion, but I have never yet seen the woman 
 so calculated to soften the ills, and enhance 
 the blessings of life, as is Grace Neville." 
 
 The reception of Frederick Carrington by 
 the Bishop of Calcutta was most flattering. 
 His lordship was fully satisfied, on examina- 
 tion, that his studies, acquirements, and 
 qualifications, fitted him for the clerical 
 profession ; while his views of what would 
 be his duties in India, and his conscious- 
 ness of the great responsibility which a 
 chaplaincy there would necessarily impose 
 upon him, were such as fully to meet the 
 Bishop's approbation.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 99 
 
 Frederick had not the pleasure of seeing 
 the friend who had so kindly interested 
 himself in Jiis behalf, although he sought 
 for him at Cheltenham ; but a letter from 
 him mentioned his intention of being in 
 London about the time that Mr. Carring- 
 ton was to sail for India, when they would 
 meet. 
 
 Four weeks were all that now intervened 
 between that period, and Frederick hastened 
 to take possession, for a little time — and it 
 could be only for a very little time — with a 
 heart full of hopes and fears, of his old 
 lodgings under the cliff at Seapoint ; and of 
 this event, almost as soon as it took place, 
 Miss EUersly was duly informed by Miss 
 Kitty Chatterton. 
 
 In pursuance of the resolution before 
 mentioned, Frederick no longer avoided 
 going to Woodside. 
 
 But it seejned now, the more he wished 
 
 F 2
 
 100 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 to address a few words to Grace, the less an 
 opportunity offered. 
 
 Her mother was there, or her father, or 
 her sisters, or some visitor came in just at 
 the instant that he thought he might whis- 
 per a word to her unobserved. He was on 
 the rack of uncertainty, for Grace looked so 
 gentle — so kind. And Mr. and Mrs. Neville's 
 congratulations were so cordial and sincere ; 
 the former assuring him that his chaplaincy 
 could not be worth less than a thousand 
 a year. 
 
 Every thing combined to fan the hope 
 that was nearly extinguished. 
 
 Another man would not have hesitated 
 He would have seen encouragement in 
 Grace's heightened colour and downcast 
 eye — ^in the warm friendship expressed, and 
 really felt, by Mr Neville — in the placid and 
 approving smile of his wife. 
 
 But Frederick was naturally modest and
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 101 
 
 unassuming, and he loved too well, not to 
 be a timid lover, particularly with all the 
 reports still rife, of Miss Neville's engage- 
 ment with Mr. Morley. Still he held his 
 first determination — one word with her — 
 he w^ould know his fate from her own lips. 
 
 There was a small dinner party at Mr. 
 Neville's. Frederick, of coiuse, made one, 
 and, as usual, when there were only a few 
 intimate acquaintances, a walk was proposed 
 in the evening. 
 
 It was through the same hedge-rows and 
 valleys which they had selected for their 
 walk on the evening that Mr. Morley was 
 with them, that the party now turned their 
 footsteps. 
 
 Frederick recollected this walk, and how 
 assiduously Mr. Morley had sought Miss 
 Neville's side — at least, so it had then ap- 
 peared to his jaundiced eyes. 
 
 Those reflections, however, though they
 
 102 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 chilled what little hope still remained, and 
 threw a damp over his spirits, increased his 
 anxiety to put an end to all this tortm-ing 
 uncertainty. One word — only one word, 
 and his plans were formed. Should it be a 
 refusal, an avowal of her engagement, as he 
 feared it would be, he felt it would be better 
 for him not to see Grace again ; in fact, he 
 owed it to himself not to betray his weak- 
 ness to a prying world, and he would leave 
 Seapoint directly for London. 
 
 On the contrary, should those depressing 
 anticipations prove unfounded, should Grace 
 — but he did not dare to dwell upon this. 
 
 Every one in turn seemed to seize upon 
 the envied place at Grace's side, as they 
 walked along, but himself. 
 
 Frederick was in despair ; their walk was 
 coming to a close, and still that word was 
 unspoken. 
 
 They had been gathering botanical spe-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 103 
 
 cimens in the hedge-rows ; and, at length, 
 Grace was separated a short distance from 
 the others. Frederick was at her side ; she 
 was stooping to pick up a bunch of wild 
 flowers which she had dropped out of her 
 hand, and when she raised her head he was 
 standing before her. 
 
 Grace felt that she coloured deeply, and, 
 to hide her confusion, she began to display 
 her bouquet to him. 
 
 " Miss Neville — Grace," said he, with a 
 voice almost inarticulate, " pardon my ab- 
 ruptness — pity my unhappiness — one word 
 will do — say yes or no, I conjure you. Is 
 your heart engaged? — tell me." 
 
 Grace started — so unexpected a question 
 — so unlooked for, and just at this time, 
 when so many people were near them. She 
 could not speak on the instant. 
 
 " How am I to interpret this silence ?" 
 he added, in a tone the despondency of
 
 104 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 which she afterwards recalled ; but before 
 her lips could utter the words, "I am not 
 engaged, Mr. Carrington," Miss Kitty Chat- 
 terton was at her side, and claimed her at- 
 tention. 
 
 What Miss Eatty was talking about Grace 
 knew not, the words made no impression 
 upon her understanding ; she turned her 
 head hastily, but Frederick Camngton was 
 gone ; he was assiduously helping some one 
 over the stile a few paces off, and she had 
 not answered him ! 
 
 Grace did not see Frederick Carrington 
 again that evening. On entering the house 
 he made some excuse to Mr. Neville, and 
 said he was obliged to be at home early 
 that night. 
 
 Grace, internally much agitated and be- 
 wildered, looked all next day and the fol- 
 lowing one, in expectation of seeing Mr. 
 Carrington, but in vain — he did not call.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 105 
 
 To increase her perplexities, Miss Kitty 
 Chatterton, who stepped in to pay a morn- 
 ing visit, informed her, in the course of her 
 usual gossiping communications, that Mr. 
 Carrington was busily engaged in making 
 preparations for his departure from Seapoint. 
 Her laundress had told her so ; and when 
 she went to the shoe-maker, to inquire why 
 a pair of shoes she had ordered were not 
 sent home, the man had excused him- 
 self, by saying that Mr. Carrington had 
 hurried him so much that day about some 
 work he had in hand for him, that he hoped 
 Miss Chatterton would pardon him for not 
 having had a moment to attend to her 
 orders. Miss Kitty had likewise heard 
 that Mr. Carrington had given the required 
 week's notice to his landlady the morning 
 after he had dined at Woodside. 
 
 Grace was soon left alone to her own 
 meditations, and notwithstanding her know^- 
 
 E 2
 
 106 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 ledge of the general incorrectness of Miss 
 Kitty's gossipings, her heart sank within 
 her at the news she gathered from her. 
 
 Would not Frederick Carrington call to 
 see her before he left Seapoint ? What did 
 his question mean ? — would he not ask it 
 again ? — ^he did not think she loved any one 
 else, did he ? — Surely there was no ground 
 for him to despair — he might very well sus- 
 pect that he had an interest in her heart. 
 
 And at this latter thought, Grace's colour 
 rushed to her neck and brow, and she hid 
 her face with her hands. 
 
 Once, she certainly thought that Fred- 
 erick Carrington did love her — ^but she must 
 have deceived herself, or this unanswered 
 question would never have satisfied him — 
 perhaps he would write to her. 
 
 And now, Grace sat an entire day at the 
 window, watching every messenger and er- 
 rand boy who arrived ; but no letter came.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 107 
 
 Perhaps he would write to her through 
 the post ; it would be less remarkable, and 
 there was a late post in the evening. 
 
 It came — the post-hour, and the post- 
 man's loud knock ran, like a thrill of elec- 
 tricity, through all her frame ; but there was 
 no letter for her. 
 
 The gentle, collected Grace became quite 
 ill and nervous, and all sleep was scared 
 from her pillow for that night. 
 
 Her uncertainty, however, was soon to 
 have an end. Mr. Neville came into the 
 room, where, with her mother and sisters, 
 Grace was accustomed to pursue her work 
 and morning studies, — a short time after 
 breakfast, with an open note in his hand, and 
 looking much vexed and disappointed. 
 
 " My dear wife," said he, "I am sure 
 you will be as sorry as I am, to hear that 
 poor Frederick Carrington has left Seapoint. 
 He went this morning. Unexpected business,
 
 108 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 he says, has called him away much sooner 
 than he had anticipated. He begs that I 
 will say everything that is kind for him 
 to his friends, particidarly to the members 
 of my own family. I doubt, from the 
 tenor of his note, if he will be able to return 
 home again before he sails for India. 
 Poor fellow ! I should like much to have 
 shaken him by the hand before he went. 
 No doubt the bishop wrote for him, and he 
 has been obliged to go at a moment's notice. 
 However, regrets are useless — I wish him 
 every success and happiness in this, his new 
 walk in life — there is no man I have a higher 
 respect and esteem for, than Frederick. He 
 has a clear head, sound judgment, and a 
 good heart ; and, if the climate agrees with 
 him, he will certainly obtain the highest 
 preferments in the church, in India. My 
 dear Grace, how pale you look to-day ! I 
 am sure you have got the headache, from
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 109 
 
 stooping over that embroidery frame. Send 
 those girls out, dearest, every morning, and 
 do not let them sit so long.'' 
 
 " I am really very sorry that Mr. Carring- 
 ton has gone, without being able to pay us 
 a parting visit," replied Mrs. Neville, with 
 something very hke a sigh ; '' although I 
 think farewell visits are always melancholy." 
 
 '*I wish Mr. Carriugton could have staid 
 a little longer," said the pretty Emma; ''I 
 thought he was not to sail for India until 
 the latter end of next month, and I was 
 going to make a keepsake for him." 
 
 " A keepsake ! my little Emmy," said her 
 father, '' and what was that to be ?" 
 
 " A housewife — and I have got so many 
 pretty pieces of silk to make it of — it was 
 to have twelve pockets," replied the little 
 sempstress. 
 
 " And I would have given him my 
 prettiest kitten," said the youngest girl, 
 Lucy.
 
 110 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Grace alone was silent, and made no re- 
 mark upon the intelligence her father com- 
 municated to them. Her eyes continued 
 rivetted upon her embroidery frame, and she 
 did not even look up ; but her mother, who 
 stole a glance at her, perceived that her 
 fingers trembled with a convulsive twitching, 
 and that she was unable .to draw her needle 
 through the canvass. 
 
 Grace was silent, for her heart was full, 
 even to bursting ; and stooping down and 
 whispering Lucy, who was sitting on a low 
 stool beside her, making a doll's frock, that 
 she was going to put on her bonnet, and 
 take them a walk, she hastily left the room. 
 
 " Where is Grace gone to ?" said the 
 mother, looking anxiously after her. 
 
 " For her bonnet, dear mamma," replied 
 Lucy, " and she said we should have a walk 
 with her — ^may we go to Ann to put on our 
 pelisses ?" 
 
 " Yes, yes, children — ^run away and get
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. Ill 
 
 your bonnets — Grace was very right to take 
 my hint/' said Mr. Neville. 
 
 Emmy and Lucy disappeared on the in- 
 stant. 
 
 " My dear," continued Mr. Neville, turn- 
 ing to his wife, " you mope those children 
 within doors too much after breakfast. 
 They are at their lessons early in the morn- 
 ing, and you should always send them to 
 take a good, long walk in the forenoon. 
 Grace is quite losing her beautiful delicate 
 colour, and we shall have my Emmy, and 
 my rosy little Lucy, looking as pale as she 
 does, very soon." 
 
 " Emmy never had much colour, and Lucy 
 is as rosy as ever," replied the fond mother. 
 " Grace, indeed, does look pale, and a walk 
 will be of service to her." 
 
 " Yes, Grace does look pale," Mrs. Neville 
 reiterated to herself, after her husband had 
 left the room ; " very pale these some days, 
 but not from want of air and exercise."
 
 112 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Grace retm-ned in a few minutes, leading 
 Lucy by the hand, and followed by Emmy. 
 
 She had pulled her veil down, to hide the 
 traces of the passionate burst of tears, which 
 had, in a degree, relieved her full heart when 
 she had retired to her own room. 
 
 But Grace was not one to give way to 
 teaxs — her pride, too, was up in arms. Fred- 
 erick was gone — gone without a word of 
 explanation — gone, without bidding her, his 
 early playmate and friend, adieu. 
 
 Besides, had Frederick acted as he ought 
 to have acted towards her? Had he not 
 trifled with her feelings ? Having gone so 
 far, ought he not to have gone a step farther ? 
 were thoughts that would intrude. 
 
 Alas ! it was a mystery she could not 
 
 fathom. 
 
 ****** 
 
 " And so you are off to-morrow, Master 
 Frederick,'' said Adam Carter, the old 
 gardener, looking wistfully at Mr. Carrington
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 113 
 
 as he stood hat in hand at the entrance of 
 a small sitting room, where Frederick was 
 sitting, engaged in writing, on the evening 
 preceding this day. 
 
 " Yes, my good Adam," replied Erederick, 
 in a depressed tone, "I shall be off to- 
 morrow morning before daylight, and I want 
 you to take this note, immediately after 
 breakfast, to Woodside. I do not wish you 
 to go there to-night." 
 
 " I warrant Mr. Neville will be sorry for 
 you. Master Frederick, and pretty Miss 
 Grace too. — You and she were such play- 
 mates ! — Many a time, when I used to 
 work in your poor father's garden, you 
 would come to me and choose the sweetest 
 flowers for you to make into nosegays for 
 her — all the finest moss roses and carnations 
 and the delicate little geraniums that I took 
 such trouble to nurse in pots — ^your poor 
 father used to wonder where they all went 
 to. I know what I often thought then,
 
 114 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Master Frederick, — ^but none of us can fore- 
 see; and now, people say she is to be 
 married to Mr. Morley, her cousin." 
 
 " Do they indeed 1" said Mr. Carrington, 
 impatiently. 
 
 " That's not the match I'd have selected 
 for Miss Grace," continued the old man ; 
 " but it's all one now, as you are going to 
 the Indies. Shall you be away long, Sir ?" 
 
 " O yes — twenty years, I dare say," re- 
 plied Frederick. 
 
 " God bless us ! — twenty years. Sir, — I 
 shall be in my grave long before that time," 
 ejaculated old Adam. " Well ! — God be 
 with you, Master Frederick," he continued, 
 dashing away a tear, "you have been a 
 good friend to me. Once, I thought I 
 should be dressing the garden, down at the 
 parsonage, for you and Miss Grace, but the 
 Lord wills it otherwise." 
 
 "Thank you — thank you for all your 
 good wishes, my kind old friend," said
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 115 
 
 Frederick, hastily rising and shaking him by 
 the hand, " here is the note, be sure you 
 take it yourself to-morrow, and give it to 
 Mr. Neville. And here, take this also," he 
 continued, "my good Adam — it will help 
 to keep the cottage warm this coming 
 winter," and as he spoke he thrust some 
 money into old Adam's trembling hand. 
 " Now go, my good friend, and do not stop 
 to thank me, I have a great deal to do to- 
 night. Heaven lengthen out for you this 
 green old age !" 
 
 Adam turned away sobbing ; and as Fred- 
 erick stood at the hall door, and watched 
 him through the wicket gate, the repeated 
 " God bless him and prosper him," of the 
 old man, fell with a melancholy farewell 
 sound upon his ear.
 
 116 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " All thoughts, all passions, all delights. 
 Whatever stirs this mortal frame, 
 All are but ministers of love, 
 And feed this sacred flame." 
 
 CoLIiKlDGE. 
 
 I DO not mean to trace out the exact pro- 
 gress of Mr. Morley's passion for Julia. It 
 stole upon him quite unawares, and he was 
 himself totally blind to, and ignorant of, 
 the conclusion to which his intimacy with 
 the family of Mr. Grahame was leading 
 him. 
 
 He thought it was his love of good fish- 
 ing and picturesque scenery which detained
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 117 
 
 him in this spot so much longer than he had 
 at first intended ; and it never struck him 
 that in accepting the offers of Julia and her 
 young brothers to show him — now some 
 curious cave — then an old ruined church, 
 and so on — (Mr. Grahame being confined 
 by a slight attack of the gout to the house) — 
 he was going on a diametrically opposite 
 tack to what he had ever done before ; 
 having always disliked guides, and preferring 
 to go over new ground without a compa- 
 nion. 
 
 All his old bachelor peculiarities, too, ap- 
 peared to be put to flight. He allowed the 
 boys to turn over his fishing-books as they 
 pleased, and examine all their contents ; 
 while Julia looked at his sketches, and criti- 
 cised their accuracy, without knowing any- 
 thing of perspective, exce^jt what a quick eye 
 might have taught her. 
 
 In this manner a fortnight or three weeks 
 passed away — Mr. Morley filling his port-
 
 118 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 folio with sketches, and his heart and ima- 
 gination with JuUa. 
 
 Your very clever men, I am told — at 
 least, so I heard a clever man say — scarcely 
 ever fancy a very clever woman ; I suppose 
 it is because they have been reading clever 
 books, writing clever books, and talking 
 sense all their lives. A little unbending of 
 the tight-strung bow — a little persiflage — a 
 little wandering from the confines of sense — 
 all this is to them a new recreation. 
 
 They are therefore generally captivated, 
 unawares, by some young unsophisticated 
 being ; one of their school-boy idealities — 
 some beautiful vision that reminds them of 
 the shepherdesses of Theocritus and Virgil, 
 or brings before their eyes a wood-nymph 
 crowned with acorns, or a Proserpine gather- 
 ing flowers. 
 
 And thus it was with Mr. Morley. One 
 evening found him returning to his village 
 home, conscious that the world would be but
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 119 
 
 a desert to him without Julia, and deter- 
 mined to ask her in marriage of her father 
 on the morrow. 
 
 Mr. Grahame heard Mr. Morley's proposal 
 for his daughter Julia with a great deal of 
 astonishment, and with a mixture of pleasure 
 and pain. 
 
 He had never dreamed of his simple Julia 
 captivating his new acquaintance, and, with 
 the old-fashioned ideas of hospitality, should 
 have thought it nothing strange if Mr. 
 Morley had accepted his invitation of making 
 Grahame Hall his home, whilst he remained 
 in the neighbourhood ; and there, he thought 
 the fishing alone might have induced any 
 reasonable man to stay for a month or two. 
 He loved Julia dearly, but he was a selfish 
 man, and his love was selfish. Her loss to 
 him would be incalculable. He was an in- 
 dolent man, and Julia regulated everything 
 in the house according to her pleasure. This 
 was his first idea ; but then other thoughts
 
 120 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 came. The connection was a good one, and 
 might be advantageous to him in many 
 ways. So, after a short pause, in which all 
 those ideas flashed across his mind, he 
 shook Mr. Morley by the hand, expressed 
 his entire satisfaction, and referred him to 
 Julia. 
 
 What Mr. Morley said to JuUa, and what 
 Julia said to Mr. Morley, I cannot exactly 
 tell. Suffice it to say that Julia came down 
 to dinner blushing and smiling ; and that 
 her lover took a seat beside her, looking as 
 if he were in the seventh heaven. 
 
 When Mr. Grahame found that Mr. Mor- 
 ley had not been an unsuccessful suitor to 
 his daughter, he informed him that Julia 
 would not be quite a portionless bride, as 
 her mother's fortune of five thousand pounds 
 was settled upon her, and she would come 
 into possession of it on his death. At pre- 
 sent, he had it not in his power to give her 
 any fortune.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 121 
 
 Mr. Morley assured him that he dreamed 
 not of fortune with Julia, mentioning at the 
 same time, what settlement he pm^posed 
 making. 
 
 It was more than Mr. Grahame could have 
 expected, and he warmly declared his satis- 
 faction. 
 
 They parted, and Mr. Grahame remained 
 walking up and down a small study, where 
 the interview had taken place. 
 
 If the present prospect was pleasing to 
 him, it could not prevent bitter reminiscences 
 of the past crowding upon his mind, and 
 ever and anon he paused, and stamped his 
 foot. 
 
 *' Would that her mother's fortune had 
 not been settled upon Julia," he muttered 
 between his clenched teeth, " then McDon- 
 nell would never have thought of her for 
 his son. But of what use are those remem- 
 brances now ? thank heaven, they are both 
 gone !" and he clasped his hands with 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 energy. " The typhus fever soon took oiff 
 that fawning, servile, hateful attorney, and 
 the fishes have long since made a feast of his 
 hopeful son. It is but as a frightful dream, 
 long past away, and Julia thinks not of it now. 
 She was but a child then — a mere child." 
 
 It was a day or two before the wedding 
 was to take place, that wdthin an hour of 
 midnight, just after Mr. Morley had left 
 Grahame Hall, Julia's light step was heard 
 across the passage which led to the study, 
 where she knew her father was engaged in 
 writing. After pausing a moment or two, as if 
 to collect herself, she knocked gently at the 
 door. 
 
 "Who is there?" demanded Mr. Gra- 
 hame, in no very pleased accents. 
 
 "It is only your daughter Julia, dear 
 Papa," was the reply; and as she uttered 
 those words, she had a great mind to retreat 
 back again. 
 
 "What can you want, Julia?" said he.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 123 
 
 impatiently. " Come in, child — come in ;" 
 and the young girl entered, and shut the door. 
 
 "Dear Papa," she replied, trembling and 
 looking agitated, " I only want to say a few 
 words to you." 
 
 " What is it about, Julia ? — speak, child ; 
 I thought you were in bed by this time. 
 You should not sit up so late." 
 
 " No, Papa, but I could not go to sleep, 
 until I told you something— something that 
 is heavy on my heart ; until I spoke a word 
 or two with you ;" and as she said this, she 
 knelt down on the edge of the footstool on 
 which her father rested his gouty foot. She 
 was silent for a moment, while Mr. Grahame 
 looked intently at her, and then she con- 
 tinued — 
 
 " I am going to be married to Mr. Morley, 
 
 would it not be better — there ought to be no 
 
 concealment — will you not tell him ?" Julia 
 
 paused, for a dark frown gathered upon Mr. 
 
 Grahame' s brow. 
 
 G 2
 
 124 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Are you mad, Jiilia ? — this is worse than 
 childish," he exclaimed ; "I know to what 
 you allude, but is it not past and gone ? You 
 saw the letter which said that the ship was 
 lost at sea, and that every soul on board had 
 perished — did you not ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, dear father, yes," said the now 
 weeping Julia ; " but still there should be no 
 concealment ; I know there ought not." 
 
 Mr. Grahame struck the table violently 
 with his hand, and ejaculated, " I did not 
 anticipate this 1" Then he became calmer, 
 and said, " Listen to me, Julia. This is a 
 very foolish thought of yours. You know 
 it was nothing but a mere ceremony, bind- 
 ing, it is true, if the young M'Donnell had 
 returned from his voyage, but of no conse- 
 quence to any one now, as he is dead. 
 There is not even a witness to it except my- 
 self; for, although I have made the most 
 minute inquiries, there is no trace to be 
 found of the clergyman who performed the
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 125 
 
 ceremony, and I have every reason to sup- 
 pose that he too is no longer alive. Why 
 would you then wish to mention it ? Why 
 would you wish to tear open a wound 
 scarcely healed ? — to agonize me with ques- 
 tions and retrospections? The unprinci- 
 pled villain, the father, who knew my secret, 
 and who held my life in his power, was 
 taken away in one short month, after he 
 had carried his iniquitous schemes into 
 effect. Nothing would satisfy him but that 
 I should give my Julia, because she was to 
 inherit her mother's portion, to his wild, 
 uneducated son. You were only thirteen 
 years of age — I entreated him on my knees. 
 — Yes, Julia, your father knelt to the vil- 
 lain," — and here Mr. Grahame ground his 
 teeth in an agony of passion — " to wait for 
 a few months, until his son returned from a 
 voyage which he was on the point of mak- 
 ing, as second mate to a merchantman ; but 
 the wily attorney, whose father had been
 
 126 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 my grandfather's steward — a man, too, whom 
 I had always held in the most profomid con- 
 tempt — coolly told me that he would have my 
 child for his daughter-in-law, or else that he 
 would place my neck in jeopardy ; that it 
 was true that in an hour or two his son 
 was to start for his vessel, which was about 
 to weigh anchor, but less than half that 
 time would suffice to tie the indissoluble 
 knot. And must all this be revealed to 
 Mr. Morley? No, Julia, I swear it shall 
 never be revealed to him, or to any one 
 else; and you shall swear it too." And 
 Mr. Grahame grasped her hands in his, 
 with an iron grasp. " Julia, you know not 
 what your father might be convicted of, if 
 every thing was sifted. Murder ! — yes, 
 murder !" he whispered to her in a hollow 
 voice — " for I knew — I was present, al- 
 though unwillingly, at one terrible affair 
 which took place. Swear, Julia ! If you 
 have the smallest affection for your father.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 127 
 
 you will swear it." And he took a Bible 
 off the table on which he leaned. " Swear 
 that you will not now nor ever' — and he 
 laid a deep emphasis upon the word ever — 
 " allude to the incident of this hateful cere- 
 mony, or the occurrences which led to it." 
 
 Julia's lips were parched, her tongue 
 clove to the roof of her mouth, scarcely 
 could she faintly articulate the words as she 
 pressed the Bible to her lips — " Father ! I 
 swear — " 
 
 Mr. Grahame bent his head towards her, 
 and pressed his lips upon her forehead, and 
 she felt his hot tears fall upon her face. 
 
 " Go to bed, my child," said he, " and 
 sleep. Sleep — for you have nothing to re- 
 proach yourself with." 
 
 But Julia did reproach herself. 
 
 Mr. Grahame was not naturally a bad 
 man, but he was weak, vain, and self-suffi- 
 cient. From those defects sprang all his 
 misfortunes. He had been made the tool
 
 128 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 of a party, who flattered his vanity, talked 
 of his patriotism, and pointed out to him 
 the wide extent of country which had be- 
 longed to his ancestors in former days. 
 From various circumstances, he had found 
 himself in difficulties at his outset in life. 
 Weak, needy men are always the first who 
 are drawn into political turmoils. Looking 
 for they know not what — dazzled and mis- 
 led by the high-sounding words of patriot- 
 ism, and the good of their country — they 
 are led on step by step, and entangled in 
 proceedings which they would have started 
 from with affright, could they have foreseen 
 them in the beginning of their career. 
 
 In one instance, Mr. Grahame had been 
 present — -against both his conscience and 
 his inclination — at an outrage, which we 
 must do him the justice to say, he did all in 
 his power to suppress. But, although he 
 stood self-acquitted of any participation in 
 it, he was fully aware that circumstantial
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 129 
 
 evidence would have gone hard against him. 
 He was, however, in the power of but one 
 man, and that man was the attorney, Mr. 
 McDonnell
 
 130 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 " Far other scenes her thoughts recall." 
 
 Scott. 
 
 Julia retired to her room with a heavier 
 heart than usual, and, instead of undressing 
 and preparing for rest, sat down in a medi- 
 tative posture. 
 
 She tried to call to mind every, the most 
 minute circumstance accompanying the cere- 
 mony which had taken place between her 
 and young M'Donnell. She recollected how 
 much she had always disliked the elder 
 M'Donnell, and how she had ridiculed, from 
 a child, the clownish appearance of his son.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 131 
 
 She called to mind the horror she had felt 
 one morning, on being sent for into her 
 father's study, and seeing him in an excess 
 of agitation, pale, and almost speechless ; and 
 how the odious old attorney chucked her 
 under the chin, and told her that she was a 
 pretty lass, and that she was going to be his 
 daughter-in-law. 
 
 Young McDonnell was there, a youth of 
 about one or two and twenty, dark-browed, 
 dogged, and silent. The elder McDonnell 
 seemed in high spirits. 
 
 " We should not want the parson in our 
 country," said he, '' to tie the knot tight, 
 but here it is otherwise — so friend Campbell 
 come hither;" addressing a strange, pale- 
 looking clergyman, who was standing near 
 the window ; '' come hither, and bind this lad 
 and lassie together. She is very young to 
 be sure, but by the time the bridegroom has 
 made two or three voyages at sea, she will 
 be a well-grown lassie, as she is now a hand-
 
 132 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 some one. It was a good thought, my 
 cousin, of yours to come over and visit us/' 
 Julia remembered her terror while she re- 
 mained in the room, and that she scarcely 
 heard a word of what was said ; and how 
 that, after the unwelcomevisitors had departed, 
 she stoutly told her father that she never 
 would be young M'Donnell's wife, and how he 
 patted her on the cheek, and said, " God help 
 you, my poor child !" and how, when he 
 kissed her, and bade her go feed her birds 
 and amuse herself, she darted away to a wild 
 deli behmd the garden, a sort of waste place, 
 in which was an old draw-well. Tradition 
 had reported it as haunted, in consequence 
 of a young girl, whose sweetheart had for- 
 saken her, having thrown herself into it in 
 former days. It had been hedged round by 
 a low parapet wall, to prevent accidents ; but 
 this had, from time and weather, been broken 
 away here and there, sutticiently to allow a
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 133 
 
 child to lean over it. Arrived at the well, 
 she tore the ring from her finger, which 
 young McDonnell had placed upon it, and 
 throwing it into the deep hole, listened with 
 inexpressible pleasure to the faint tingling 
 noise it made, as it struck against the stones, 
 fancying, silly child as she was, that as she 
 cast away the ring, so did she break the bonds 
 by which she had so recently been bound. 
 Then she remembered, how, just at that 
 moment, a smothered laugh had caught her 
 ear, and how, upon looking up, she beheld, 
 at the opposite side of the well, the cold grey 
 eye of the younger McDonnell maliciously 
 fixed upon her — it was only a momentary 
 glance, for he did not speak, but strode away 
 hastily. 
 
 Then came memories of her father's ap- 
 parent unhappiness immediately after this 
 event, and how he used to look at her, and 
 kiss her, and pity her, and mutter to himself, 
 " Poor unhappy child — what a lot must be
 
 134 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 thine !" At length arrived accounts of the 
 death of the attorney M'Donnell from typhus 
 fever, in a distant town, whither he had gone 
 on business, and of the surprise expressed 
 by every one at finding that he, who was 
 supposed to have been a wealthy man, had 
 died a bankrupt. Nobody wept for him — 
 nobody lamented him, for he was a hard 
 man. His wife had been dead some years, 
 and his son — his only child — was at sea. 
 
 It was all told to her father ; he rose sud- 
 denly and left the room, and as she followed 
 him, she saw him clasp his hands, and 
 heard him ejaculate, " Too late — too late, 
 would that it had been sooner !" 
 
 Then another month passed away without 
 any improvement in her father's spirits, until 
 one morning, after the post had arrived, as 
 he read the newspaper at breakfast, he 
 showed her, with a flushed cheek and spark- 
 ling eye, the account of " how the good ship 
 Sailfast, Captain Coleman, with the first and
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 135 
 
 second mates, Forward and McDonnell, and 
 all the crew, had been lost at sea, on the 
 night of the 20th of September, in a 
 violent storm — not one soul having es- 
 caped." 
 
 Julia remembered that morning well, for 
 she had never seen her father so joyful and 
 happy. 
 
 But until this night all these memories 
 had, in a great measure, faded from the mind 
 of Julia. Painful retrospection has but 
 little to do with the young. 
 
 Impressions of joy or of sorrow are as 
 soon stamped, and as easily erased, at that 
 period of life, as are the foot-prints upon the 
 sea-sand. 
 
 As the waves of the ocean, chased by soft 
 breezes, beneath a blue sky and a bright sun, 
 follow each other in rapid succession, each 
 one effacing the track of that which went 
 before it ; so do the feelings of our first 
 youth, vivid, sparkling, evanescent as the
 
 136 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 morning dew, quickly replace the ones 
 which have preceded them. The indelible 
 print of sorrow is for after-years ; and those 
 memories of the past, if they did come, had 
 no more affected the happiness and spright- 
 liness of Julia, than doth the heavy storm 
 impair the lustre of the unopened rose-bud. 
 If the image of either of the McDonnells 
 ever rose before her, it was but as a bug- 
 bear of her childhood, or as some horrid, 
 unaccountable vision which was gone, leaving 
 no vestige of its former presence behind. 
 
 But the hour of reflection was at last 
 come. 
 
 Then JuHa began to muse upon what her 
 father had said of himself — the mysterious 
 words he had dropped of peril which might 
 still befal him, and she shuddered at the 
 thought. Was there any sacrifice she would 
 not make to save him from danger? — No, 
 not one. 
 
 IIitht.rto Julia had loved her father better
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 137 
 
 than any one else in the world. His easy, 
 indulgent disposition, his perfect satisfac- 
 tion with every thing she did and said, had 
 drawn closely the bonds of filial duty and 
 love, while his habitual melancholy, and the 
 distresses she saw he was often in, about 
 pecuniary matters, only endeared him the 
 more to her. She was aware that, like many 
 other gentlemen, her father had taken a 
 secret share in the former disturbances which 
 had agitated the country, but that nothing 
 had ever been brought home to him. She 
 could recollect, that when she was a very 
 little child, he had been obliged to absent 
 himself for a time, and that her mother had 
 seemed anxious and unhappy about him, and 
 that on his return he had frequent inter- 
 views with the odious attorney McDonnell, 
 who ever afterwards appeared to exercise an 
 undue influence over him. 
 
 All these thoughts and reminiscences 
 gave Julia a severe pang ; but they, in some
 
 138 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 degree, reconciled her to keeping secret the 
 tie, which for two months — only two short 
 months — had bound her to young M'Donnell. 
 She regretted that her father wished for 
 this concealment, but if it made his mind 
 easier, perhaps it was best that the whole 
 transaction should be buried in oblivion. 
 At least, she tried to think so, though a 
 sigh shewed she was not entirely satisfied. 
 
 This dark spot in her past life, which had 
 almost faded away, seemed to her, now that 
 it was to be a secret from her future hus- 
 band, to enlarge itself, and become more 
 palpable and tangible. 
 
 Not that any thought of consequences, or 
 of the impropriety of being married as Julia 
 Grahame, ever presented itself to her mind ; 
 it was from the idea of concealment — of 
 there being any thing which Mr. Morley 
 was not to be made acquainted with, concern- 
 ing herself, that the ingenuous Julia shrunk. 
 But never, as yet, had she attempted to
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 139 
 
 doubt the judgment of her father, and why 
 should she do so now ? Besides, it was too 
 late to retract — he had her solemn promise. 
 
 Again Julia sighed ; but just at this 
 moment her wedding bonnet, which had 
 been brought home that evening, caught her 
 eye, and with the elasticity of a young mind, 
 she soon banished all painful reflections, and 
 turned her thoughts entirely to the arrange- 
 ment of her wardrobe, for the coming event. 
 
 It was late that night when Julia laid her 
 head upon her pillow ; but no distressing 
 dreams disturbed her deep slumbers, and 
 she rose in the morning, the same gay, 
 happy Julia, as she had risen on the pre- 
 ceding one. 
 
 The sun was shining bright, the birds 
 were singing, and little Sam was tapping at 
 her door, to put her in mind that they were 
 to have an early breakfast. 
 
 " We are all ready in the parlour, waiting 
 for you, Ju', and Mr. Morley is coming
 
 140 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 across the field. Do make haste down stairs. 
 — Shall I call for the eggs and the toast ? 
 The jaunting car will be at the door in five 
 minutes." 
 
 " Presently, Sam — presently," was Julia's 
 reply, as she gave one last look at the mirror 
 — one last touch to the beautiful ringlets 
 which hung in profusion on her shoulders, 
 before she opened the door. 
 
 "There — that's a dear, Sam," said she 
 kissing him, " run now, and call for the 
 eggs and toast — I am going down stairs." 
 
 And Julia descended, beautiful as the 
 morning, just as Mr. Morley entered the 
 house. 
 
 A party had been arranged for this day, 
 to go and visit the ruins of an old castle, 
 at some seven or eight miles' distance. It 
 was picturesquely situated on the banks of 
 a small river, where trout were abundant, 
 and the young Grahames were to take their 
 fishing rods with them, as was Mr. Morley.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 141 
 
 Julia was to be one of the party, and a whisper 
 from Uttle Sam put her in mind that she 
 must bring plenty of sandwiches. 
 
 The breakfast table was spread, and every 
 one was assembled except Mr. Grahame, 
 who had not yet risen. 
 
 He sent word he was not very well, but 
 hoped to be able to meet them in the even- 
 ing. 
 
 Julia presided, and, with the assistance of 
 Mr. Morley, cut a large plate of sandwiches 
 off the tempting-looking cold ham, which 
 stood upon the sideboard. Certainly Mr. 
 Morley was not very expert at cutting sand- 
 wiches, but what will not a lover learn ? 
 Nevertheless, Julia could not teach him to 
 pack the basket properly in which they, 
 with various other comestibles, were stowed. 
 
 On their arrival at the trysting place — 
 the castle — they found Aunt Milly with the 
 young Nugents ready to receive them. 
 Jane, Ellen, and Mary, looking fresh as the
 
 142 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 wild flowers which were scattered around. 
 Aunt Milly wearing her usual good-humour- 
 ed smile, and even cousin James, who saw 
 that Julia's marriage was inevitable, forgot 
 to wear his downcast air. 
 
 Altogether it was a delightful day. No 
 shower of rain, or dark clouds, to dim the 
 beauty of the clear blue sky. No untoward 
 accident — no stumbling horse, or broken 
 spring. 
 
 Mr. Morley had submitted, without a 
 murmur, to the jolting of the Irish jaunting 
 car over the stones of the rugged lanes, 
 through which they had to pass, for Julia 
 was beside him ; aud Julia, gay, happy, full 
 of vivacity and thoughtlessness, never once re- 
 membered the conversation she had had with 
 her father, in his study, on the night before. 
 
 The ruins of the castle were very ex- 
 tensive. Ivied windows and broken arch- 
 ways presented themselves in every direction, 
 as they clambered among the broken walls.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 143 
 
 Mr. Morley had got his sketch book with 
 him, and found it was pleasanter pastime to 
 sketch, with Juha at his side, than to join 
 the youngsters in fishing, who, getting their 
 hooks and hues in order, scattered along 
 the edge of the river. 
 
 Little Sam had no rod, and being soon 
 tired of carrying the basket, returned to 
 Julia, of whom he was excessively fond; 
 but Julia, who did not exactly want his 
 company at this time, provided him with a 
 volume of the Liliputian Library, which 
 she had put into her pocket for him in case 
 he should be troublesome, and showing him 
 a bank near the castle, where he could sit 
 down and watch the fishermen, gave him 
 the story of the AVhite Cat to read. 
 
 Aunt Milly, with Jane, Ellen, and Mary, 
 had walked on by the bank of the river, to 
 search for some patch of smooth green 
 sward, shaded with trees, on which to lay 
 out the cold provisions. A spot green and
 
 144 THE DOUBLE MARIRAGE. 
 
 soft — such as might suit the fairies for 
 their mooiiHght revels — was, after much con- 
 sideration, at length selected. 
 
 On one side it was sheltered by a huge 
 hawthorn bush, while the wide twisted 
 branches of a gnarled oak, which grew hard 
 by, extended over-head. 
 
 The baskets which the three girls car- 
 ried were now set down. It was too early 
 to open them yet. 
 
 Ellen and Mary pulled the wild flowers, 
 which grew around in profusion, and formed 
 them into garlands for their bonnets, while 
 Jane climbed to the top of a high stile, and 
 seemed intently to watch something upon 
 the distant high road. Aunt Milly, who 
 was fatigued from walking, seated herself 
 upon the moss-covered roots of the oak tree, 
 which, protruding from its massive trunk, 
 formed fantastic seats. 
 
 " Why do you not come and sit near 
 me, in the shade, Jane?" she inquired;
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 145 
 
 but Jane did not pretend to hear Aunt 
 MiUy. 
 
 " Sister Ann — sister Ann, is there any 
 one coming ? or is it only a cloud of dust ?'' 
 exclaimed Ellen, looking up at her sister 
 archly — but Jane only motioned her to be 
 silent. 
 
 In about ten minutes, however, Jane de- 
 scended, and with a heightened colour, took 
 a seat beside Aunt Milly. 
 
 A few minutes more passed away, and 
 footsteps were heard close to them in the 
 adjoining field. Some one leaped over the 
 hedge, and a young man dressed in black, 
 rather plain -looking, but with an agreeable 
 expression of countenance, and a gentle- 
 manly air, stood amongst them. 
 
 It was the curate of the parish — Mr. 
 Somers — whom they all knew very well. 
 He was a great favourite with Aunt Milly 
 — it may be, a greater favourite with some- 
 body else, but this was as yet a secret. 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 140 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Aunt Milly invited him to join their niral 
 party, which he wiUingly did. 
 
 Time flew by, while they were all thus 
 variously engaged, and the hour appointed 
 for laying out their cold collation arrived. 
 Mr. Somers assisted at the arrangement of it, 
 at which he was much more clever than Mr. 
 Morley had been in cutting the sandwiches, 
 and helping to pack the basket. Every- 
 thing was in order by the time the fisher- 
 men returned, but they were obliged to send 
 to seek Julia and Mr. Morley, who kept no 
 note of time. 
 
 In no place is a dinner enjoyed so much 
 as on the green grass, beneath the wood- 
 land shade, with the blackbirds and thrushes 
 for musicians ; at least, so thought Mr. 
 Morley, as he spread his cloak to make a 
 seat for Julia. 
 
 Thus passed the day. The whole party 
 returned with Julia, to take tea at Grahame 
 Hall, and having picked up a well-known
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 147 
 
 piper, who was used to travel tlie country 
 with his bag-pipes under his arm, on their 
 way home, they finished the evening with 
 the good old dance of Sir Roger de Coverley. 
 Mr. Grahame stood at the door, and 
 looked on with a satisfied air, while the in- 
 tricate round was merrilv trod. He was 
 pleased, because he saw that Julia, gay as 
 ever, led the dance with Mr. Morley. 
 
 H %
 
 148 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 " On ev'ry object through the giddy world, 
 Which fashion to the dazzled eye presents. 
 Fresh is the gloss of newness." 
 
 Dr. Roberts. 
 
 We pass over the wedding, and the wedding 
 breakfast, — Juha s blushes, confusion, and 
 tears — the satisfaction of Aunt Miliy, who 
 had the arranging of every thing — the joy 
 of all the young urchins, and how they 
 stuffed in wedding-cake and looked at their 
 new clothes ; no patches on their knees and 
 elbows now — cousin James's again clouded 
 aspect — and pretty Jane, Ellen, and Mary's
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 149 
 
 secret hopes that their turn might come 
 next. 
 
 All this can be easily imagined ; and 
 likewise how, as Julia hung about her fa- 
 ther's neck at parting, he felt that she could 
 never betray the half confidence which he 
 had so unwillingly placed in her. 
 
 Mr. Grahame's reflections, however, after 
 Julia's departure were very painful. There 
 was something degrading to him in the po- 
 sition in which he had been obliged to place 
 himself, by confessing thus much to his 
 child. 
 
 " I might have escaped the misery of tell- 
 ing Julia to what dreadful penalty I made 
 myself amenable, when I allowed myself to 
 be carried away by my own rashness and 
 folly, and the machinations of others,% 
 thought he; "if I had had time to consider, 
 I need not have said so much ; but her re- 
 quest was so sudden, so unexpected — that 
 hateful ceremony, buried in profound oblivion
 
 150 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 for five years, never mentioned, never al- 
 luded to in the slightest degree — I might 
 well think it had faded entirely from her 
 memory/' 
 
 Mr. Morley had been, like many other 
 men, captivated at first sight, and hurried 
 into a step of which he had not had the 
 most distant contemplation six months be- 
 fore. Time for reflection was now given 
 him — he was a Benedict — the beautiful 
 Julia was all his own. His first impression 
 was, that the sooner he could take her over 
 to England, the better it would be for all 
 parties. 
 
 Not that Mr. Morley had any prejudice 
 with respect to country. He was a citizen 
 of the world ; and if Julia's parents had 
 been Kamtschatdales, she would still have 
 been the only Julia in the world for him. 
 But, upon a nearer acquaintance, he did not 
 like Mr. Grahame. There was something
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 151 
 
 about this gentleman which he could not 
 entirely fathom. 
 
 It was not that Mr. Grahame was want- 
 ing in either education or manner. The 
 family, too, was an old one in the country ; 
 there was no deficiency on that score, and 
 Mr. Grahame could have reckoned connec- 
 tion after connection, among the most an- 
 cient of the aristocracy, that would fairly 
 weigh against Mr. Morley's cousinship with 
 one or two peers. But there was no sym- 
 pathy, no similarity, between the two men. 
 
 The associates with whom Mr. Grahame 
 had mingled at one period of his life, had, 
 in a great degree, deadened that fine per- 
 ception, which is given to us by nature, of 
 every thing that is good and great ; and the 
 refined feeling, the nice sense of honour, 
 and the high-toned principle, which animated 
 the conversation of Mr. Morley, struck no 
 answering chord in the bosom of his host. 
 
 We have said before, that Mr. Grahame
 
 152 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 was not naturally a bad-disposed man ; on 
 the contrary, his conduct was often marked 
 by good impulses and kind feelings ; but 
 prejudice, indecision, and false views of so- 
 ciety, had been his bane. 
 
 Julia left her father, her merry playmates, 
 and the abode of her youth with many tears, 
 but they were only the natural and evan- 
 escent tears of the young and timid bride. 
 All was so new, so bright, in the world that 
 was just bursting into view, that Mr. Morley 
 soon had the pleasure of seeing every cloud 
 disappear from her brow. 
 
 Only a fortnight had passed since their 
 marriage — spent in making a short tour in 
 the north of Ireland — ^when one afternoon 
 saw them on the point of disembarking from 
 a steamer at Bristol, from whence Mr. Morley 
 proposed to take his fair bride to Seapoint, 
 and introduce her to the Nevilles, and to his 
 other acquaintances. 
 
 He had written before his marriage to a
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 153 
 
 confidential steward, who had resided in the 
 family for many years, to have his residence 
 in Wales, which, from his extreme careless- 
 ness in those matters, wanted new furnishing 
 and many repairs, put into perfect order, 
 before he took Mrs. Morley thither ; and in 
 the mean time, he had got Mr. Neville to 
 engage for him, for a short term, a country 
 house, which was opportunely to be let in 
 the neighbourhood of Seapoint. 
 
 He anticipated great pleasure in intro- 
 ducing Julia to Grace Neville, and thought 
 what charming companions they would make 
 for each other. 
 
 His passionate love for Julia did not blind 
 him to the many defects in her education, 
 and he hoped the society of the gentle Grace 
 would soften down her almost overpowering 
 vivacity. 
 
 Every thing was so new to her, and she 
 expressed herself in such lively terms of ad- 
 miration or of wonder, that Mr. Morley 
 
 H 3
 
 154 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 sometimes caught himself giving an uneasy 
 glance around, lest that inexperience and 
 newness to every thing in life, which, per- 
 haps, had been her greatest charm in his 
 eyes when he had first seen her, might make 
 people smile when they beheld it in the wife 
 of so old and grave a looking man as he 
 fancied himself to be. 
 
 JuHa only expressed what she felt, for 
 every fresh object was a source of pleasure 
 or admiration to her, in one way or other. 
 Her heart danced and bounded with that 
 sense of present contentedness — those joyful 
 anticipations of the future, in a long sum- 
 mer day of life stretched out before her — 
 that *' gay hope by fancy fed ;" all of which 
 forms for the young a capability of receiving 
 intense enjoyment from simple pleasures, 
 and give that buoyancy to the spirits which 
 rarely lasts beyond extreme youth, and if 
 once lost, never can return. 
 
 But an unexpected cloud — a damp, like
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 155 
 
 the unhealthy fog that hangs in a sepulchral 
 vault — was suspended over the thoughtless, 
 happy Julia, ready to envelop her in its 
 poisonous atmosphere. 
 
 As the steamer glided towards the land- 
 ing place at Bristol, she had to make her 
 way through a numerous collection of vessels 
 of all nations, which crowded this busy port; 
 and in running along the side of a large 
 American merchantman, Julia was struck 
 by the appearance of a man who stood un 
 the deck, and carelessly leaned against the 
 side of the vessel. From the manner in 
 which he gave his orders to some of the men 
 near him, he seemed to be either the captain 
 or the first mate. 
 
 He was a dark -looking man, somewhere 
 between twenty-five and thirty years of age, 
 and had nothing remarkable in either his 
 dress or his personal appearance ; but there 
 was something in his countenance which 
 froze the current of the blood in Julia's
 
 156 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 heart, and made her flesh creep from head 
 to foot. 
 
 Had the deep given up its dead? Was 
 that the younger M'Donnell, or was it his 
 fetch, that stood so near her ? 
 
 The steamboat almost touched the Amer- 
 ican vessel, as it passed by her. 
 
 Julia, rivetted to the spot, fascinated, im- 
 moveable, had her eyes fixed in a kind of 
 terror-stricken gaze upon the American. 
 
 " Captain Jacobs, how do you do ?" 
 screamed out a bumboat woman at the top of 
 her voice ; " glad to see you in these here 
 parts again." 
 
 The man, upon whom Julia's eyes were 
 fastened, condescendingly acknowledged the 
 recognition of the bumboat woman. 
 
 " Captain Jacobs !" ejaculated Julia to 
 herself. " O my God, how like he is to 
 that hateful McDonnell ! and she involun- 
 tarily shuddered as this person, addressed 
 as Captain Jacobs, turned a pair of cold,
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 157 
 
 searching grey eyes upon her, similar to the 
 eyes she so well remembered. But it was 
 a careless look — the look of a stranger. 
 
 '' If the dead could re-visit the earth, I 
 should say that was the younger M'Don- 
 nell," thought Julia. 
 
 " Julia 1 how pale you look !" exclaimed 
 Mr. Morley, as he approached her. " Ah ! 
 I see how it is/' continued he, laughing. 
 '' My poor Julia ! notwithstanding all your 
 boast of being such a good sailor, on this 
 your first voyage, I see, the motion of the 
 steamer has made you quite giddy. Come, 
 JuHa, take my arm, a turn or two on the 
 deck will revive you, and bring back your 
 colour, and we shall be at the quay directly. 
 My poor little Julia ! how upset you are, 
 and how you tremble ! — Ah 1 I see you will 
 never make a sailor — but it does not signify, 
 as you have not married an old admiral." 
 
 Julia was quite indisposed when they 
 reached the inn where they were to pass
 
 158 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 that night. She felt as if she was crushed 
 — almost annihilated — a stupor seemed to 
 weigh down all her faculties — a deadly sick- 
 ness of the heart took possession of her; 
 violent and repeated bursts of tears at 
 length came to her relief. 
 
 Mr. Morley looked on in consternation ; 
 he had never seen Julia thus affected before, 
 and he had an antipathy to tears, hysterics, 
 and over- wrought sensibility. 
 
 His lively, unaffected Julia thus trans- 
 formed ! It must be the effect of the sea- 
 voyage, acting on her nervous system ; rest 
 would certainly bring her to herself. So 
 making her lie down upon the sofa, and 
 bidding her try and go to sleep, he drew a 
 chair and sat beside her. 
 
 Julia endeavoured to devour the bitter 
 agony of her mind, and not to let Mr. 
 Morley see her tears. 
 
 The thought of the situation in which 
 she might be placed was so fearful, that her
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 159 
 
 head grew dizzy and her heart sick — oh, 
 how sick ! 
 
 And as some eastern traveller, soothed to 
 sleep by the fanning winds and the soft 
 music of the gurghng brook, beside which 
 he had stretched his weary limbs, roused by 
 the roar of the tempest and the howling of 
 wild beasts, wakes suddenly in blackest 
 night, not knowing where to fly to for 
 safety or for shelter ; — so felt poor Julia, 
 encompassed, as she was, by horrors worse 
 than death. 
 
 Why did they say he was dead ? — he 
 was not dead. That cold grey eye — it was 
 the eye that had gazed upon her when she 
 threw the ring into the well ; and the linea- 
 ments of the face — could she be mistaken ? 
 — impossible — her childish dread had im- 
 printed them too indelibly on her mind, 
 and, though long forgotton, they now rose 
 before her as clear as if the fatal scene in her 
 father's study had taken place but yesterday.
 
 160 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 After sitting for some short time beside 
 her, Mr. Morley, seeing that Juha's eyes 
 were shut, fancied she had fallen asleep, and 
 closing the window-shutter, that the light 
 should not disturb her, went out to take a 
 short stroll. 
 
 Her situation was truly deplorable for 
 the first half hour after he left her. That 
 cold grey eye seemed fixed upon her still. 
 
 It was in vain that she repeated over and 
 over to herself that it could not be M'Don- 
 nell. She had seen in the newspapers, she 
 had seen it by letter from the owners of 
 the vessel, that the ship had foundered at 
 sea, and that every soul on board had per- 
 ished. 
 
 Why then should she permit a chance re- 
 semblance thus to agitate her ? It could be 
 only a chance one — reason, conviction told 
 her so ; and yet, in spite of reason and con- 
 viction, imagination rebelled against them, 
 and pourtrayed the thousand different ways
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 161 
 
 in which M'DonneU might have been saved. 
 Then she thought how mad it was of her 
 to fancy this. John O'Hallaran, she knew — 
 a young lad, the son of a farmer in the 
 neighbourhood, who had taken a passage to 
 join a brother settled abroad — was lost like- 
 wise, and his family had mourned for him 
 an entire year. And then she remembered 
 how she had heard, at the time of old 
 McDonnell's death, that the son's name had 
 been joined with his in several biUs, and 
 that the most minute inquiries had been 
 made about him by the creditors. Every 
 thing combined to assure her that McDon- 
 nell was no longer living. 
 
 Thus she tried to reason with herself, 
 after the first burst of horror and conster- 
 nation was over ; and she so far succeeded 
 in calming her fears, as to be enabled to 
 meet Mr. Morley at tea-time with a smile, 
 sweet to him, though not so gay, he thought, 
 as usual.
 
 162 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Mr. Morley entertained Julia at tea, by 
 telling her where he had strolled — what 
 news was in the newspapers which he had 
 taken a hasty survey of in a neighbouring 
 coffee-room ; and, finding she was not dis- 
 posed to talk, read aloud to her for half an 
 hour, in order to amuse her. 
 
 He then made her retire to rest, assuring 
 her that a good night's sleep was the best 
 restorative after sea-sickness. 
 
 Not that Mr. Morley, on considering the 
 matter over, fancied that the agitation in which 
 he saw his beloved Julia, could be produced 
 entirely by the effects of the voyage. He re- 
 collected that she was very young, that she 
 had left all her friends for a husband with 
 whom her acquaintance was but as yester- 
 day — that some little sorrow, some fond re- 
 miniscences might press upon her young 
 heart, when she saw that ocean was dividing 
 her from her own home. 
 
 '* It is all very natural that it should be
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 163 
 
 SO," thought he, with a half sigh. ''I see 
 clearly, however, that I must, in a great 
 measure, give up my old pursuits — Julia 
 must be amused and pleased at any sacri- 
 fice, — I could not bear to see those dear 
 eyes shedding tears." 
 
 It was those reflections which made him 
 forbear asking Julia any questions, so she 
 had not to plead head-ache, or to give any 
 evasive reply to her husband ; and this, she 
 felt, was a relief.
 
 164 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " Like one that from a fearful dream 
 Awakes, the morning light to view. 
 And joys to see the purple beam, 
 Yet fears to find the vision true." 
 
 Leyden. 
 
 Julia had no refreshing sleep that night, 
 and she came down to breakfast on the fol- 
 lowing morning looking pale and depressed. 
 Mr. Morley gazed at her with some 
 anxiety ; there was not perhaps anything 
 surprising in one so new to travelling having 
 had a sleepless night, after the fatigues of 
 the day ; but painful doubts would obtrude
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 165 
 
 themselves upon him, although he endea- 
 voured to stifle them. He was not quite 
 satisfied in his own mind that he was exactly 
 the husband suited to Julia, nor was he at 
 all certain that Julia loved him as he would 
 wish to be loved. 
 
 " I must teach her to do so," thought he, 
 " by endeavouring to study her happiness in 
 all things." 
 
 " I long to introduce you to my friends 
 the Nevilles, Julia,'' said he, addressing his 
 pale wife in tender accents ; "I think you 
 will be very much pleased with Grace. You 
 will find her a charming companion ; she is 
 something about your own age, and my Julia 
 would soon be weary of an old fellow like 
 me, if she had not some agreeable young 
 friend to chat mth. But you must brighten 
 up, my love, or they will certainly think at 
 Seapoint, that I have married you against 
 your inclination. I shall be put down, among 
 all the young people, as some horrid Blue-beard
 
 166 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 or Ogre, who carries off a disconsolate prin- 
 cess to his impregnable castle." 
 
 Julia coloured to her temples — her con- 
 science smote her. But those remarks changed 
 the current of her thoughts. Smiling faintly, 
 while she exerted herself to make the break- 
 fast, with a versatility of temper and of feel- 
 ing which belong only to the young, she 
 forgot for a time, in the agreeable conversa- 
 tion of her husband, who tried in every way 
 to entertain her, the horrid apparition of the 
 preceding day. 
 
 Breakfast was over, and now there was 
 the departure, the journey, and the arrival, 
 towards evening, at the residence, in the 
 neighbourhood of Seapoint, which had been 
 taken for Everard Morley by Mr. Neville. 
 
 This, under the inspection of Mrs. Neville 
 and Grace, had been put into the completest 
 order possible, for the reception of him and 
 his young bride. 
 
 It was an old-fashioned country house.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 167 
 
 built in the Elizabethan style, and belonged 
 to a family who had been obliged to seek on 
 the continent for that health which had been 
 denied them in this, their ancestral residence. 
 A deep taint of consumption had appeared 
 in the children, and the young shoots had 
 dropped off one by one — leaving only two 
 delicate girls remaining to the anxious 
 parents. 
 
 Molesworth Hall was only a short mile 
 from Seapoint, and had been erected upon 
 the foundation of an old abbey, in one of 
 those green valleys which appeared to be the 
 peculiar choice of the monks. 
 
 The hills, gently undulating around, were 
 clothed with magnificent trees. A herd of 
 deer were seen reposing in the park, which 
 extended from both the north and south 
 entrances to the house ; while a river, of no 
 great magnitude, but clear and pebbly, 
 bounded the grounds on one side. 
 
 Julia was in raptures at the sight of this
 
 168 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 charming abode. The scenery,notmorebeau- 
 tiful perhaps than what she had always been 
 accustomed to, was yet of a new character, 
 and there was an air of peace and repose 
 about it that fell like balm upon her heart. 
 
 Peace for the poor Julia ! — Alas ! Julia 
 found, after a day or two's abode at Moles- 
 worth Hall, that, however her exertions might 
 give her the appearance of cheerfulness, or 
 extraneous circumstances bring forgetfulness 
 with them for a time, there was no peace to 
 be found for her. 
 
 The image of Captain Jacobs rose before 
 her in her brightest moments, and it was in 
 vain that she endeavoured to reason away 
 her fears. 
 
 That one glance which she had caught of 
 his cold grey eyes, carried a terror to her 
 soul lest M'Donnell might be still living, 
 which all the reasoning she set against it 
 could not overpower. 
 
 Chase the fear away as she might, it ever
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 169 
 
 and anon returned again, and lay a dee[) 
 drop of bitterness in the bottom of her cup, 
 and she often felt as if she were tossed a 
 waif on the wide ocean of life, without 
 any one to cling to for support. 
 
 Her husband ! — Oh ! how had she 
 wronged that husband, if M'Donnell still 
 lived ; and even if he were dead, was not 
 her life a life of deceit? — had she not a 
 secret which she dared not reveal to him ? 
 
 A new world had opened upon Julia — 
 right and wrong, truth and falsehood, wore 
 to her a different aspect. 
 
 Willingly — oh ! how willingly would she 
 have thrown herself at her husband's feet, 
 and have acknowledged all — ^her secret mar- 
 riage — her recent and terrible dread — and 
 have trusted to his honour and affection to 
 have guided her out of this terrible maze, 
 even if it was necessary that they should 
 separate for ever. But her oath forbade 
 this, and her startled fancy shrunk back, and 
 
 VOL. T. I
 
 170 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 her life blood almost ceased to flow, as she 
 contemplated the inextricable labyrinth in 
 which she was plunged. 
 
 Neither were the reproaches she felt due 
 to her parent, for permitting her to place 
 herself in such a predicament, the least part 
 of her punishment. That father, so beloved 
 — so looked up to — so conscientiously 
 obeyed ever since she was a child ; it was 
 he who had selfishly drawn all this anguish 
 upon the head of his unhappy daughter. 
 
 Then she would reproach herself for these 
 thoughts, and think how much better it was 
 that she should endure any distress or 
 trouble rather than the life of that father 
 should be in danger. 
 
 '' But why let me marry Mr. Morley ? — 
 oh 1 no, he never should have allowed me to 
 marry at all," she exclaimed, with clasped 
 hands. 
 
 Then she would again go over the past, 
 and think how little impression the cere-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 171 
 
 mony, which had taken place between her 
 and McDonnell, had made upon her young 
 mind. They had parted without a word — 
 not even the bridegroom's accustomed sakite 
 had been bestowed upon her. It was held 
 in a profound secrecy — no one knew of it 
 but those in her father's study at the time — 
 old McDonnell and the strange clergyman. 
 Had she not thrown away the ring with the 
 utmost contempt ? — Had not McDonnell's 
 death been fully ascertained ? — How could 
 her poor father foresee ? — How could he 
 ever imagine that she should behold this 
 mocking likeness — this form which had filled 
 her with such terror ? 
 
 Oh ! no — she must not blame him — she 
 must not condemn her poor father too much 
 — he would be as unhappy as she was, if 
 what she feared were true. But it could not 
 be true ? 
 
 Vanish ! — vanish, thou phantom of the 
 imagination ! 
 
 2
 
 172 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 But it did not vanish. A dark spot had 
 fastened upon her heart, and a rising sob 
 seemed suffocating her breast whenever she 
 was by herself, while society demanded from 
 her an exertion that almost killed her. 
 
 Spell-bound and stunned, Julia received 
 and returned her wedding visits, which were 
 numerous ; but she was too ill to accept the 
 first two or three dinner invitations. 
 
 Mr. Morley was much distressed, and 
 began to be seriously alarmed for her health. 
 He pressed her to have immediate advice ; 
 but this she refused, trying to make light of 
 her indisposition, and assuring him she would 
 be well in a day or two. 
 
 Terrified herself at the state of internal 
 agitation she was in, Julia attempted to dive 
 into the depths of her own heart, and seek 
 there for a spirit to support her under this 
 frightful nightmare which pressed down her 
 faculties. She tried to call up rehgious feel- 
 ings, and to look to a kind providence for
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGK. 173 
 
 guidance and succour ; but, though accus- 
 tomed from her earHest youth to repeat her 
 daily prayers, and to attend divine service 
 whenever itvras convenient, Juha had hitherto 
 passed through Hfe without giving much 
 thought to rehgious matters ; and now, with 
 the consciousness of being entangled in a 
 maze of error and deceit, how could she de- 
 rive much consolation from thence ? 
 
 Julia then saw nothing in her heart which 
 could aid her, but a firmness of purpose, 
 called up by the dreadful dilemma in which 
 she stood, not to disturb her husband's peace 
 by her terrors, and to bury in her bosom all 
 remembrance of the apparition which she 
 had seen on board the American vessel.
 
 174 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 " Oppress'd with grief, oppress' d with care, 
 A burden more than I can bear, 
 
 I sit me down and sigh." 
 
 Burns. 
 
 "Julia, here is an invitation to dinner/' 
 said Mr. Morley, coming into the break- 
 fast room one morning with an open note 
 in his hand ; " it is from the Templetons ; sit 
 down, dear, and write an answer to it, as 
 the servant waits." 
 
 '* Must we accept it ?" repUed JuHa 
 faintly ; " could you not go without me ?" 
 
 "Dear Julia, impossible," answered her 
 husband, looking fondly at her. " Templeton 
 is an old friend of mine, and I should not
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 175 
 
 like to refuse him ; you had better write an 
 affirmative ; and if you still have this weari- 
 some head-ache when the day arrives, we 
 will both send an excuse." 
 
 Julia sighed deeply, suppressed a chok- 
 ing sob, and immediately sat down to write. 
 
 Mr. Morley looked anxiously at her. 
 
 " Poor thing ! how unwell she must feel 
 herself! how dreadfully depressed are her 
 spirits !" he thought, as he paced slowly and 
 musingly up and down the room. 
 
 " My Julia, if you are not quite well 
 when the day arrives, and do not feel your- 
 self in the humour to go, I will write an 
 apology for both — I could not bear to leave 
 you alone, — I fear, dearest, you are seriously 
 ill ; do allow me to send for Doctor L ." 
 
 "It is only this tiresome head-ache," re- 
 plied Julia, not daring to look up at him, 
 " it is not very bad to-day ; if it gets worse, 
 it will be time enough to send for Doctor 
 L . I hope it will be gone by Tuesday
 
 176 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 — yes, Tuesday — that is the day of our 
 dinner invitation," continued she, looking at 
 the note again. " We are going out to ride 
 by-and-bye, nothing does me so much 
 good as riding — particularly when you are 
 with me," she added, forcing a smile. " I 
 am sure I shall be quite well by Tuesday." 
 
 " We will order the horses early then, 
 my dear," said Mr. Morley, brightening up, 
 " and I will take you a beautiful ride. I 
 am afraid this air does not agree with you, 
 and, if those head-aches continue, we will 
 leave the place directly." 
 
 " How kind !" said Julia ; and she smiled 
 one of her old sweet smiles, and kissed the 
 hand that was near her, as he leaned on the 
 back of her chair. 
 
 Poor Julia ! she said true when she spoke 
 of a head-ache ; but what was that, com- 
 pared to the heart-ache she had ? 
 
 The day arrived for the dinner party, and 
 Julia exerted herself to the utmost to please
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 177 
 
 lier doting husband. She put on a dress 
 he had chosen for her — she selected the or- 
 naments best suited to his taste, and ar- 
 ranged her hair in exactly the way he used 
 to praise most ; and when she joined him in 
 the drawing-room, a few minutes before the 
 carriage was announced, a throb of plea- 
 sure beat at her heart, on seeing the satis- 
 faction expressed in his eyes. 
 
 He had been afraid that, at the last mo- 
 ment, as it had happened once or twice before, 
 Julia would have been too ill to go, and, as it 
 was too late to send an excuse for both, that 
 he should be obliged to fulfil his engage- 
 ment, and leave her by herself. 
 
 But now, Julia — whose mind had been 
 taken up while dressing, in thinking what 
 would best please Mr. Morley, and who, thus 
 engaged, had almost forgotten to think of 
 herself — came into the room with a colour 
 so bright, and a smile so sweet, as at once 
 surprised and enchanted him. 
 
 I a
 
 l?!^ THE DOUBIE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Mr. Morley was particularly anxious that 
 Julia should look well, and appear to the 
 best advantage this day. 
 
 He would have to introduce her to many of 
 his old acquaintances. He knew that several 
 amongst them considered he had done a very 
 foolish act, in marrying so young a girl. 
 He was certain that some of them thought 
 him an old fool to allow himself to be 
 caught in a few weeks — a man, too, of his 
 habits and tastes — by a pretty face. There 
 certainly was, he owned to himself, a great 
 disparity of years between them ; he was 
 double — no, not quite double Julia's age, 
 but veiy nearly so. But then, if Julia did 
 not mind it, what signified the disparity ? 
 And now he would be able to shew them, 
 that if he had done a fooHsh thing, he had, 
 at least, a fair excuse for doing so. Such, 
 he was sure, his old friend Jack Stanhope, 
 of punning reputation, would say.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 179 
 
 He paused a minute or two, to look at 
 Julia before he spoke to her. 
 
 He was by no means a connoisseur in 
 ladies' dress, but, with a painter's eye, he 
 could tell at a glance what was elegant and 
 becoming, and what was preposterous. 
 
 Julia's dress was faultless in his eyes, for 
 she had arranged it with the most minute 
 care, to suit his taste. The flush of anxiety 
 to please him had replaced the glow of 
 health which formerly covered her cheek, 
 and had lighted up her eyes with unusual 
 brightness. Mr. Morley added to this bril- 
 liancy, by the praises he bestowed upon her 
 whole appearance. 
 
 They arrrived at Mr. Templeton's, and 
 were ushered into the drawing-room. A 
 numerous party were assembled there. 
 
 Among them were several young girls, — 
 a pretty bride married about two months, — 
 three rather censorious old maids, and half- 
 a-dozen gentlemen.
 
 180 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 The Nevilles were not there. Had they 
 been at home, they would have been among 
 tlie guests ; but they were still absent in 
 Bath, whither they had been summoned, 
 the day before Mr. and Mrs. Morley arrived 
 at Molesworth Hall, on account of the sud- 
 den illness of Mr. Neville's mother. 
 
 Mr. Morley, however, was rather disap- 
 pointed at not seeing them. A note from 
 Mrs. Neville, full of regrets at their unavoid- 
 able absence just at the time of his ar- 
 rival, informed him of the improved health 
 of old Mrs. Neville, and of their intention 
 of being at Woodside on that very day, and 
 he had hoped, if arrived in time, that they 
 might have all met at Mr. Templeton's 
 house. 
 
 Julia was the object of undivided scrutiny. 
 The gentlemen thought her charming, fas- 
 cinating, beautiful. 
 
 The opinions among the ladies were 
 various. All, however, concurred in avow-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 181 
 
 ing to each other, that she was not at all 
 the sort of person they should have thought 
 Mr. Morley would have married. 
 
 The three old maids particularly, who 
 had for several years directed a useless bat- 
 tery of looks, sighs, smiles, and conversa- 
 tion against him, were outrageous. A mere 
 bread and butter miss — an insipid school- 
 girl — no air — no manner — no fashion, were 
 remarks whispered amongst them with great 
 bitterness, to all which Miss EUersly, who 
 made one of the dinner-party, cordially as- 
 sented. 
 
 At dinner, Julia was necessarily divided 
 from Mr. Morley, and her spirits fell, when 
 she found herself no longer at his side. A 
 sort of painful, dream-like sensation stole 
 over her. The gaiety and laughter around 
 her, seemed to her, to have something in 
 it of mockery. 
 
 Opposite to her, was seated the pretty 
 bride — all animation, hfe^ and spirits. She
 
 182 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 had been going the round of bridal fes- 
 tivities, and looked so happy ! — ready for 
 every amusement, and enjoying them all 
 thoroughly. No matter whether she was 
 drenched with rain on a water party, or 
 overturned in a dark night returning from a 
 ball — all with her was food for merriment. 
 
 The ladies thought her much prettier than 
 Julia, but the gentlemen said, '' No — not by 
 half so pretty, and not near so young." 
 
 Mrs. Telford, the pretty bride, (for, what- 
 ever the gentlemen might say, she was 
 pretty) had a lively, gay, ofF-hand manner. 
 She had been the belle of a country town, 
 and after having passed three or four 
 seasons in flirting and coquetting, was lately 
 married to a young lawyer, who sat at the 
 other end of the table. She talked inces- 
 santly, was helped to every dish, scarcely 
 gave herself time to taste any thing, nodded 
 and chattered to every one, and described 
 fete after fete, and pic-nic after pic-nic,
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 1S3 
 
 across the table to Julia's neighbour, a stiff 
 old maid, with good-humoured and untiring 
 volubility. 
 
 Julia sat silent and abstracted. Mr. 
 Templeton, near whom she was placed, con- 
 versed with her whenever he could spare a 
 moment from the duties of carving and at- 
 tending to his other guests ; but Miss 
 Griselda 'Wimble ton scarcely deigned to 
 address her ; and all the time she was seated 
 near Julia, thought within her own mind, 
 what a much more suitable match she should 
 have been herself for Mr. Morley. 
 
 JuUa's eye lost its brilliancy, and a soft 
 languor crept over her features. Every one 
 knew that she had been ill since her arrival 
 at Molesworth Hall, and that this was the 
 first dinner party she had appeared at ; so, 
 although the censorious said she was in- 
 sufferably dull, her silence excited no remark 
 in the good-natured, except it might be 
 '' What a beautiful, timid-looking creature 
 Mrs. Morley is."
 
 184 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 And, in reality, by many people Julia 
 would have been considered more beautiful 
 in her pensive hours than in her more ani- 
 mated ones, as there was a sort of Magdalen 
 expression, formerly but seldom seen, about 
 her small full mouth, and in the downcast 
 look of those deep blue eyes, almost con- 
 cealed by theu- long lashes, that was very 
 fascinating. 
 
 Meantime, Julia's thoughts became ex- 
 cessively painful. This brilliant, happy 
 Mrs. Telford, contrasted sadly with herself. 
 
 One little moon hardly passed since she 
 herself was married ! and she so wretched ! 
 — while years of felicity seemed to await 
 the innocent, the light-hearted Mrs. Telford. 
 
 She felt as if every eye was beginning to 
 read the secret of her soul — as if it was in- 
 delibly written on her forehead. Even the 
 flowers that were profusely scattered over 
 the table, carried a reproof to her sick heart. 
 They seemed to whisper to her, '' False and
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 185 
 
 deceitful one ! do not look at us — do not 
 touch us — 
 
 " For we are spotless, Julia, we are pure." 
 
 At length this dinner, so long and weary 
 to Julia, was over, and the ladies withdrew. 
 
 In the drawing-room they were soon 
 joined by many newly-arrived guests, come 
 to make up the evening party, as there was 
 to be a dance. 
 
 Julia was sadly disappointed at this, for 
 she had hoped to get away by ten o'clock, 
 but she now saw it would be impossible to 
 stir, particularly when she overheard the 
 lively Mrs. Telford whisper to her husband, 
 when he entered the room, " that it was 
 quite out of the question, their thinking of 
 going home early, as he had intended — it 
 would be so rude to be the first to break 
 up such a pleasant party." 
 
 So Julia tried to make up her mind to 
 remain likewise, and endeavoured to divert 
 her thoughts, by listening to the good-hu-
 
 186 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 moured prattle of a young girl just come 
 home from school, for the vacation, who had 
 seated herself beside her on the sofa, and 
 whose amusing volubility, certainly did serve 
 to chase away her retrospections for a time. 
 
 There was something so genuine, so 
 elastic and buoyant in this young spirit at 
 her side, that Juha was laughing outright • 
 at one of her school-girl narrations, when 
 Mr. Morley entered the room. 
 
 Mr. Morley gave an anxious glance 
 around for Julia. He had seen how de- 
 pressed she looked at dinner, and was fear- 
 ful lest her head-ache had returned. His 
 joy was therefore great when he beheld her 
 so apparently enjoying a chat with this 
 young companion, whom he recognized im- 
 mediately to be a niece of Mr. Templeton, 
 but who had not made her appearance at 
 the dinner table. 
 
 " And how does the charming Fanny do, 
 this evening ?" said he, as he took both her
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 187 
 
 hands in his, with the privilege of an old 
 friend ; " ah ! I see you are just as lively 
 and gay as you were half-a-dozen years 
 ago, when yoa used to steal my gloves, and 
 hide my hat. What a little mad-cap you 
 were then ! and now you want to spoil my 
 wife, and make her as wild as yourself — do 
 you? 
 
 " O no, Mr. Morley — indeed, I assui-e 
 you, I am grown so demure ! I was only 
 teUing Mrs. Morley of a quiz we put upon 
 om' French governess. Poor old soul, she 
 was such a fright ! and she used to fancy 
 every one that looked at her was in love 
 with her. It was too comic — the mistake 
 we led her into — was it not, Mrs. Morley ?" 
 
 " Comic indeed !" replied the still laugh- 
 ing Julia. 
 
 The dehghted Mr. Morley looked and 
 listened, while the gay Fanny told her 
 tale. His attention was in outward 
 show given to Fanny, but his looks, his
 
 188 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 thoughts, were for JuHa — the headache 
 must be certainly gone, for she appeared 
 all animation. 
 
 Tea was over, and the dancing began. 
 Mr. Morley felt rather anxious for JuHa, 
 when he saw her led out to dance. He 
 had never seen her get through any dance 
 but the old-fashioned one of Sir Roger de 
 Coverly, and he knew she had been quite 
 out of the way of any good instruction. He 
 almost wished she had refused to dance. 
 He ought to have told her so, for Julia only 
 danced because she thought it would please 
 him. 
 
 But his fears were soon at an end. 
 
 With a good ear, and a graceful, pliant 
 figure, Julia glided through the quadrille, 
 in all the poetry of motion ; and nobody 
 who saw her, would ever have supposed 
 that half-a-dozen lessons from an itinerant 
 dancing master, had been the extent of her 
 instruction.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 189 
 
 The truth was, although he did not Uke 
 to own it to himself, this first dinner-party 
 and ball had been a very nervous afi'air to 
 Mr. Morley. 
 
 He knew that his charming, unsophisti- 
 cated Julia would have been considered 
 quite uneducated, at least in the usual sense 
 in which the word education is used as re- 
 spects young ladies, if her acquirements had 
 been narrowly canvassed. 
 
 It would not at all please him to have it 
 whispered about, that, though Mrs. Morley 
 could not dance, or play an opera of Rossini 
 or a waltz by Labitzky, poor thing! or speak 
 French and Italian', she was an admirable 
 hand at putting pieces on her little brothers' 
 elbows, and feeding the poultry — that she 
 could regulate the dairy, and knit socks for 
 the poor. 
 
 Poor Juha ! — she did not think of her 
 outward appearance this evening. She was 
 so humbled, so thoroughly unhappy, that all
 
 190 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 the little misadventures and awkwardnesses 
 of life — all the opinions and remarks of 
 others, excepting Mr. Morley himself, seemed 
 of so little import to her — a drop of water 
 in the ocean of trouble amidst which she 
 was placed — as never to weigh with her one 
 way or the other. 
 
 Formerly, when she danced, she was used 
 to feel, in the exhilaration of the exercise, 
 light as 
 
 " The gossamers, 
 That idle in the wanton summer air ;" 
 
 but now, when she began to dance, a heavy 
 weight pressed down her spirits, and she 
 glided on mechanically, like a person in a 
 dream. 
 
 At first, painful thoughts swam upper- 
 most in her mind ; gradually, they became 
 more softened, more subdued, more indis- 
 tinct. It might not have been Inm she saw. 
 Were there not two people exactly alike, 
 sometimes to be found in the universe?
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 191 
 
 That heavy, grey eye that met hers — might 
 there not be other eyes exactly Hke it ? 
 Strange tales she had heard of extraordinary 
 likenesses then floated through her brain. 
 Trials, too, where an identity was sworn to, 
 in full faith of the truth, while after-events 
 proved that sight and conviction had been 
 both deceived. Might it not be thus now? 
 
 Oh, if it were all a dream ! If she could 
 wake and find this incubus of the soul re- 
 moved ! 
 
 By degrees these ideas faded away, and 
 her old enjoyment in the dance revived. 
 Then succeeded the waltz — the polka — her 
 ear caught every modulation, her small foot 
 trod every measure ; and Julia tripped over 
 the floor, light as fairy over the tops of the 
 dewy grass. Julia felt that she should like 
 to dance all night, and Mr. Morley looked 
 on her — happy in the happiness of his grace- 
 ful Julia, — as the Eastern Caliph might be 
 supposed to have looked upon the far-famed 
 jewel in his diadem.
 
 192 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 And now the dancing ceased, — a pause 
 ensued, and there was music. 
 
 Juha was fond of music, and Hstened in- 
 tently, as several sweet Italian songs and 
 duets followed each other in rapid succession. 
 Many of the young ladies, and two or three 
 of the gentlemen, sang, and sang well ; and 
 all were ready to contribute their endeavom^s 
 to make the evening pass away agreeably. 
 
 Julia did not understand the words, but 
 the music soothed her spirits, and a soft 
 calm stole over her mind. 
 
 Presently the laughing Fanny was asked 
 to play. At first she hung back, but a little 
 pressing brought her to the piano. She 
 played a waltz or two — a Polish movement 
 succeeded — then,looking at Julia, she smiled 
 and nodded, and commenced an Irish 
 planxty with much animation. 
 
 Julia almost started at the sound, and 
 tears, which she could scarcely restrain from 
 falling, rose to her eyes. When last she
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 193 
 
 liad heard that planxty, she was gay as a 
 lark ; — old Denis Conner had played it on 
 the bagpipes, as a finale, after they had 
 finished dancing Sir Roger de Coverley. 
 Now all was changed ! 
 
 Soon Fanny's nimble fingers ceased — 
 somebody had asked her to sing; and, 
 anxious to please Mrs. Morley, for whom 
 she had taken a great fancy, Fanny com- 
 menced the following words, arranged to an 
 Irish air : — 
 
 I fly from solitude, and try, 
 
 Amid each busy scene, 
 To dissipate the fev'rish dream 
 
 Of days that once had been. 
 
 I mingle with the young and gay, 
 
 And seek, mid dance and song, 
 To stifle the o'er whelming gloom 
 
 Which hurries me along. 
 
 Yet though the wreath be round my brow, 
 
 No'rose is on my cheek ; 
 And many a time, when I must smile, 
 My heart is like to break. 
 
 And many a time 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Here Fanny paused — there seemed to be 
 some commotion and quick movement near 
 her. She turned round to see what was the 
 cause of it, and perceiving that Mrs. Morley 
 had fainted, flew from the piano, to aid in 
 assisting her with water and smelhng salts. 
 
 They laid Julia upon the sofa. She was 
 deadly pale, but in a few moments she came 
 to herself, and said something, almost inar- 
 ticulately, about the heat. 
 
 Miss Ellersly whispered to Miss Kitty 
 Chatterton, who was sitting beside her, 
 
 " A pretty little scene, my dear, got up 
 for effect, to make herself look interesting. 
 No real fainting in the matter, believe me." 
 
 There was nothing very extraordinary in 
 Julia's fainting — every one knew that Mrs. 
 Morley had not been well — she had danced a 
 great deal, and was over-fatigued; so thought 
 most people in the room, and so thought Mr. 
 Morley, as he carefully wrapped Julia up
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 195 
 
 in her shawl, when he saw she was pretty- 
 well recovered, and placed her in the car- 
 riage, which he had ordered immediately, 
 on seeing her indisposed. 
 
 Julia leaned her head on Mr. Morley's 
 shoulder, as she sat in the carriage, and a 
 few fond words soon soothed her. She as- 
 sured him that she was now quite well — she 
 believed she ought not to have danced so 
 much, but she was so fond of dancing ! She 
 was glad she had gone to Mr. Templeton's. 
 He had a pleasant chat with his old friends, 
 and she had made some agreeable acquaint- 
 ances. 
 
 This was all as Mr. Morley wished it to 
 be, and he felt pleased and satisfied. So 
 ended Julia's first dinner party. 
 
 »2
 
 196 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 " Nor hope to find 
 A friend, but what has found a friend in thee." 
 
 Young. 
 
 The Nevilles had returned to Woodside, as 
 expected, on the evening of the party at 
 Mr. Teinpleton's, and had fonnd notes of 
 invitation lying on their table. 
 
 It vras too late, however, for the dinner 
 party, and they were too much fatigued 
 after their long journey to think of dressing 
 for the ball, so they remained quietly at 
 home. 
 
 Immediately after breakfast on the follow-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 197 
 
 ing morning, Mrs. Neville and Grace walked 
 over to Moles worth Hall. 
 
 Mr. Morley was truly happy to see them. 
 He valued them for their own sakes, and 
 besides this, of all his friends and acquain- 
 tances, they were those with whom he 
 wished Julia to be the most intimate. 
 
 Julia, prepared beforehand to like them, 
 was charmed with their appearance. The 
 bland address, and warm congratulations of 
 the kind-hearted Mrs. Neville, were very 
 winning. And in the soft hazel eye, and 
 sweet smile of Grace, there was something 
 so attractive, as drew Julia towards lier 
 directly, with the chains of affection. 
 
 In later years we are more cautious, per- 
 haps more cold, in our likings than in early 
 life. Then, with fresh feelings and vivid 
 impulses, an interview, a first meeting, 
 often stamps our friendship as it does our 
 love ; and if the full heart, on a nearer in-
 
 198 THE DOUBLE MARIIIAGE. 
 
 spection, is sometimes disappointed, who 
 shall say, that not unfrequently, soul recog- 
 nising kindred soul — spirit drawn towards 
 spirit, have not formed a bond, which, 
 lasting to the limit of life on earth, is re- 
 newed again, and for ever, in heaven ? 
 
 It was thus that Julia read a sympathetic 
 feeling in Grace's eyes, and each felt as if 
 she had found a sister in the other. 
 
 The day passed but too rapidly away, 
 and towards evening the new friends parted 
 as if all their previous life had been spent 
 together in 
 
 " School-days friendship, childhood innocence," 
 
 as if they too had been used, like Helen and 
 Hermione, to create with their needles 
 
 " Both one flower. 
 Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion : 
 Both warbling of one song, both in one key." 
 
 Mr. Morley saw this springing-up in-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 199 
 
 timacy with undisguised pleasure. It was 
 a beautiful walk, either by the high road or 
 through lanes and across green fields, be- 
 tween Molesworth Hall and Woodside, and 
 he anticipated pleasant walks and agreeable 
 conversations for Julia, with her new com- 
 panion. 
 
 Mr. Morley's fortune, though easy, was 
 not large, and Molesworth Hall would have 
 been much too expensive a place for him, 
 had he rented more than the house, and 
 that too at a very moderate rate. 
 
 The grounds and gardens were all man- 
 aged by a steward left in charge, so that Mr. 
 Morley had the advantage of the walks and 
 shubberies of a beautiful domain, without 
 any expense. He had even the use of the 
 carriage and horses if he chose, but of these 
 he seldom availed himself, as both he and 
 Juha were fond of walking. 
 
 Mr. Morley had taken Molesworth Hall,
 
 200 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 on purpose to afford Julia some little re- 
 creation in the way of gaiety and visiting, 
 immediately after her marriage. 
 
 He did not like to bury her at once in the 
 retirement in which he had always accustom- 
 ed himself to live, when at his place in Wales ; 
 besides which he wished to put it in some 
 sort of order to receive her. 
 
 Having never contemplated the possibility 
 of his giving it a mistress, and being always 
 absent during the spring and summer 
 months, he had never painted or papered 
 any part of the house, since he had come 
 into possession of it — or renewed the fur- 
 niture — all put in on his grandfather's, mar- 
 riage, and which, although it had not the 
 time-worn and dilapidated look of that at 
 Grahame HaU, was heavy, cumbersome, 
 and old-fashioned. 
 
 To his great surprise, however, although 
 Julia had owned that she was passionately
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 201 
 
 fond of dancing, he soon found that she was 
 indifferent to any society but that of the 
 Nevilles, with all of whom, from Mr. Neville 
 to the little baby-boy in the nursery, she had 
 become a favourite. 
 
 It was not the admiration she excited, or 
 the accompaniments of enlivening sounds 
 and gay faces, that Julia liked in dancing. 
 It was the excitement — it was that distrac- 
 tion of thought, which continued motion 
 brings with it. Riding, walking, exercise 
 of all kinds, was grateful to her, for the 
 same reason ; but in a crowded room, a 
 sensation of depression always crept over 
 her, unless she was at Mr. Morley's side, 
 hanging upon his arm. 
 
 Julia had married Mr. Morley as many 
 girls marry, without any particular pre- 
 ference — she liked nobody else better — she 
 was proud of his attentions — grateful for 
 his love, and felt that sort of admiration for 
 
 K 3
 
 202 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 his talents and acquirements, which made 
 her think no one could equal him in any 
 thing he chose to undertake. 
 
 Julia was only a gay, light-hearted child 
 when Mr. Morley married her — thoughtless 
 of the past, careless of the future — : inex- 
 perienced, half-educated and volatile, with 
 a naturally ingenuous disposition, and that 
 sort of tenderness of heart, which would 
 not willingly tread upon a worm. But the 
 terrible idea which had taken possession of 
 her mind, transported her at once from the 
 child into the woman. 
 
 Mr. Morley beheld this metamorphosis 
 at first with surprise, but he was not much 
 versed in the female character, and he soon 
 began to think it might be but the usual 
 change incident on married life, from the 
 timid yet volatile girl into the more sedate 
 matron. 
 
 Julia was changed to him, but in her new
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 203 
 
 character, she was only the more lovely. 
 The sense of the deep wrong which, it 
 might be, she was doing her husband, min- 
 gled so much self-condemnation for herself, 
 pity and reverence for him, with the newly 
 awakened sentiment of a first love, that, 
 while it quenched the vivacity of her spirit, 
 threw such softness, such tenderness, such 
 anxiety to please him into her manner, as 
 rendered her in his eyes a thousand times 
 more fascinating than ever. 
 
 Nevertheless, there was something about 
 Julia which often struck Mr. Morley very 
 forcibly — a secret impulse, which he could 
 not fathom, seemed to direct all her move- 
 ments. 
 
 He did not understand this total in- 
 difference in one so fair and young, and for- 
 merly so lively, to society and amusement. 
 Dress, ornament, the excitement of visiting, 
 was little cared for by her. , If she dressed
 
 204 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 it was to please him. If she sung, if she 
 spoke, if she walked, if she went to see this 
 or that place — still it was to please him. 
 
 This did not strike him all at once, but 
 stole on his mental vision by degrees. He 
 saw at last that Julia had but the one 
 object in the world — himself ; and this, 
 while it astonished and flattered him, drew 
 her, if possible, still closer to his heart. 
 
 Perhaps, at first Mr. Morley was disap- 
 pointed that all his endeavours — all the 
 charm of a new world — all the power of 
 varying her amusements, which he placed 
 within her grasp — for he would have taken 
 her any where she liked to go to — was so 
 totally valueless to Julia. But when he 
 perceived that she turned to him to look for 
 his approbation, to consult his wishes, to 
 study his convenience at every moment — 
 that she watched the glance of his eye, and 
 with a graceful^ versatility of mind and
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 205 
 
 manner, adopted every fashion, turned to 
 every study which he Hked best, he felt 
 that she was truly the fairest gift of earth 
 which the Almighty could have bestowed 
 upon him.
 
 206 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " Teach me in Friendship's griefs to bear a share." 
 
 Elegy to Pity. 
 
 Although the friendship which had sprung 
 up, almost at first sight between Mrs. Mo- 
 ley and Grace Neville, had only become 
 warmer and more endming upon a nearer 
 acquaintance, still, the more their intimacy 
 increased the more inexplicable an enigma 
 did Julia appear to the gentle Grace. 
 
 She could not comprehend the violent 
 alternation of spirits to which Mrs. Morley 
 was subject. 
 
 Sometimes Julia would throw her arms 
 around the neck of her friend, hide her face
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 207 
 
 upon her bosom, and burst into a passion 
 of tears, and that, too, after having passed part 
 of the day apparently cheerful and animated. 
 
 At those times, Grace, struck with a sen- 
 timent of the profoundest pity, would soothe 
 and pet Julia, as if she were a child. She 
 could not understand what could weigh so 
 heavily upon the heart of this young crea- 
 ture, coming across her in her brightest 
 moments, and filling her with such deep 
 dejection. 
 
 It was in vain that Grace revolved it over 
 and over in her own mind. It could not be 
 want of affection for her husband, for Julia 
 never appeared half so happy as when she 
 was in his presence, and his society always 
 seemed to dissipate those unaccountable 
 clouds and bursts of sorrow to which she 
 was so often used to give way, when she 
 had no one to observe her but Grace. 
 
 It was plain to the latter that some secret
 
 208 THE DOUBLE MAilUlAGE. 
 
 cause existed, unknown to Mr. Morley — un- 
 known to all the world, whicli weighed thus 
 heavily upon the heart of Julia. 
 
 " It must be something concerning her 
 own family," thought Grace, as she medi- 
 tated upon it ; " something in which her 
 husband has no share. But how sad ! that 
 there should be a necessity for any conceal- 
 ment from him ; for it is quite evident to me 
 that he is ignorant of those passionate 
 bursts of grief, although he looks so anxi- 
 ously at her sometimes." 
 
 No idea that it could be any act of former 
 imprudence which thus affected Julia, even 
 suggested itself to the mind of the innocent 
 Grace ; and even if it had, the purity and 
 artlessness of Julia's character, written on 
 her brow, would have immediately put such 
 a thought to flight. 
 
 " Dear Julia," whispered Grace to her one 
 day, in her low, soft accents, after beholding
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 209 
 
 her in one of those violent paroxysms, ** if 
 there is any grief which hangs heavy upon 
 your heart — any thing which you must not 
 confide to your kind husband, or to me your 
 sincere friend — confess yourself to God, and 
 supplicate Him the all-powerful, the all- wise, 
 the all-good, to teach you what to do, and 
 how to bear this cross." 
 
 " Did I say I had a secret ?" exclaimed 
 the unhappy Julia, — " alas ! I ought not to 
 have owned it, I ought not to have betrayed 
 even thus much — but do not talk to me of 
 it, dear Grace. Do not think I have a 
 secret."- 
 
 " No, dear Julia," rephed Grace, compas- 
 sionately, " you did not tell me you had a 
 secret ; calm yourself, be assured I will never 
 hint at it again — but believe me, dear friend, 
 prayer will bring you more consolation than 
 aught else in those dark moments which 
 come over you."
 
 210 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Nothing — nothing brings me consola- 
 tion at such a time/' repHed Julia, clasping 
 her hands — " and when these memories come 
 at night, I cannot sleep, and that makes me 
 feel so ill !" 
 
 " You know I am to remain with you for 
 a few days, while Mr. Morley goes over to 
 Wales," returned Grace, " and then we 
 will read a chapter together in the Bible 
 every night before you go to rest. Suppose 
 we take the Book of Job — you told me you 
 were much struck with Elizabeth Smith's 
 translation of it. This, with prayer, will 
 calm your spirits and enable you to sleep." 
 
 " Prayer ! the Book of Job !" said Julia, 
 sorrowfully. " Alas ! Grace, I am not so 
 good as you are, and they would not have 
 the same effect upon me. Besides, you have 
 never had a deep — deep grief. Your days 
 have glided away so calm and happy — no dis- 
 appointment. (Here Grace gave a soft sigh.)
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 211 
 
 You do not know what it is to love passion- 
 ately, entirely, more than hfe, and yet to 
 feel—" 
 
 Julia paused abruptly. 
 
 " Oh Heavens !" exclaimed Grace, quite 
 terrified, " dear Julia you do not love — you 
 cannot love any one but — " 
 
 " My husband, Everard Morley," replied 
 Julia, raising her blue eyes toward heaven. 
 " No, Grace, I have never loved any one — 
 never for a moment fancied any one, before 
 or since I was married, but Mr. Morley." 
 
 " Thank God !" secretly ejaculated Grace. 
 "This is all as it should be, dear Julia," 
 continued she aloud ; " but you must cheer 
 up now, for see ! here is Mr. Morley coming 
 across the fields — ^he wants to have as much 
 of your company as possible, as he goes 
 away to-morrow." 
 
 "Is he returned from Seapoint so soon ?" 
 exclaimed Julia, looking almost terrified ; 
 "oh! if he should see me thus." And flying
 
 212 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 towards a vase of water, in which she had 
 been going to place some flowers, she dipped 
 her handkerchief in it, and bathed her eyes 
 several times ; and so successful was she in 
 her efforts to compose herself, as to be 
 enabled to receive Mr. Morley with her usual 
 smiles when he entered the room. 
 
 Grace was pensive and thoughtful during 
 her walk home. Every time that she and 
 Julia met, she felt that the latter wound 
 herself more and more round her heart, by 
 some new and endearing quality ; yet, that 
 there was something decidedly wrong — some- 
 thing about this young creature that ought 
 not to be, Grace could not conceal from 
 herself. 
 
 " What serious error can she have com- 
 mitted — what entanglement can she have 
 fallen into ?" thought Grace. " Love for 
 her husband seems to be the ruling passion 
 of her mind. It must, no doubt, if not to
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 213 
 
 herself, relate to some one very dear to her, 
 and she is pledged to silence ; but alas ! she 
 must be some way or other implicated in it, 
 for a self-accusing spirit is constantly upon 
 her, while feelings beyond her control seem 
 to struggle against a deceit. Poor Julia ! 
 unhappy friend ! — may a merciful God con- 
 sole you !" 
 
 If she would only turn to the true foun- 
 tain for comfort — but there is some let, some 
 hindrance — I cannot understand it — I can 
 but pray for her." 
 
 And Grace did pray for her poor friend 
 that night, when, shut up in her own apart- 
 ment, no eye upon her but God's eye ; her 
 young heart, early instructed in that beau- 
 tiful aphorism, ' Remember thy Creator in 
 the days of thy youth," poured forth its 
 thanksgivings and petitions to Him who 
 heareth prayer. 
 
 " Julia has had no kind mother like mine, 
 to watch over her and instruct her ; no dear
 
 214 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 good grandfather to teach her to value the 
 duty of prayer — the permission to lay our 
 wants and sorrows before the throne of 
 grace, as one of our highest and best privi- 
 leges." 
 
 So thought Grace as she laid her head 
 upon her pillow, and soon sank into a sweet 
 
 sleep. 
 
 ****** 
 
 ****** 
 
 Mr. Morley's house in Wales was situated 
 in a very retired and romantic part of the 
 south division, about ten miles from the 
 coast. He had expected that the altera- 
 tions and improvements which he had or- 
 dered to be made there, would have been 
 quite completed by the end of a couple of 
 months, at which time he proposed to take 
 Julia thither, and make it, as formerly, his 
 permanent residence, with the prospect of 
 excursing from thence during the spring 
 and summer months.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 215 
 
 A letter, however, from his steward, 
 showed him that it was probable a much 
 longer time than he had reckoned upon 
 would elapse, before his house could, in any 
 way, be made habitable. 
 
 A fire, caused by the carelessness of the 
 workmen in leaving some combustible mat- 
 ters about, had broken out during the night, 
 and nearly destroyed one wing of the build- 
 ing before it could be extinguished. The 
 floor of his study had been partially damaged 
 but the book-cases, containing some valuable 
 books, all his papers, and two or three 
 unfinished manuscripts, which he could 
 not have replaced, were, fortunately, unin- 
 jured. 
 
 On reading this account Mr. Morley 
 went immediately to the agent from whom 
 Molesworth Hall had been taken, to try if 
 he could arrange with him for a longer 
 period than that for which it had been eji- 
 gaged, and, finding that he had orders to
 
 216 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 let it for any term within three years, he 
 determined upon making it his home, at 
 least, until the ensuing summer. 
 
 Mr. Morley now resolved to go over to 
 Wales directly — see what damage had been 
 done with his own eyes, and give orders at 
 once for re-building that end of the house 
 which had suffered from the fire. His ab- 
 sence would be short, not extending to 
 more than a few days, and Grace Neville 
 had promised to remain with Julia until his 
 return. 
 
 In consequence of this resolution, on the 
 morning following Grace's last visit at 
 Molesworth Hall, Mr. and Mrs. Morley 
 came over to Woodside to breakfast. 
 
 Mr. Morley was to cross over early in the 
 afternoon to Swansea, and Julia was to re- 
 main with the Nevilles until the next day, 
 when Grace was to accompany her back to 
 Molesworth Hall. 
 
 Grace was siu"prised to see Mrs. Morley
 
 THE DOUBLE MAERIAGE. 217 
 
 in such good spirits, after the conversation 
 which had passed between them on the pre- 
 ceding day ; but JuHa, taken up with a plan 
 for employing her time during her husband's 
 absence, had all her thoughts turned into 
 a different channel, and chatted to Mr. 
 Neville, and played with the children, as if 
 she had not a care upon her mind. 
 
 Mr. Morley had told Julia that he should 
 pack up all his books and papers, and bring 
 them with him on his return from Wales. 
 It would be necessary to take down part of 
 the study, in rebuilding the wing that was 
 burnt down. The books and manuscripts 
 would only get damp and spoiled, as he was 
 about to remain so much longer at Moles- 
 worth Hall than he had at first intended. 
 
 He should not unpack them, he said, they 
 might remain in the cases — the library at 
 Molesworth Hall being locked up, there was 
 no convenient place to put them in — besides, 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 218 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 he should not want them, having no time 
 for study, and there was no Hght reading 
 amongst them ; they were principally works 
 of science, books of reference, and volumi- 
 nous and abstruse old authors. 
 
 " Yet you used formerly to live amongst 
 them," said Julia, looking at him earnestly. 
 
 " Yes, they are dear old friends," he re- 
 phed, " but Julia is dearer, and they would 
 take up too much of my time." 
 
 Julia thought, '' how kind, to think only 
 of me, and to give up his books !" and she 
 determined, in her own mind, that the books 
 should be unpacked, and arranged in nice 
 order, somewhere or other, although the 
 library was locked up ; and she would have 
 book-shelves prepared for them during his 
 absence. 
 
 Then, where would be the best place to 
 put them ? There was a small room off the 
 breakfast-room, opening with glass doors
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 219 
 
 into the garden. It seemed to have been 
 quite unoccupied of late years, and was 
 crammed with odd, old-fashioned, articles 
 of furniture. These could be all taken out 
 of it, some of the lighter fm^niture from 
 other parts of the house put in their stead, 
 the book shelves, that she was about to 
 order, placed there, and it would make a 
 charming study for Mr. Morley. 
 
 Mr. Morley was no sooner gone, than 
 Julia imparted her plans to Grace, and, after 
 a little consultation, they agreed to walk to 
 Seapoint, and arrange with a cabinet-maker 
 to be at Molesworth Hall about noon on 
 the following day, to take Mrs. Morley 's 
 orders for the book-shelves. 
 
 This done, the remainder of the day 
 passed away cheerfully. The young girls, 
 Emma and Lucy, were delighted to have 
 dear Mrs. Morley with them, and brought 
 their pet birds, and kittens, and prettiest 
 books, to show her. . l 2
 
 220 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 No one who had seen her that evening, 
 sitting on a low cushion, Kstening to Lucy's 
 prattle about her new doll, while little Harry 
 chmbed up behind and pulled the comb out 
 of her hair, could have suspected that Julia, 
 innocent-looking as the children who sported 
 around her, was so often a prey to secret 
 self-condemnation . 
 
 Grace had prepared herself to expect 
 many painful scenes, during the short time 
 she was to remain at Molesworth Hall — but 
 in this she was agreeably disappointed. 
 
 Julia did not allude to their late conver- 
 sation. Taken up with ordering the book- 
 shelves — which being portable, and made 
 to pack up in a small compass, could be re- 
 moved at pleasure — and in having the hang- 
 ings and fm-niture of the room exchanged 
 for others, which, with the assistance of an 
 old housekeeper, who seemed coeval with 
 the building, she selected from various of
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 221 
 
 the apartments, slie seemed to have her 
 thoughts fully occupied. 
 
 Grace had brought, by Mrs. Morley's 
 desire, several books with her, some of a 
 serious nature, others of a lighter descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 Among the former vras " The Records of 
 a Good Man's Life," to which Julia lent a 
 willing attention — a sorrowful one, Grace 
 thought. 
 
 But they had not a great deal of leisure 
 for reading, as the weather was fine ; and, 
 when not ransacking the house, and having 
 now one, now another, piece of furniture re- 
 moved to what was to be in future the 
 study, and then, perhaps, the next moment 
 exchanged for something she fancied was 
 prettier or more convenient. Julia liked to 
 be out all day in the air. 
 
 Grace hoped that Mrs. Morley's unhappi- 
 ness was passing away ; but soon she saw
 
 222 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 the hidden grief was there still — a chord 
 ready to vibrate at a touch. 
 
 " AVhat is the matter with you, dear Julia ? 
 —how you weep ! — how you tremble ! — let 
 me hold your hand," exclaimed Grace to 
 her, as they passed along a lane which led 
 into the town of Seapoint, the day preceding 
 that on which Mr. Morley was expected 
 home. They were going to see if the book- 
 shelves were completed, Julia was so anxious 
 to have them put up before Mr. Morley's 
 arrival. 
 
 Julia had been quite cheerfid the instant 
 before — climbing over the ditch to gather 
 the wild flowers which hung upon its verge. 
 
 " It is only that hm-dy-gurdy. I cannot 
 tell why it makes me so sad," and Julia 
 pointed to an itinerant musician who was 
 playing a Swiss air at a little distance, by 
 the road-side ; and weeping still, seated her- 
 self upon the stump of a tree near her.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 223 
 
 Grace could not understand this sudden 
 emotion. If it had been an Irish air it 
 would not have been so difficult ; but this 
 was a monotonous foreign air, without any 
 thing striking in it but a plaintive measure. 
 
 She did not comprehend the connection 
 which the national music of one country 
 has with that of another. Springing from 
 the same source, it always speaks to the 
 heart ; and this rude strain struck on Julia's 
 ear as a death wail over her thoughtless, happy 
 — oh ! how happy, young days. 
 
 Oh, if the present could be but a dream 
 — a spell ! Wake, sad heart, wake !
 
 224 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 " O blest seclusion from a jarring world, 
 Which he thus occupied enjoys !" 
 
 COWPEK. 
 
 The book-shelves were placed — the hangings 
 were up — the most comfortable arm-chairs, 
 the most luxurious lounges, had found their 
 way into this pet room. 
 
 The carpet which covered the floor, sought 
 out by the old housekeeper from among 
 some tapestry which had been laid by, was 
 green, quaintly embroidered with bunches 
 of violets — such a one as the studious eye 
 would love to rest upon — and accorded well 
 with the French paper, representing the in-
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 225 
 
 terstices of a wood, with here and there an 
 open vista, giving a peep of rock and water, 
 which covered the walls. Pots of the rarest 
 chrysanthemums, the scarlet geranium, and 
 sweet-smelling heliotrope, adorned the ve- 
 randah outside the French window, round 
 which a large monthly rose had begun to 
 unfold its delicate flowers. 
 
 " Do you not think it looks like a little 
 paradise ?" exclaimed Julia, when she had 
 it all arranged to her taste. 
 
 "It is certainly the prettiest room in the 
 house," returned Grace ; " there is a beau- 
 tiful peep from this window, that 1 have not 
 observed from any of the others. How 
 came it to be turned into a lumber room ?" 
 added she, addressing the old housekeeper, 
 who was standing by. 
 
 "None of the family liked this room," 
 
 replied the housekeeper, " ever since Miss 
 
 Eleanor died in it. It was her favourite 
 
 apartment ; and when she was not able to 
 
 L 3
 
 226 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Avalk, she used to be carried through that 
 door mto the garden. Poor young lady ! 
 she faded away with the flowers, and died 
 just when the leaves were done falling, come 
 six years this autumn." 
 
 " I think I should have loved the room 
 for her sake, had I been one of the family, 
 and preferred it to every other," observed 
 Mrs. Morley. 
 
 "I agree with you," said Grace, "I should 
 have done so likewise ; but grief acts in dif- 
 ferent ways upon differently constituted 
 minds, and I recollect hearing, with much 
 sm'prise, that a gentleman^ with whom we 
 were acquainted, on the death of his wife, 
 of whom he was passionately fond, had her 
 flower-garden dug up, because he could not 
 bear to look at it." 
 
 Mr. Morley arrived early in the afternoon, 
 and Miss Neville was to return home on the 
 following day. He brought several large 
 cases, containing his books, with him, none
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 227 
 
 of which had been injured by the fire. 
 These, he said, could be put away in a dry 
 place, as he should not unpack any of them ; 
 and on Julia's proposing that they should 
 remain in the unoccupied room looking into 
 the garden, he agreed that they would be 
 quite out of the way there. 
 
 Mr. Morley thought Julia looking remark- 
 ably well, and in such good spirits. They 
 passed a gay evening, as Mr. and Mrs. Ne- 
 ville, with Emma and Lucy, walked over to 
 tea, when the young ones acted a charade, 
 which they had been very busy, with theii' 
 mamma's assistance, in getting up during 
 Grace's absence. 
 
 On the next morning, Grace and Julia, 
 who had preconcerted the plan, were up by 
 dawn, and got the housekeeper to assist 
 them in opening the cases, and unpacking 
 the books. These were all arranged in order 
 before Mr. Morley, in his usual quiet man-
 
 228 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 ner, came down to breakfast, entirely igno- 
 rant of what had been going on. 
 
 Immediately after breakfast, he prepared 
 to escort Grace back to Woodside, as her 
 mother wanted her at home early. 
 
 He expected that Julia would have 
 walked too ; but Julia made some excuse 
 for not accompanying them ; she wanted 
 to spend the time in the new study — to peep 
 into this shelf and that shelf — to put one 
 book here and another there — those must 
 go to the top, and these to the lower 
 shelves. 
 
 There were very few handsomely bound 
 volumes amongst them — they were mostly 
 in the old, heavy, substantial vellum bind- 
 ings ; and upon looking into, some of them, 
 Julia found Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, 
 Arabic, Sanscrit, Italian, — in short, as well 
 as in the dead, works in most of the living 
 languages.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 229 
 
 There were several portfolios, filled with 
 manuscripts — these she did not open, but 
 put carefully by themselves into the deep 
 drawers of a handsome escritoire, which she 
 had transported thither from a dressing- 
 room that adjoined one of the state bed- 
 rooms. 
 
 At length, wearied with climbing up now 
 to that shelf, now to another, Julia sought 
 the drawing-room, and throwing herself on 
 the sofa, fell fast asleep. 
 
 When she awoke, she beheld Mr. Morley 
 leaning on the back of the sofa, looking at 
 her : — a smile playing about his mouth, and 
 hghting up his dark eyes. 
 
 " What has my JuUa been doing, to tire 
 herself so ?" said he, laughing ; " why I 
 have been standing beside you these ten 
 minutes, and you have slept so soundly !" 
 
 Julia sprung from the sofa, and shaking 
 back her glossy ringlets, said,
 
 230 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " Dear Morley, I only closed my eyes for 
 an instant. I am sure you are only come 
 in this minute." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you may tell me so," said he ; 
 " if I had had my pencil at hand, I should 
 have had quite time to sketch you lying 
 asleep. Come, put on your bonnet, and we 
 will take a walk in the shrubbery; while 
 you are preparing, I will go look after my 
 packages." 
 
 " I ordered them to be put in the room I 
 told you of," she replied. 
 
 " Very w^ell, I shall go and see if it has 
 been done," returned he. 
 
 Julia hastened to her room, snatched up 
 her bonnet and shawl, and was down stairs 
 again in an instant. Mr. Morley had opened 
 the door of his new study, and was standing 
 on the threshold, much surprised at Avhat 
 he beheld, when Julia approached. 
 
 "Why, my little Julia, what have you
 
 THE DOUBLE MAURI AGE. 231 
 
 been doing?" exclaimed he, as he heard her 
 step close behind him. "You must have 
 had the genii of Aladdin's lamp to help you. 
 All my books unpacked — arranged in such 
 order, and in such a short time ! You little 
 witch, how have you managed it ?" 
 
 "What a charming room! — the heau ideal 
 of a study," continued he, as he entered it ; 
 and making Julia sit down on the lounger 
 beside him, he bade her tell him all about 
 it. 
 
 And now there was a half hour's conver- 
 sation relative to the books, and how early 
 Grace and she had risen to unpack them — 
 and of the book-shelves, and if he approved 
 of the carpet and the hangings ; and then 
 there was the beautiful view from the win- 
 dows to point out to him, and so on. 
 
 At last, Mr. Morley went to look where 
 she had put his manuscripts. 
 
 The portfolios were laid upon the table,
 
 232 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 and opened. " And what is that about — 
 and what is this ?" said Julia, as she un- 
 folded some of the cramp, closely- written 
 pages before her. 
 
 '' That is an unfinished paper," retiu-ned 
 he. "I had just commenced it before I 
 went to Ireland." 
 
 "And this one with the deep margin full 
 of notes — what is this ?" inquired Julia. 
 
 " Oh, that is a pamphlet, in which I en- 
 deavour to show the close affinity Avhich 
 exists between the manufacturing and agri- 
 cultural interests in this country, and that 
 they can never be safely disunited," replied 
 Mr. Morley, who, all the time Julia was 
 making those inquiries, was slowly turning 
 over a few pages of a thick manuscript before 
 him, which he then pushed away, with 
 something hke a half sigh. 
 ' '* What is that you have been looking at, 
 Everard ? Is that, too, a composition of 
 yours ?" demanded Julia.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 233 
 
 "It is a philosophical inquiry into the 
 causes of the physical changes which have 
 taken place on the surface of the globe, with 
 a disquisition upon the appearance and dis- 
 appearance of islands and portions of conti- 
 nents at various times," he replied, gravely. 
 
 " That is a deep work, and must require 
 much research," returned Julia. " Is that 
 what you were employed about last win- 
 ter?" 
 
 " Yes, my dear," he replied. 
 
 " And vrill you not go on with it ?" in- 
 quired Julia. 
 
 " I am afraid," he said, hesitatingly, " it 
 would require too much time and study 
 now — more than I could spare from my 
 Julia," he added, with a smile. 
 
 " I should like you to finish it," said she. 
 
 " Would you, indeed ?'' he replied, his 
 eyes brightening at the thoughts of resuming 
 his beloved pursuits.
 
 234 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 He looked again at the title-page of his 
 favourite work — his old hobby. " I must 
 put it by for the present," continued he ; 
 " I had thought to finish it this winter — but 
 now — " 
 
 '' Now you are married," said Julia, play- 
 fully ; " and you imagine a wife will come 
 sadly in the way — that is the case, is it 
 not?" Mr. Morley smiled, but he did not 
 reply. " How can you suppose I would be 
 so selfish ?" she continued, more seriously ; 
 " besides, I shall be interested in every thing 
 that interests you. — Look ! it is raining fast, 
 we cannot walk ; you shall read aloud some 
 of what you have written for me." 
 
 Mr. Morley was much pleased ; he had 
 never dreamed of Julia's taking any interest 
 in his writings, whatever she might do in 
 his drawings ; and he did read what he had 
 written of one of the manuscripts for her. 
 Her remarks were more apposite tlian he had 
 expected.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 235 
 
 At length the lecture was finished. Mr. 
 Morley looked up from his manuscripts ; the 
 sky was blue, and the sun was shining in 
 through the window. 
 
 " Come, my dear, you must be well tired 
 of this long prose," exclaimed Mr. Morley ; 
 '' I must finish writing it one day or other, 
 though. Put on your bonnet, and we will 
 take our walk." 
 
 " No, not in the least tired of it, I assure 
 you ; I like it very much ; I wish you had 
 completed the article," returned Julia, tying 
 on her bonnet, and looking like her former 
 happy self. " I am quite ready ; we shall 
 have a delightful walk by the banks of the 
 river before dinner." 
 
 And Julia was happy all this day — hap- 
 pier than she had been since she first set 
 her foot on English ground.
 
 236 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " Where he enjoys, 
 
 With her who shares his pleasures and his heart, 
 Sweet converse." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 The following morning was wet ; a settled, 
 drizzling, dreary, wet day. 
 
 " This will be just the day for you to set 
 about completing the unfinished paper you 
 read to me yesterday," said Julia to Mr. 
 Morley, as soon as the breakfast was over. 
 
 " Do you think so, my dear ?" he replied, 
 walking to the window ; "it is certainly a 
 most determined rain. I do not see the
 
 THE DOUBLE MA.IIRIAGE. 237 
 
 least chance of its clearing. — I must go into 
 the study, and give another look at the books 
 you arranged so beautifully for me/' 
 
 Julia followed him, and again he admired 
 the room, and owned that he felt more at 
 home with his books about him. 
 
 The unfinished manuscript he was reading 
 for her, lay upon the table. Mr. Morley 
 took it up and opened it. 
 
 " What will you do, Julia, while I am 
 writing ? It wiU be so dull for you to be 
 all the day by yourself, unless you can find 
 a playfellow in Nina (a little Italian grey- 
 hound he had given her), and amuse yourself 
 with her.'' 
 
 " I do not intend to be alone," replied 
 Julia, " I will come and sit with you here, 
 while you write." 
 
 Mr. Morley looked grave — '' Write with 
 Julia, and Nina in the room !" thought he, 
 *' impossible !"
 
 238 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " I think I must put it aside for to-day, 
 Julia/' said he, giving one longing, Ungering 
 look at the manuscript, and then shutting it 
 up. '' It would not do — you have no idea what 
 attention I must bestow on the latter part 
 of this ; a question — a word, and my whole 
 thread of ideas would be broken." 
 
 Julia looked disappointed, and was silent 
 for an instant. — " Well, I will just bring my 
 embroidery, and sit for half an horn- with 
 you, while you are getting your pens, and 
 ink, and paper ready, and then if you find 
 I interrupt you in the least, I will leave you 
 all to yourself." 
 
 Write with Julia at his elbow ! — No, he 
 nmst give up all idea of writing for that 
 day ; some other one, perhaps, when Grace 
 Neville was with her. Jidia might relapse 
 into those distressing low spirits, which had 
 made him so anxious of late, if she had no 
 one to converse with ; and then she would
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 239 
 
 want him to play with her at chess, bagatelle, 
 or backgammon, to while away so dull a 
 day ; he would burn all his papers sooner 
 than see her looking melancholy. 
 
 Thus Mr. Morley mused, standing in the 
 middle of the room ; but even while he did 
 so, he became absorbed in the pages of the 
 manuscript which he still held in his hand, 
 and the leaves of which he had begun to 
 turn over mechanically. 
 
 " Ah ! just a little emendation here," ex- 
 claimed he, speaking half aloud, " and this 
 — how could I make such a mistake in this 
 note ! — this must be altered ;" and drawing 
 a chair to the table, he began to make a few 
 marginal corrections. " I passed over those 
 notes yesterday, when I was reading the 
 paper to Julia,'' he continued, still making 
 his observations half aloud, " yet I wonder 
 such palpable mistakes did not catch my 
 eye."
 
 240 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 When Mr. Morley looked up from his 
 writnig table, Julia was sitting in a recess 
 near the window, engaged at her embroidery, 
 and half hidden by the curtain. She had 
 given Nina in charge to the old housekeeper, 
 with an injunction not to allow her to leave 
 her side until she herself went to fetch her. 
 
 " Do, dear," said Mr. Morley, " just look 
 for the Greek Lexicon for me — there are 
 some words in this quotation which I have 
 not spelt right." 
 
 Julia was on a chair in an instant — from 
 thence on a small table, and after much 
 search found the book he wanted. 
 
 Half an hour — an hour passed away, and 
 still Mr. Morley wrote, and Julia plied her 
 needle. 
 
 The rain had increased, and the heavy 
 drops fell with an unceasing patter. 
 
 Mr. Morley looked up again. Still Julia 
 sat there — she had changed her work for a 
 book.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 241 
 
 " Can you mend a pen, my dear ?" said 
 Mr. Morley. 
 
 Yes — Julia could mend pens, and very 
 well too. 
 
 " We will have our game at bagatelle 
 soon," continued Mr. Morley, after he had 
 tried the pen, and pronounced it to be a very 
 good one — " but first you must find me out 
 the second vohune of the Spanish edition of 
 Don Quixote ; there are French and English 
 editions, but neither of them will do ; it is 
 a quotation of a Spanish proverb I want." 
 
 Julia was indefatigable in her search ; the 
 required volume was at last found. 
 
 Again Mr. Morley was immersed in his 
 writing. The clock struck — 
 
 " Four o'clock !" exclaimed Mr. Morley, 
 starting up and pulling out his watch. " Is 
 it possible ! — How the time has flown ! I 
 did not think the day was half over. Instead 
 of the game at bagatelle, I think we might 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 take a turn in the verandah before dinner, 
 although it still pours rain." 
 
 The evening was as wet as the morn- 
 ing — no cessation of the rain the entire 
 day. 
 
 Mr. Morley read aloud for Julia one of 
 Walter Scott's novels, which he had com- 
 menced before he went over to Wales. This 
 sort of reading — quite new to Julia — cap- 
 tivated her attention, and lulled the spectral 
 thoughts to rest, which so often haunted 
 her mind. 
 
 If Mr. Morley was surprised to hear from 
 her, that she had never read any novel but 
 the Vicar of Wakefield — given to her by 
 Aunt Milly as a Christmas gift — he was more 
 surprised to find what a quantity of mis- 
 cellaneous reading she had got through, some 
 of which he should have thought a girl of 
 her age would have found very dull — Rapin's 
 History of England — Clarendon's History of 
 
 V
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 243 
 
 the Rebellion — Rollin's Ancient History — 
 all the Spectators, Tatlers, Guardians, Ram- 
 blers ; — in short, a whole collection of those 
 old standard works which formed the libra- 
 ries of our grandfathers a hundred years 
 ago. Then, no such thing as a circulating 
 library was known ; but now — and Mr. 
 Morley was a little puzzled to account for it — 
 now, when circulating libraries are so general 
 every where, how was it that Juha, if she 
 were fond of reading, as she must have been 
 to have waded through such voluminous 
 works, had never been attracted by any of 
 those lighter and fascinating books. 
 
 Mr, Morley forgot that in the wild, re- 
 tired spot where he had found Julia, circu- 
 lating libraries and book societies were as 
 unknown as they had been here one hun- 
 dred years ago. 
 
 The truth was, that Mr. Morley, captivated 
 at first sight by Julia's beauty, and the 
 
 M 2
 
 244 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 almost child-like innocence of her manners, 
 had neither looked into nor appreciated the 
 capabilities of her mind, and had never 
 suspected her of having read more than her 
 Fairy-tale and Cookery-book, and perhaps 
 a few stray novels. 
 
 But now he found that if she had not 
 read Byron, she had Shakspeare by heart. 
 If she had never met with Campbell, or 
 Wordsworth, or Coleridge, — Gray and Col- 
 lins, Akenside and Thomson, were as 
 familiar to her as household words ; and 
 finding that her taste led her to books, he 
 began to anticipate, as an agreeable occupa- 
 tion, the initiating her into the literature of 
 a more modern day. 
 
 Besides this, upon a closer examination, 
 Mr. Morley discovered that Julia had scram- 
 bled together, somehow or other, a hetero- 
 geneous mass of acquirements, which seldom 
 make a part of the education of a girl.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 245 
 
 From helping the two elder of her brothers 
 to learn their Latin lessons for the hedge- 
 schoolmaster, who attended them each day 
 for a couple of hours, she had obtained a 
 good knowledge of the Latin grammar, and 
 could construe any easy Latin book. 
 
 In the same manner she had learned the 
 first two Books of Euclid — was an adept at 
 arithmetic, and could go through the mys- 
 teries of compound fractions, and double 
 false position, with any school-boy. 
 
 Then Mr. Morley found that, for a lady, 
 Julia was an admirable chess-player, besides 
 being able to take a hand at backgammon 
 or picquet. 
 
 Mr. Morley smiled at all these discove- 
 ries. " Latin," he thought within himself, 
 " will make a good foundation for the modern 
 languages, if we should go abroad by-and- 
 bye. The housekeeping department must 
 necessarily fall upon the lady, it is therefore
 
 246 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 an advantage to her to be a clever account- 
 ant — but who would ever have thought 
 that my Julia liked working a proposition in 
 EucHd !"
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 247 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 *' Far spreading, the untrodden strand 
 Was bright with shells, and its smooth sand 
 Seemed silver, where the ebbing wave 
 A humid lustre to it gave." 
 
 The wind had been high for a day or two, 
 with occasional violent squalls, and Mr. 
 Morley remarked that it was bad weather 
 for ships coming down channel. 
 
 One night the gale had been so boisterous, 
 that in the morning several vessels were 
 seen off the harbour of Seapoint, endeavour- 
 ing to get in. The pilot boats were im- 
 mediately sent out, and three or four ships 
 were soon seen lying at anchor alongside of
 
 248 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 the quay. They were large merchantmen, 
 outward bound, two of them foreign vessels, 
 and had been obliged by stress of weather 
 to make for Seapoint. 
 
 Towards mid-day the storm lulled, and 
 the sun shone forth ; the wind, however, 
 had veered, and being now contrary, there 
 was no chance of their getting away until 
 it shifted round again. Seapoint, all that 
 day, was full of foreign-looking sailors. 
 
 Mr. Morley and Julia had been engaged 
 for some days to spend this one at Woodside, 
 and dine there. They had, however, settled 
 the night before to send an excuse in the 
 morning, but, on seeing that the weather 
 was clearing up, they resolved to fulfil their 
 promise, and walked over early in the after- 
 noon. They found Grace and her father 
 preparing to walk to a small cove, at a little 
 distance ; Grace to look for specimens of 
 shells and sea-weed thrown in by the storm,
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 249 
 
 and Mr. Neville to see if there were aii}^ 
 symptoms of damage done by wreck. 
 
 On the appearance of Mr. Morley and 
 Julia, whom, on account of the weather, 
 they had given up all hopes of seeing that 
 day, Grace immediately took off her bonnet 
 and laid aside her shawl ; but Julia insisted 
 upon her resuming them, and proposed, as 
 she did not feel the least tired, that they 
 should both accompany her and Mr. 
 Neville to the sea side. 
 
 The walk was but a short one, and having 
 still two hours before dinner time, they pro- 
 ceeded thither accordingly. 
 
 The sight of the ocean always filled Julia 
 with an indescribable melancholy. Whether 
 it stretched out before her calm and beauti- 
 ful, or raised its moaning waves, and threw 
 its white foam upon the rocks, it brought 
 with it the idea of having separated lier 
 eternally from all her fresh, young feehngs, 
 
 M 3
 
 250 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 and bright sensations of happiness. What 
 had she not suffered since she had passed 
 its dark abyss ! '' But I must not think of 
 all this now/' thought JuHa, and she began 
 directly to busy herself in assisting Grace to 
 search for some minute pink shells, which, fre- 
 quently after a storm, were found imbedded 
 in the fine sand, while the two gentlemen 
 strolled on, talking of the probable devas- 
 tation made in many parts by the late gale. 
 
 Julia was soon tired of looking for the 
 shells, and said she would gather specimens 
 of the sea-weeds and the limpets, which 
 clung to the rocks. She had seen some of 
 those latter with Grace, who was making a 
 collection of all the shells on the coast, and 
 had admired the briUiant hues and delicate 
 shading of their mo tlier-o' -pearl cups. 
 
 Thus employed; Julia had separated her- 
 self from her companions, and was in the 
 act of endeavouring to disentangle a large
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 251 
 
 limpet-shell from a mass of sea-weed in 
 which it was embedded, when a step was 
 heard coming round the rock, close to which 
 she was standing, and raising her eyes, she 
 found herself face to face with the identical 
 Captain Jacobs, whose appearance on board 
 the American vessel at Bristol, short as had 
 been the glimpse which she had caught of 
 him, had awakened such fearful thoughts, 
 and raised such a tumult in her soul. 
 
 The abrupt turn of the narrow track 
 round the side of the rock, had brought 
 them so close together, that the stranger 
 evidently started, and looked full at Mrs. 
 Morley — then slightly bowing, he passed 
 on. • 
 
 Was that a scar the terrified Julia saAv 
 under his black hair, close to his right eye, 
 or did she fancy it? It did not strike her 
 at the moment, but the thought recurred to 
 her afterwards, and then she recollected
 
 252 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 having heard how young McDonnell had 
 fallen on a marline spike, when he had first 
 gone to sea, and had had a great escape 
 that his eye was not put out. 
 
 " What a beautiful bit of sea-weed, and 
 what an immense limpet-shell you have 
 found !" exclaimed Grace, who came up in 
 a minute or two to the rock where the 
 transfixed Julia was standing, as she stooped 
 down and picked up the shell and sea-weed, 
 which Mrs. Morley, in her agitation, had 
 dropped at her feet. " Dear Julia, you are 
 a great deal more fortunate in your search 
 than I have been, who am always hunting 
 after those varieties ; but I am afraid the 
 strange-looking man who passed so close to 
 you just now, must have startled you — he 
 seemed as if he walked out of the rock. 
 Did you observe the spy-glass under his 
 arm? — I think he must have belonged to 
 one of those foreign vessels."
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 253 
 
 " Yes, he did startle me a little, his ap- 
 pearance was so abrupt," replied Julia 
 faintly, and endeavouring to recover herself ; 
 " I did not perceive the spy-glass." 
 
 " I dare say he has been up on yonder 
 cliff, to make observations on the vreather," 
 returned Grace. " See ! Mr. Morley and 
 my father have been speaking to him." 
 
 "Who is the stranger you have been 
 conversing with, papa ?" inquired Grace, as 
 soon as they came up with the gentlemen. 
 
 " I think he must have been the captain 
 of the American vessel which put in this 
 morning," returned Mr. Neville. ''I was 
 asking him about the storm last night. He 
 says it blew a hard gale, and that they had 
 a narrow escape of the rocks. The wind 
 is veering, he thinks, and he hopes to get 
 to sea early to-morrow." 
 . *' I could not detect any of the Yankee
 
 254 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 accent about him/' observed Mr. Morley, 
 " although there is something that is not ex- 
 actly Enghsh in his pronunciation." 
 
 " It is ten to one if he be American born," 
 replied Mr. Neville ; " more than half the 
 commanders of the American merchantmen^ 
 and the sailors likewise, are either English 
 or Irish." 
 
 "He is not by any means vulgar in his 
 address or manner," returned Mr. Morley ; 
 '' yet there is something of hardihood and 
 recklessness about him, that, methinks, ap- 
 pertains more to what one would imagine 
 to be the bearing of the pirate or the 
 smuggler, than that of the captain of a 
 sober merchantman." 
 
 '' If the captain of a merchantman should 
 fall in with pirates, he would have to fight, 
 or give up his ship," observed Grace, " so 
 he had better be a man of some mettle." 
 
 '' Very true, my dear," said her father.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE, 255 
 
 smiling, " and yon captain looks as if he 
 would not give up to any one, without a 
 trial of strength." 
 
 Thus they continued to talk, on their way 
 back to Woodside, giving JuHa time, in 
 some degree, to recover herself. 
 
 " How quickly the wind has changed," 
 observed Mr. Morley, pausing to look up 
 at the clouds, as they were entering the 
 house. 
 
 "It is probable those ships will get out 
 of harbour this evening," returned Mr. 
 Neville. 
 
 " Thank God !" ejaculated Julia to her- 
 self, with a deep sigh. 
 
 " Why, my little Julia, you look quite 
 scared," exclaimed Mr. Morley, as, half dead 
 from the exertion she had made to suppress her 
 feelings, Julia sat down for an instant upon 
 one of the hall chairs, and endeavoured, with 
 trembling fingers, to untie the strings of her
 
 256 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 bonnet, to relieve her from the sense of 
 suffocation. 
 
 "Only fatigued," murmured Julia, "from 
 climbing up the hill/' 
 
 " Confess," said Mr. Morley, laughing, 
 "that the fierce, pirate-looking captam 
 frightened you. You thought of the old story, 
 * open, open sesame,' when he walked out 
 of the rock, and you expected to see the 
 whole of the forty thieves follow after him. 
 If it had been in the * gloamin,' — but to 
 frighten my Julia in the open day ! — it was 
 too bad, was it not?" 
 
 " You must not rally Mrs. Morley so un- 
 mercifully," said Mr. Neville, " for being 
 fatigued. It is a steep ascent all the way 
 from the beach here. My dear Mrs. Mor- 
 ley, I am really shocked at Grace and my- 
 self for permitting you to take such a walk, 
 after having come in from Molesworth Hall 
 the minute before."
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 257 
 
 " It was only for an instant or two that I 
 felt out of breath, Mr. Neville ; I am quite 
 rested now," replied JuHa, hurriedly. "Dear 
 Grace, do you not think it is time to make 
 our preparations for dinner ?" and she rose 
 from her seat, but a giddy sensation in her 
 head made her lay hold of Grace's arm. 
 
 " It was stooping, looking for those shells, 
 that has tired you thus," whispered Grace, 
 as they left the hall arm in arm ; " you will 
 be well again presently, when you lay aside 
 your bonnet and cloak." 
 
 They were soon in Grace's dressing-room. 
 Julia, pale and quiescent, sat down upon 
 the sofa, while Grace removed her bonnet, 
 rubbed her temples with eau-de-cologne, 
 and made her drink some sal-volatile and 
 water. 
 
 " Is the giddiness gone off, dear Julia?" 
 inquired Grace. 
 
 '' Yes, thank you, quite gone," replied
 
 258 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Mrs. Morley ; " I do think it was stooping, 
 picking up those minute shells, though I so 
 soon got tired of searching for them. What 
 an odd-looking man that was, Grace ; did 
 you see him ? had he not a scar near his 
 right eye, just under his hair ?" 
 
 " O yes, I saw him very plain," replied 
 Grace ; "he passed me quite close, and 
 stared at me, I thought, very rudely ; but I 
 see you have transformed him into a Dirk 
 Hatterick ; however, he was not at all a 
 fierce-looking man, and he certainly had no 
 scars upon his face." 
 
 " Are you sure he had not a scar on the 
 temple, near his right eye ?" inquired Julia, 
 anxiously. 
 
 " No, indeed he had not," returned Grace, 
 laughing; "this comes of reading romances. 
 I must tell Mr. Morley he ought not to read 
 any more for you." 
 
 " No, no, you must not mention it," said
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 259 
 
 Julia. "Mr. Morley would think me so 
 very silly ; — there, you see I am quite well 
 now ;" and Julia rose from the sofa, and 
 walked to the window. " I will wait for 
 you, until you arrange your hair, and we 
 will go down to the drawing-room together. 
 Do you not think, Grace, the wind is 
 changed ? Look ! those light clouds are 
 passing entirely in an opposite direction to 
 what they did this morning." 
 
 " Yes, and there is more breeze," re- 
 turned Grace, " than when we were out ; — 
 the wind has quite veered round." 
 
 Julia was silent all dinner-time ; she at- 
 tempted to eat, not to appear discomposed. 
 
 Mr. Morley and Mr. Neville had fallen 
 into an interesting conversation upon some 
 passing political events, and Mrs. Neville 
 and Grace were attentively listening to 
 them ; Julia's silence, therefore, did not ex- 
 cite remark, and after dinner she endeavoured
 
 260 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 to occupy herself with the younger members 
 of the family, who came in with the dessert. 
 
 The intermediate time between dinner 
 and tea was soon over, as the days were 
 short, and they had to return home early. 
 
 A new idea, started by Mr. Neville, occu- 
 pied Mr. Morley so completely, that their 
 walk back to Moles worth Hall was passed 
 in an unbroken silence ; — each had their 
 own meditations. 
 
 Mr. Morley was engaged in considering 
 the possible consequences that might accrue 
 to the country, if a certain measure, lately 
 mooted in parHament, should pass into a 
 law, Mr. Neville having placed it in a light 
 which had not struck him before. 
 
 Julia's musings were of a more painful 
 nature. 
 
 " My dear," exclaimed he, starting from 
 his reverie, as they reached the hall door, 
 /'what a terribly stupid fellow you must
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 261 
 
 iiave thought me, during this walk. The 
 truth is, I have been sketching in my mind 
 a pamphlet, which I shall set about writing 
 to-morrow ; so prepare, dear, for a dull 
 day." 
 
 " I am never dull when with you," said 
 Julia, and she clung closer to his arm. 
 
 " You spoil me, Julia," he replied, ten- 
 derly ; and he took her hand, and put it to 
 his lips. 
 
 " How warm your hand is, dear, — burn- 
 ing hot, this cold night." 
 
 " It is the exercise," said Julia ; " we 
 have walked fast."
 
 262 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 " But, look, the morn, in russet mantle clad, 
 Walks in the dew of yon high eastern hill." 
 
 Shakspeare. 
 
 "It is a delightful morning, Ma'am," said 
 Susan, as she drew back the curtains, and 
 opened the window-shutters of Mrs. Mor- 
 ley's bed-room windows ; " the trees and 
 shrubs are covered with diamonds, from last 
 night's frost." 
 
 "Is it indeed, Susan?" replied Julia, lan- 
 guidly raising her head from the pillow, 
 where she had passed a restless and uneasy 
 night.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 263 
 
 " Yes, Ma'am," returned the attendant ; 
 '' and the strange vessels that were driven 
 in yesterday are gone to sea. They looked 
 beautiful going out of the harbour, with 
 their large sails set; and now you can hardly 
 see their top-sails." 
 
 " Thank God !" secretly ejaculated Julia, 
 clasping her hands. " How dreadful to see 
 him again !" and she hid her face on the 
 pillow. - 
 
 Julia was later than usual at the break- 
 fast-table. Her sleepless night had induced 
 a heavy, though unrefreshing slumber in 
 the morning, and she had dispatched her 
 toilet as quick as possible, fearing that her 
 husband would be tired of waiting for her. 
 
 She found him, however, absorbed in a 
 book when she entered the breakfast -room, 
 without any symptoms of impatience, and 
 not thinking in the least of his breakfast. 
 He just raised his eyes for an instant when
 
 264 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 he heard her open the door, smiled, and 
 nodded, and continued his study. 
 
 The bell was rung. The tea-urn was 
 brought in. Julia made the tea. Then 
 came the coffee and toast, and muffins. 
 Julia looked over at Mr. Morley, but Mr. 
 Morley read on. 
 
 JuUa waited a little while — she was almost 
 afraid to speak — she did not like to hear 
 the sound of her own voice, she felt so sad. 
 
 " Breakfast is ready, Everard," at length 
 she said. " What are you reading so in- 
 tently ? — shall I fill out your coffee ?" 
 
 '' Have I kept you waiting ? — how care- 
 less I am — pray forgive me, dear," retm'ned 
 Mr. Morley, laying his book aside, and 
 taking his place at the breakfast table. 
 
 " I have been reading a curious history, 
 in an old magazine which I happened by 
 chance to open, of two men — not related in 
 the remotest degree — who were so exactly
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 265 
 
 alike, that it was impossible to distinguish 
 one from the other. Even the wife, who 
 had Uved with him many years, and had 
 every reason, from his long absence, to sup- 
 pose her husband was dead^ imagined that 
 it was this lost husband, resuscitated, who 
 presented himself before her." 
 
 Julia's hand trembled so violently, that 
 she could hardly put the cup to her lips. 
 
 "It is not a real fact, is it ?" she at length 
 articulated. 
 
 " Yes, my dear, a real fact, and well au- 
 thenticated. It took place in France, and 
 the details are very curious," replied Mr. 
 Morley. 
 
 "Then he was not her husband — the 
 man who came back ?" Julia said, with 
 startling earnestness, and with such a tremor 
 in her voice, as made Mr. Morley lay down 
 his knife and fork, and say, laughing : — 
 
 " Why, Julia, you look as much fright- 
 
 N
 
 266 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 ened as if there was necromancy in the 
 case — some strange power of assuming 
 likenesses, such as one reads of in the 
 Arabian Nights, or the Persian Tales. 
 Confess, now, that you are thinking how 
 dreadful it would be if, as, it happened to 
 the unfortunate queen Zemroude, the soul 
 of another man should have animated the 
 form of her husband. But it was no such 
 thing, my dear ; there was no sorcery or 
 unhallowed art in it ; it was one of those 
 strange freaks of natm^e which do certainly 
 sometimes occur — that of two forms being 
 moulded so exactly alike as to be unrecog- 
 nizable the one from the other." 
 
 Julia had recovered, in some degree, her 
 self-possession while he spoke. 
 
 " It seemed so extraordinary an incident, 
 that I own I was startled at your account 
 of it at first," she replied, in her usual voice. 
 
 The entrance of a servant with letters and 
 
 T
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 267 
 
 newspapers turned the conversation, and no 
 more was said upon a subject which had an 
 interest for Julia, and gave hei: scope for 
 meditations of which Mr. Morley Httle 
 dreamed. 
 
 Julia seized upon the magazine at the 
 first opportunity, and read the details of the 
 trial over and over again, with an intense 
 curiosity. She saw the possibility of two 
 persons being so exactly ahke as to deceive 
 their nearest relations. 
 
 The recollection of hearing of such re- 
 semblances had often served to soften the 
 terrors of her mind before ; but nothing so 
 minute in its particulars, and so well attested 
 as this trial, had she ever heard or read. 
 And this true history, buried in the ob- 
 hvious pages of an old magazine, although 
 it could not obliterate, lessened the weight 
 of agony and self-reproach, called up anew 
 by the apparition of yesterday.
 
 268 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 And now the winter gradually stole away. 
 Mr. Morley had returned to his old pursuits, 
 and several hours of every day were spent 
 in writing. 
 
 No matter if it was wet, or if the snow 
 lay on the ground, the hours flew by un- 
 marked, while, surrounded by his books and 
 manuscripts, he sat luxuriously ensconced in 
 an arm chair before his study fire. 
 
 Julia had taught Nina to forget all her 
 playful tricks for the time, and to lie per- 
 fectly still upon the soft hearth-rug, while 
 she herself, employed upon her needle-work 
 or book, was always at hand to aid Mr. 
 Morley in his search through various authors 
 for references or quotations. Sometimes he 
 would read aloud a passage he had written, 
 and ask her opinion — at other times she 
 would look for, and read for him, any ex- 
 tracts he might want. 
 
 Thus the day was spent to Mr. Morley' s
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 269 
 
 perfect satisfaction, and the evenings he de- 
 voted entirely to Julia, either by playing 
 chess or backgammon, or by reading aloud 
 some entertaining work of fiction. 
 
 Sometimes, but not very often, they 
 mingled in the society at Seapoint ; and 
 this they did rather from the impossibility 
 of always refusing, than from liking to go 
 out; for to Julia — ever wrestling with a 
 secret unhappiness — other society than that 
 of her husband and the Neville family was 
 irksome ; while Mr. Morley, from his natural 
 fondness for a retired life, found himself 
 happier at home than any where else. 
 
 If the weather was at all fine, Grace 
 Neville was sure to walk over to Molesworth 
 Hall two or three times in the week to see 
 Julia, and then Mr. Morley was left to himself; 
 but, some how or other, he did not find that 
 his writing progressed the quicker for Julia's 
 absence.
 
 270 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Grace was pleased to see that Julia had 
 either become more even in her spirits, or 
 was able to put her feelings under greater 
 restraint, and that her conversation took a 
 less melancholy turn than formerly. 
 
 The fondness of those two young people 
 for each other's society increased at every 
 meeting ; and now music — for Julia had 
 begun to take some lessons from her young 
 friend on the guitar — assisted in filling up 
 their time agreeably. 
 
 Perhaps their hearts were drawn closer 
 together from an intuitive perception that 
 the world had lost its charms for both. 
 
 Each felt that the other had some secret 
 cause of unhappiness — some drop of bitter- 
 ness at the bottom of her cup — some cor- 
 roding sorrow lurking in the scarcely un- 
 folded blossom of her youth, which was 
 hidden from all eyes but her own, and those 
 of the Almighty God who made her.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 271 
 
 Each pondered what it could be which 
 rendered the other so regardless of those 
 pleasures which have usually attractions for 
 the young. 
 
 "Though Grace is so good," thought 
 Julia, " almost too perfect, for I cannot 
 see a fault in her, and cares not in the least 
 for dancing and amusement, it is not because 
 she thinks it wrong, that she refrains from 
 them, for she likes to see and to encourage 
 the innocent gaiety of others. No, it must 
 be some disappointment of the heart — soms 
 young affection nipped in the bud, which 
 makes her so indifferent about entering into 
 society. So young — so good — so fair ; who 
 can hope for happiness, if Grace Neville does 
 not obtain it ? I remember, in mentioning 
 the inhabitants of Seapoint, Mr. Morley 
 talked of a handsome Mr. Carrington, whom 
 he used to meet occasionally at Woodside, 
 before he came over to Ireland, and who
 
 272 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 has since been appointed to a chaplaincy 
 in India by the Bishop of Calcutta, with 
 whom he went out. I observe Grace has 
 never once mentioned his name to me, or 
 alluded to him in any way, although she 
 must have been well acquainted with him. 
 And I remember one day, when we stopped 
 to inquire of old Adam Carter, who is some- 
 times employed about the shrubberries, how 
 his sick grand-child was, he began to talk 
 of his dear old master's son, now away in 
 foreign parts, and what a kind friend he 
 had been to him, and how his aged eyes 
 would never be blessed with a sight of him 
 again, and he ended with, — ' Ah ! Miss 
 Grace, you knew him well when you were 
 playmates together.' Grace's eyes filled 
 with tears — she changed coloiu*, and then 
 grew pale as death. Perhaps there might 
 have been some early attachment between 
 them ; yet as she has never spoken of it, it 
 is a subject I dare not touch on."
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 273 
 
 Grace had her thoughts of JuHa, but 
 they came not so near the truth as Juha's 
 did with respect to her, and they only served 
 to entangle her more and more in an inex- 
 tricable maze of conjectures. Julia's ob- 
 vious love and deference for her husband 
 forbade the idea of a prior attachment ; 
 yet the heavy clouds which by fits and starts 
 still obscured the brightest moments, showed 
 but too clearly that her heart was ill at 
 ease. 
 
 As the spring advanced, Mr. Morley re- 
 laxed in his literary labours, and betook 
 himself to his fishing-rod and sketch-book. 
 
 He had given up a great deal of time 
 and thought to the philosophical work he 
 had in hand, and he felt that such constant 
 application produced lassitude towards the 
 evening, followed by sleepless nights. 
 
 Julia, too, was within doors a great deal, 
 and he did not think it agreed with her, 
 
 N 3
 
 274 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 and it was an increase of satisfaction to him 
 to find that she took as Hvely a concern in 
 his out-door amusements as in his Uterary 
 toils. 
 
 No companion could be so interested in 
 his sport as was Julia when he fished, or 
 arrange his flies and tackle with so adroit a 
 finger. None had so true an eye for per- 
 spective, or could catch at a glance the 
 effect he wished to produce when he sketched ; 
 and if she did look faint and weary after a 
 long walk, she could ride miles after miles 
 with him without being tired. 
 
 How was it that he had ever been able 
 to exist without Julia ? 
 
 Yet with all this participation in his pur- 
 suits — this love for a husband so fondly 
 attached to her — whenever Julia's thoughts 
 reverted to herself, she felt that she was the 
 most unhappy of earth's creatures. A 
 cankering care — notwithstanding all her
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 275 
 
 efforts to stifle it, and though she wrestled 
 against it with a strong hand — was ever 
 preying at her heart. 
 
 Perhaps the time when JuKa was freest 
 from this carking care — this hidden terror 
 of the soul since her arrival in England, 
 was during a short illness which Mr. Morley 
 had early in the spring, in consequence of 
 being thrown from his horse. 
 
 A slight concussion of the brain, brought 
 on violent headaches — so violent that for 
 three weeks he could not bear the light, and 
 was obliged to recline upon the sofa in a 
 darkened room. 
 
 At this period Julia, entirely forgetful of 
 herself, thought of nothing but her husband 
 and how to amuse him. If he could bear 
 a little light into the apartment, she would 
 read for him hour after hour, in her soft, clear 
 tones — never wearied, until he was tired of 
 hstening. If he preferred to be without
 
 276 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 light, or if he was not in the humour for 
 books, then she would tell him tales strange 
 and wild — such as she had heard in her 
 childhood from the old wives, by the nursery 
 fire — with a flow of imagination and a per- 
 spicuity of diction which an eastern story- 
 teller might have envied; or she would 
 sing for him one of the touching ballads 
 which had first taught him that music had 
 a charm for him. 
 
 Thus wrapt up in her husband — fearful 
 of the consequences of his fall — employed 
 about him, or for him, every hour, every 
 moment in the day — without thoughts, or 
 hopes, or wishes for any thing else — Julia 
 saw nothing, heard nothing, dreamed of 
 nothing, but him.
 
 THE DOUBLE MAERIAGE. 277 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 " He comes, the herald of a noisy world, ' ^ 
 With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks, 
 News from all nations lumb'ring at his back. 
 
 Messenger of grief 
 Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some ; 
 To him indiff'rent whether grief or joy." 
 
 COWPER. 
 
 It was towards the middle of the spring, 
 that one morning, after the postman's usual 
 knock had been heard at the door, Julia 
 saw Mr. Morley looking serious and dis- 
 composed, as he perused a letter which the 
 servant had just laid before him. 
 
 " Julia, my love/' said he at length turn-
 
 278 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 ing to her with an expression of tenderness 
 and concern in his eyes, " this letter is from 
 your Aunt Milly, to say that your father 
 has been taken suddenly and dangerously 
 ill, and he requests to see us, if we can 
 possibly go over. Do you think, dear, you 
 could make arrangements to start in a few 
 hom's ? the steamer sails from Bristol to- 
 morrow." 
 
 Julia had turned very pale — she was 
 warmly attached to her father. The un- 
 happy promise which he had extorted from 
 her, and the consciousness of having done 
 wrong in making it, although it had pre- 
 vented her from often speaking of him to 
 her husband, had not lessened her affection 
 towards him. Filial love threw a veil over 
 any defects in his character, and Julia only 
 remembered his unvarying fondness and in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 '' My poor father '" exclaimed she, her
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 279 
 
 eyes streaming with tears, " oh let us go to 
 him at once. I shall be quite ready in half an 
 hour — will you not read Aunt Milly's letter 
 for me ? Oh, I fear he is very, very ill." 
 
 " Do not flurry yourself, dearest. You 
 shall read Aunt Milly's letter yourself. I 
 think, on considering the symptoms she 
 mentions, that she is too fearful on your 
 father's accomit. I do not think his state 
 is so dangerous as she appears to imagine — 
 you see the doctor says he is a httle better." 
 
 " A shade," said Julia despairingly, after 
 she had looked over the letter. 
 
 " At all events, dear, we will lose no time 
 — I will send this instant to order the car- 
 riage to be at the door in two hom^s — this 
 will give you time to pack up your things, 
 and we shall be at Bristol early in the 
 evening." 
 
 It was come at last — the moment that 
 Julia had looked to so long, as the only
 
 280 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 chance of clearing up all her doubts and 
 fears — she was soon to see her father. But, 
 alas ! how should she find him ? Would 
 he be able to listen to her now — to under- 
 stand the new ground of her terrors ■ — to 
 make the inquiries she wanted him to do — 
 to release her from the promise by which 
 he had bound her ? 
 
 Perhaps, on seeing the dreadful perplexity 
 she was in, he would take pity on her — for 
 he had always been a kind father — and in- 
 forming Mr. Morley of the predicament in 
 which she stood, they might unite their en- 
 deavours to satisfy her of the truth of young 
 McDonnell's death; and though the dis- 
 closure of so unjustifiable a concealment 
 would shock her husband's pride, and hu- 
 miliate her to the dust, she felt she could 
 reckon upon the love he bore her, and that 
 were she in reality his lawful wife, his love 
 would suffer no diminution.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 281 
 
 Such were some of the thoughts, mingled 
 with the natural grief occasioned by her 
 parent's sudden illness, which passed and 
 re-passed through Julia's mind, while she 
 made her hurried preparations. The only 
 point in which Mr. Morley had ever crossed 
 Julia's inclinations since they were married, 
 was, when a short time previous to this, she 
 had hinted a great desire to pay a visit to 
 Ireland. He had then listened to her in- 
 timation of it with such surprise and cold- 
 ness, that she had not dared to repeat her 
 wish. 
 
 This wish had become latterly, if I may 
 call it so, a part of her existence — a hope 
 to feed upon ; and perhaps it was from her 
 intense eagerness to gratify it, and a dread 
 of a positive refusal, that she did not at- 
 tempt to press it too much. She could 
 then explain to her father, what she dared 
 not write — she could kneel at his feet and 
 entreat him to rescind the fatal oath by
 
 282 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 which he had bound her. There were 
 questions — there were suspicions which she 
 could not put upon paper. 
 
 Once, she had hinted something of mental 
 uneasiness, but he had never replied to it ; 
 and, indeed, any correspondence on the sub- 
 ject was out of the question, as, in the first 
 weeks of her union with Mr. Morley, she 
 had naturally shown him whatever letters 
 she received, and this confidence had become 
 so habitual, that it was now impossible to 
 break through it, particularly as she had 
 heard him say there should be no conceal- 
 ments between married people. 
 
 Their journey was a speedy one, thanks 
 to railroads and steam, and the third day 
 saw them approaching Grahame Hall. 
 
 As they turned up the old avenue, Julia 
 could not control her agitation — now all 
 hopes — now all fears — 
 
 Oh ! if she could find her dear father
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 283 
 
 better, and have one half hour's conversation 
 with him relative to those suspicions which 
 burned and devoured her heart ! 
 
 The carriage stopped at the hall door — 
 Julia sprang out — the place had a forlorn, 
 deserted look — all was silent, no one was to 
 be seen — she rushed into the hall. 
 
 Little Thady flew out of a side door, and 
 hung sobbing upon her neck. Julia could 
 hardly articulate, " How is papa ?" He 
 had died the preceding night, the boy said, 
 and Julia fell senseless upon the floor. 
 
 Poor Julia ! — she was spared the melan- 
 choly sight of the funeral ceremonies and 
 the distressing events which followed, for a 
 violent fever confined her to her bed for 
 three weeks. 
 
 Mr. Grahame had died deeply in debt, and 
 everything was seized upon by the creditors. 
 
 When Julia was recovered sufficiently to 
 be able to converse, she had a great many 
 particulars to be made acquainted with.
 
 284 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 She knew that her uncle and cousins, the 
 Nugents of Ash Hill, had sailed for Port 
 Philip the previous month — Jane had 
 written her a long letter just before their 
 departure — and that Aunt Milly had taken 
 up her abode with Mr. Grahame. 
 
 Mr. Nugent's affairs had become so in- 
 volved that he had been obliged to emigrate, 
 and Julia had feared that her father's must 
 be in nearly as bad a condition — still she 
 was not prepared for the total ruin which 
 ensued. 
 
 Aunt Milly could give them but little in- 
 formation upon the subject, except that her 
 poor brother had expressed a great desire 
 to see Mr. Morley before he died. She 
 thought it was particularly on account of 
 the boys, who she feared must be left nearly 
 penniless. Had he been spared, and could 
 he have managed it, she knew that he too 
 had an idea of taking his family to Aus- 
 tralia.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 285 
 
 On looking into the affairs, and consult- 
 ing with the solicitor, Mr. Morley found 
 that Aunt Milly's conjectures were true. 
 Not an acre could be saved of the property. 
 Every thing was mortgaged. Julia's five 
 thousand pounds, which were settled on her 
 at her mother's marriage, were alone un- 
 touched. 
 
 " Juha could do without the five thousand 
 pounds,'' Mr. Morley said ; " it would be 
 some small provision for the other children." 
 And he set about disposing of it immediately, 
 with the assistance of the solicitor and 
 Aunt Milly. 
 
 The latter, who had a small annuity for 
 her life, and was about to engage lodgings 
 in the village, said she would take little Sam 
 home with her, and send him to a day- 
 school for a year or two. 
 
 The other boys were to be started in life 
 in various ways. The two elder ones were 
 eager to go out to their uncle in Port Philip,
 
 286 THE DOUBLE MARllIAGE. 
 
 and try tlieir fortunes in the bush. Another 
 had set his heart upon being a midshipman. 
 Mr. Morley would see what he could do 
 among his naval friends for him. Thady 
 he thought he might be able to get into the 
 Blue-coat school, and until this was done, 
 Aunt Milly offered to take charge of him as 
 well as of little Sam. 
 
 Julia had a great deal to hear from Aunt 
 Milly respecting her cousins, as soon as she 
 was recovered sufficiently to take an interest 
 in anything. 
 
 The good lady had nursed her with un- 
 wearied care day and night, and now, as she 
 sat by the couch on which the languid in- 
 valid lay, she told her of Jane's tears and 
 Mr. Somers' despair at their parting, and 
 how if Jane would have consented, Mr. 
 Somers would have prevented her accom- 
 panying her family to Port Philip, by making 
 her his wife at ouce, although he had nothing
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 287 
 
 in the world but his curacy. Jane, however, 
 notwithstanding her strong attachment, had 
 too much good sense and feeling to permit 
 him to involve himself in such hopeless dif- 
 ficulties as would accrue by their marrying 
 on a curacy. So an engagement had taken 
 place between them, which Mr. Nugent had 
 limited to five years, and in this space of 
 time Mr. Somers hoped to be able to obtain 
 some small preferment. 
 
 Jane had not mentioned all this in her 
 letter, Julia said — she had never alluded to 
 Mr. Somers at all — she had only spoken of 
 the deep regret she felt at leaving Ireland. 
 
 ''Poor Jane!" replied Aunt Milly, "her 
 heart was too sad to write about it." 
 
 '' And Ellen, Mary, and James — were they 
 pleased with the prospect of going to a new 
 country ?" demanded Julia. 
 
 " O yes," replied Aunt Milly, " James has 
 visions of wealth — of countless flocks and
 
 288 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 herds, and of returning in a few years, and 
 of re-purcliasing Ash Hill if he likes. I 
 know that you will be glad to hear that he 
 had quite got over a certain disappointment" 
 — (with a little mysterious nod). 
 
 A faint flush crossed Julia's cheek. 
 
 "As to Ellen and Mary, they look for a pa- 
 radise in the wilderness — a revival of the old 
 patriarchal times — blue heavens for ever smil- 
 ing on them above — enamelled meadows 
 and shady groves beneath — with shepherds 
 piping to them in the vale, while they, as 
 shepherdesses, help to mind the flocks. 
 Poor things ! I fear they will be sadly 
 disappointed. From what I can learn, a 
 settler's family — unless they take out a good 
 sum of money, which Mr. Nugent has not 
 been able to do — have innumerable difficul- 
 ties to contend with. Thanks to my care, 
 who have had the charge of them since 
 their mother's death, they are all clever at
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 289 
 
 housekeeping, and at their needles, and can 
 teach the servants, if they get any out there, 
 how to cook, to knit and to spin. Formerly, 
 I never dreamed that they might be obliged 
 to tm-n such knov^^ledge to account, but in- 
 structed them, according to my old-fashioned 
 idea, that time spent in acquiring any thing 
 useful is never lost.^'j 
 
 Thus chatted the good Aunt Milly, endea- 
 vouring to divert Julia's thoughts by imparting 
 various particulars relative to her cousins, 
 and dwelling with much minuteness upon 
 the present disappointments and future an- 
 ticipations of Jane and Mr. Somers. So at- 
 tached was the latter to Jane, that were it 
 not for her positive prohibition, he would 
 have relinquished at the last moment his 
 curacy and whatever prospect of preferment 
 he might have in the diocese, and following 
 them to Port Philip, have taken his chance 
 for obtaining a chaplaincy there. 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 290 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Julia recovered but slowly, and her inabi- 
 lity to travel for a few weeks, gave Mr. Mor- 
 ley full leisure to make the arrangements he 
 proposed for all the young Grahames. 
 
 This melancholy sojom*n, however, instead 
 of restoring Julia's strength, served only to 
 nourish a grief which, much as she la- 
 mented her father's death, from motives of 
 filial tenderness, had another soui'ce increas- 
 ing that grief in a tenfold degree. 
 
 Nothing could have enabled her to bear 
 up against it, but the lively gratitude which 
 was now added to the affection she bore her 
 husband ; and seeing that every thing around 
 tended to bring recollections and regrets 
 before her, which were best forgotten, she 
 was the first herself to propose that they 
 should return to England. 
 
 Now that her poor father was no longer 
 there, Grahame Hall had lost all its attrac- 
 tions, while the idea that it was shortly to
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 291 
 
 pass out of a family, of which it had for 
 centuries been the residence, enveloped every 
 spot with a deeper gloom. 
 
 If the fields, with their ancient fences, 
 from which protruded unmolested the ivied 
 trunks and fantastic branches of the ash 
 tree, the beech, and the crab, — if the wild 
 paths through the copse wood, the abbey, 
 and the silvery stream, flowing as tranquilly 
 as if no change was about to take place in 
 the possessors of the soil, — brought before 
 her the remembrance of her childish sports, 
 and of the day in which she first saw Mr. 
 Morley, other portions of the building and 
 grounds were fraught with desolating recol- 
 lections. 
 
 Oh ! for one draught of the waters of 
 oblivion, to forget them all ! 
 
 Her two elder brothers left Grahame Hall 
 for Australia while Julia was with them, 
 and their parting was a sad one. 
 
 o 2
 
 292 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 Redmond, the eldest, although it was his 
 own proposition, and although — thanks to 
 Mr. Morley's disinterestedness — he was 
 going thither with better prospects than he 
 could at first have expected, inasmuch as he 
 had now a small capital to work upon, was 
 unable to suppress his natural regrets at 
 this expatriation from a spot which, from 
 childhood, he had been led to look upon as 
 his proper heritage. 
 
 There was not a tree, a shrub, an old 
 fence, or even a ruined wall, that did not 
 possess a claim upon his sympathies. 
 
 That crumbling abbey had been built by 
 a progenitor ages ago, and his father's great- 
 grandfather had erected the present mansion- 
 house, although now looking so time-worn, 
 upon the foundation of one still more an- 
 cient. Yon aged oak tree, wdiich he had 
 so often climbed for acorns, when a little 
 urchin scarcely able to speak plain, had
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 293 
 
 showered down its acorns and spread its 
 branches over the heads of countless of his 
 forefathers, whom it had looked on in the 
 bud and blossom of youth, and in the grey 
 hairs of old age — but it would never look 
 upon his grey hairs. His children would 
 never tie their fishing flies upon the green 
 knoll beneath it, or try how many little hands 
 could gird its ample trunk. 
 
 No — he should never see the dear old place 
 again ; he had not the same sanguine antici- 
 pations that cousin James had. He must 
 build a new home afar, where the oak tree 
 grew not, and where no silvery stream, famed 
 for trout, stole softly through the fragrant 
 herbage. 
 
 y^ yp y^ ^ y^ y^ 
 
 Nor was young Redmond single in his 
 regrets and retrospections, as he paced back- 
 
 o 3
 
 294 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 wards and forwards upon the deck of the 
 emigrant ship. 
 
 A weary man was there, who leaned day 
 after day over the side of the vessel, with 
 his eyes fixed upon the billowy surge. He 
 had tried his fortune in a distant country, 
 and had at last, with a sick heart, sought 
 again his old home, but it was gone ; and 
 now across the ocean, in another strange 
 land, he must seek a new home. 
 
 Thus ran his meditations, as, with arms 
 folded upon his breast, he watched the roll- 
 ing waves. 
 
 " Pair wert thou, my old home — fair were 
 thy rocks, thy woods — fair thy dark bound- 
 ing river — fair the ivied walls of thy old 
 castle — 'fair thy winding paths and bowery 
 thickets. Haunts of my bright young 
 days ! Love of my young heart ! 
 
 "Beautiful scenes have I seen in other 
 lands, bat thou wert beauty. Peaceful
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 295 
 
 spots have I lingered in, but thou wert 
 peace. 
 
 " Music — Nature's music was in thee, for 
 on thy breezes did the softest sounds Hnger, 
 and from every brake and bush carolled 
 forth the thrush and blackbird. Over thee 
 hung, in the bluest of skies, light clouds, 
 changefid and flitting with a thousand rain- 
 bow hues. The spirit of poetry slumbered 
 amidst thee. Fair was thy dawn of morn- 
 ing, and still fairer was thy eve. 
 
 " Other steps than mine will tread thy 
 inches — other eyes than mine will look upon 
 thy ancient ash and beech trees, and upon 
 the shrubs and flowers I saw planted. But 
 wherefore regret thee, my old home ? — short 
 will be my pilgrimage; and if spirits are 
 permitted to revisit this earth, thee after 
 death again will I see — again in spirit haunt 
 thee. Or if the fairest spots in earth are
 
 296 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 but shadows of the things in Heaven, thy 
 prototype shall I behold in a better land 
 — oh ! my old home — Love of my young 
 heart !"
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 297 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 " Oh ! is there not in infant smiles 
 A witching power, a cheering ray, 
 A charm that every care beguiles, 
 And bids the weary soul be gay ?" 
 
 Thomas Gent. 
 
 Julia was soon to be a mother, and this 
 prospect opened a new world of hopes and 
 fears to the heart of Mr. Morley. 
 
 Circumstances had occurred, which made 
 him anxious to have an heir. A cousin had 
 lately died of malignant fever, while travel- 
 ling through Egypt, whither he had gone to 
 dissipate grief, occasioned by the loss of two 
 promising boys in the small pox.
 
 298 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 These three premature deaths left Mr. 
 Morley, after the decease of the present 
 baronet, who was in his seventy-ninth year, 
 the next inheritor to the estates and ancient 
 baronetage of Morley. 
 
 This near prospect of elevation to a title 
 which he had never either looked for nor 
 coveted, naturally brought with it new 
 hopes and new plans. 
 
 1^'ar from participating in the wishes of 
 her husband, Julia felt a sort of terror at 
 the idea of her child being a boy. 
 
 Ever since her father's death, a hopeless- 
 ness of having her doubts put to rest, as to 
 who the Captain Jacobs might really be 
 whom she had so unfortunately seen, haunted 
 her mind, and, together with her obligation 
 to keep a secret from her husband, which 
 she felt ought to be revealed to him, weighed 
 heavily upon her sick heart, both in her 
 waking and sleeping hours.
 
 THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 299 
 
 And now to have a child — an heir. To 
 have this innocent Httle creature's legitimacy 
 perhaps one day called in question — to bring 
 a bitter disappointment, as well as all the 
 horrors attending such an exposure, upon her 
 husband's head ; those ideas well nigh mad- 
 dened the unhappy Julia, whenever they 
 came across her. 
 
 In her country walks with Mr. Morley, 
 how did she envy every homely peasant 
 woman, surrounded by her healthy, happy- 
 looking, half-clothed children, that she saw 
 by the way. How often did she wish that 
 Mr. Morley could change place with the 
 careful husbandman who laboured in the 
 held, and that she, his faithful and undoubted 
 wife, might cook his humble dinner, and 
 ministertohis and their children's wants, safe 
 and sheltered froni this dreadful conscious- 
 ness which made her life a life of bitterness ! 
 Deep agony of the heart ! — fatal secret ! — O
 
 300 THE DOUBLE MARKIAGE, 
 
 burdensome life, tliou art too heavy to 
 bear ! 
 
 Yet Julia talked calmly, and tried to smile, 
 and clung closer than ever to her adoring 
 husband, while those sad thoughts were 
 chasing each other through her mind. 
 
 Those thoughts were never absent ; they 
 were there in a sort of perp.etuity. She visited 
 in society, and appeared like other people, 
 only perhaps that she was gentler, kinder, 
 more fragile-looking — still they were there. 
 In solitude, in company, in the church or at 
 the festival — still they were there. 
 
 This consciousness of crime (though crime 
 forced upon her), this humility, this secret 
 contrition, this patience, at once so removed 
 her from the trivialities of life, threw such 
 sweetness into her manner, and softened her 
 heart into such compassion for the misfor- 
 tunes of others — though other people's woes 
 seemed but like drops of water compared to
 
 THE DOUBLE MARllTAGE. 301 
 
 the ocean of her misery — that every one 
 who made her acquaintance felt drawn to- 
 wards her by some secret spell which they 
 could not understand ; and those who only 
 heard of her from their friends, were eager 
 to be introduced to her. 
 
 Mr. Morley was pleased with this attrac- 
 tion which his gentle, unassuming Julia exer- 
 cised over all who came within her circle. 
 
 We hke others to admire a gem which 
 we prize ourselves, and the music most 
 grateful to the ear is the praise of those we 
 love. 
 
 END OF VOL, 1. 
 
 J, BILLING, 
 
 PBINTBR AND STEREOTYPER, 
 
 . WOKING, SUEEEY.