Classic Audiobook Collection - The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden ~ Full Audiobook [romance]

Starting point is 00:00:00 the semi-attached couple by emily eden chapter i well i have paid that visit to the esk-dales mr douglas said mrs douglas in a tone of triumphant sourness you don't say so my dear i hope you left my card not i mr douglas how could i they let me in which was to one kind i saw the whole family for father and mother, brother and sisters, the future bride and bridegroom? Such a tribe, and servants without end! How I detest walking up that great flight of steps at Eskdale Castle, with that regiment of footmen drawn up on each side of it, one looking more impertinent than the other. There must be a frightful accumulation of impertinence

Starting point is 00:00:54 before you reach the landing-place, my dear, for it is a long staircase. "'Don't talk nonsense, Mr. Douglas,' said his wife sharply. "'I shan't go again in a hurry. The whole house is hateful to me. Lady Eskdale, with her dawdling languid manner, and a large shawl, and conceited cap, and that Lord Beaufort, with his black eyebrows and shining teeth. Lady Eskdale looked as old as the hills, with all that lace hanging about her face. She has grown excessively old, Mr. Douglas. I never saw anybody so altered.

Starting point is 00:01:33 Did you think so, Anne? I thought her looking very handsome yesterday when I met her in her pony-carriage. Oh, that pony-carriage! That is so like her nonsense! Pony-carriages are the fashion, and she has taken to drive. I should not be the least surprised any day to hear that she had broken her neck. Why cannot she go out in her Britska and be driven by her coachman? And as for looking handsome, it is not very likely that she should at her age.

Starting point is 00:02:03 Lady Eskdale is as old as I am, Mr. Douglas. You don't say so,' was again on the point of escaping Mr. Douglas's lips, and after a pause he bethought himself of the lovers as a safer topic than Lady Eskdale's beauty. He had tried that too often in his life. Did you see Helen, my dear? Oh, to be sure. She was sent for. Dear love, as Lady Eskdale drawled out, She is so happy, and you must see Teviot.

Starting point is 00:02:36 He is such a darling. If he were my own son, I could not love him more. So, in they came, the dear love and the darling. You know how I hate those London sort of men, with their mustachios and chains and offensive waistgots, and Lord Teviot is one of the worst specimens I ever saw of the kind." "'And Helen?' again said Mr. Douglas. "'Oh, Helen,' said Mrs. Douglas, and then paused.

Starting point is 00:03:09 She was an imminent peril of being forced to praise, but escaped with great adroitness. "'Well, if Helen were not one of that family, I should not dislike her. She is civil enough, and promised to show the girls her true zo. But she is altered, too. I think her looking dreadfully old, Mr. Douglas. Old at eighteen, Anne? And what wrinkled wretches we must be? Has Helen grown grey? No, but you know what I mean. She looks so set up, so fashioned. In short, it does not signify, but she is altered. mr douglas had his suspicions that helen must have been looking beautiful since even his wife could not detect or at least specify the faults that were to be found in her appearance he had seldom seen her so much at fault for a criticism mrs douglas had never had the slightest pretensions to good looks In fact, though it is wrong to say anything so ill-natured, she was excessively plain, always had been so, and had a soreness on the subject of beauty, that looked perhaps as like envy

Starting point is 00:04:22 as any other quality. As she had no hope of raising herself to the rank of a beauty, her only chance was bringing others down to her own level. How old she is looking! How she is altered! the expressions that invariably concluded Mrs. Douglas' comments on her acquaintances, and the prolonged absence of a friend was almost a pleasure to her, as it gave her the opportunity of saying after a first meeting, "'How changed Mrs. So-and-so is! I should hardly have known

Starting point is 00:04:52 her, but then to be sure I have not seen her for a year, or two years,' etc." People may go on talking for ever of the jealousies of pretty women, but for real genuine, hard-working envy, there is nothing like an ugly woman with a taste for admiration. Her mortified vanity curdles into malevolence, and she calumniates where she cannot rival. Mrs. Douglas had been an heiress, which perhaps accounted for Mr. Douglas having married her, but, though no one could suppose that he married for love, he had been to her what is called a good husband. He let her have a reasonable share of her own way, and spend a reasonable portion of her own money. He abstained from all vivid admiration of beauty within her hearing, he had a great

Starting point is 00:05:40 reliance on her judgment, and a high opinion of her talents, and though he was too good-hearted to hear without pain her sarcasms on almost all her acquaintance, he seldom irritated her by contradiction, but kept his own opinion with a quiet regret that his wife was so hard to please. The Eskdale's and Douglases had been near-neighors for many years, and had always been unsociable and sometimes intimate terms. Mrs. Douglas could almost have become attached to her neighbor, had it not been for the prolonged youthfulness of Lady Eskdale's appearance, and the uninterrupted and increasing prosperity of her family. The provocation grew too great for endurance. The ladies had become mothers at the same time, and the comparison of their babies, monthly nurses and embroidered

Starting point is 00:06:29 caps, had been the commencement of their intimacy. Then came the engagement of nursery-guards. Then came the engagement of nursery governesses, and discussions on the comparative merits of Swiss Buns, highly accomplished French governesses, poor clergyman daughters, or respectable young, ignorant women. Then the respective right shoulders of Sophia Beaufort and Sarah Douglas took a fit of growing, without due regard to the stationary dispositions of the left. There are two years in every woman's life in which the undue size of her right shoulder is the bane of her own life, and of everybody about her. Mrs. Douglas called constantly at Eskdale Castle to satisfy her that Sophia was growing absolutely deformed, and Lady Eskdale own she should

Starting point is 00:07:15 fret dreadfully about her poor darling if she did not think Mrs. Douglas so much more to be pitied on her dear Sarah's account. The girls grew up perfectly straight, of course. This period of reclining boards and dumbbells was the most flourishing age of the Eskdale and Douglas friendship. After that it gradually declined. There was a slight revival when the two ladies entered into a confederacy against an exorbitant drawing-master, but he was shortly reduced to terms, and when he had consented to walk fifteen miles and give a lesson of two hours for fifteen shillings instead of a guinea, all farther community of interests on the subject of accomplishments ceased.

Starting point is 00:07:55 The Eskdale soon after received in a session of fortune, and passed a great part of each year in another county, and also in London. The ladies Beaufort grew up, came out, were admired, and became what Mrs. Douglas called, disgustingly fine. The Douglas family remained in the country, mixed more with their second grade of neighbours, in default of their great friends, and the Mrs. Douglas were, Lady Eskdale said, the dearest most amiable girls in the world. She only wished they "'dressed better, and that Lord Eskdale did not think them vulgar. But, unfortunately, their voices annoyed him, so that she could not ask them to dinner so often she could like,

Starting point is 00:08:39 for dear Mrs. Douglas's sake.' Still a certain degree of intercourse was kept up. An occasional letter passed, and at last a dreadful blow fell on the unsuspecting Mrs. Douglas, an announcement from Lady Eskdale of the marriage of her eldest daughter. It began in the terms usually employed on such occasions. I cannot bear that my dear Mrs. Douglas should hear from anyone but myself, that my darling Sophia's fate is decided, and that in giving my precious child to Sir William Waldgrave,

Starting point is 00:09:11 I feel no doubts, etc., etc. The remainder is easily imagined. High principles, good looks, long attachment, six weeks, worldly prosperity, mother's spears. These were the catch-words of the sentences. Mrs. Douglas wrote her congratulations, and kept her astonishment and comments for home consumption. Twelve months passed, and another letter arrived, but Mrs. Douglas was prepared for the worst this time. At least she said she was, and that it would not surprise her at all if Amelia were going to be married. Again Lady Eskdale could not bear that Mrs. Douglas should hear from anybody but herself that dearest Amelia was

Starting point is 00:09:53 to marry Mr. Trevor, another delightful young man with still higher principles, more good looks, a still longer attachment—two months at least—and the mother's fears and the truzo and all the rest of it followed in due order. The letter wound up with a gay assertion that Little Eskdale Waldgrave was such a splendid child, that she forgave him for making her a grandmother at eight and thirty. Mrs. Douglas read the communication in a tone expressive of extreme ill-usage. Neither from herself nor from anyone else could Lady Eskdale hear that either of the Mrs. Douglas were about to be married. They had not even a disappointment to boast of, nor a report about them to contradict, and Mrs. Douglas's chance of being a grandmother

Starting point is 00:10:38 at all seemed hardly worth having. She began to rail against early marriages, hoped Mr. Trevor would help Amelia to play with her doll, and guessed that Sir William Waldgrave had repented long ago that he had not taken time to find out Sophia's temper before he married her. There was only Helen left. Helen, so beautiful, so gentle, so light-hearted, the pride of her parents, the petted friend of her sisters, the idol of her brother, and loving as warmly as she was beloved. Yes, I knew Helen from her childhood, and had thought that such a gentle, gay creature could never be touched by the cares and griefs that fall on the common herd.

Starting point is 00:11:18 It was very much to the credit of my benevolence, though not of my judgment, as sneer says. Why was she to escape? I do not wish to be cynical, but if a stone is thrown into our garden, is it not sure to knock off the head of our most valuable tulip? If a cup of coffee is to be spilled, does it not make a point of falling on our richest brocade gown? If we do lose our reticule, does not the misfortune occur on the only day? in which we had left our purse in it? All these are well-known facts, and by parity of reason, was it to be expected that anyone, so formed as Helen was, to enjoy as well as to impart happiness, should escape the trials

Starting point is 00:12:02 that ought to have fallen on the peevish and the disappointed—on me, for instance, or such as me. Helen came out the year after her sister Amelia's marriage. Lady Eskdale is so lucky. in fact so clever in marrying off her daughters, that it would not the least surprise me if she actually caught Lord Teviot for Lady Helen." Was the spiteful prophecy of many who were trembling at the idea of its fulfilment, their hopes and their fears were both confirmed.

Starting point is 00:12:34 Lord Teviot, the great party of the year, with five country houses, being four more than he could live in, with a hundred and twenty thousand pounds a year, being thirty thousand pounds less than he could spend, with diamonds that had been collected by the ten last generations of Teviots, and a yacht that had been built by himself, with the rank of a Marquess and the good looks of the poorest of younger brothers. What could he want but a wife? Many people, himself among the rest, thought he was better without one. But he changed his mind the first time he saw Helen, and then it signified little whether other people changed theirs. He danced with her evening after evening. He gave balls at Teviot House, breakfasts at Rosebank, white-bate

Starting point is 00:13:22 dinners on board the self, and finally paid a morning visit at Lord Eskdale's at an unprecedentedly early hour. Mrs. Fitzroy Jones, who lived next door, and passed her life in active supervision of all Eskdale proceedings, declared that his cabriolet waited two hours in the square, so she was sure he had proposed. Lady Bruce Gordon, who lived at the corner, asserted that that she saw Lady Helen go out in the open carriage with her mother later in the afternoon, and that she looked as if she had cried her eyes quite out of her head. This was figurative, so she had no doubt that Lord Teviot had jilted her. But Mr. Elliot was looked upon as the highest authority,

Starting point is 00:14:03 as he happened to be passing Lord Eskdale's door at half-past seven, and saw Lord Teviot go in, though he had ascertained that there was no other company expected. What did that mean? The next day the marriage was declared, for the three following weeks Lord Eskdale's porter had a hard place of it. He said himself that it required two pair of hands to take in the notes and letters of congratulation, to say nothing of the interesting-looking parcels wrapped in silver paper that were sent by attached friends, and the boxes and baskets which arrived from distinguished milliners and jewelers. At the end of the fourth week, Mrs. Fitzroy Jones and all

Starting point is 00:14:42 the Little Joneses, Lady B. Gordon, and all the Little Gordon's, Mrs. Elliot and all the little Elliot's, were drawn up in their respective windows, watching the packing of the huge wagons which were stationed at the Eskdale door, and reasoning themselves into a painful conviction of the melancholy fact that they were to be defrauded of a view of the wedding. Perhaps not, though. It may take place to-morrow. But no. The next day brought the travelling carriages to the door. Mrs. Jones saw the family depart, then, turned with sickening so within her gate, and said, I must say I think it's very ill-natured not to have the wedding in town. Mrs. Douglas thought so, too,

Starting point is 00:15:26 or rather she thought it very ill-natured to have the wedding in her neighbourhood, not only forcing on her the sight of so much prosperity, but, by an unfortunate train of events, actually obliging her to form part of the show. Eliza Douglas was asked to be one of Lady Helen's bridesmaids. End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. However, we have not come to the wedding day yet.

Starting point is 00:15:59 There was the usual difficulty about settlements which attends all marriages, whether there be any property to settle or not, and the delay gave the neighborhood the full enjoyment of watching the Teviates in the interesting character of lovers, and nothing excites so much curiosity or afford such a fine mark for criticism as the conduct of any two individuals who are placed in that critical position. Mrs. Douglas, as we know, had given herself the advantage of a regular morning visit and a formal introduction to Lord Teviot, thereby acquiring a lawful right to make all her remarks by authority, and this visit was followed by an invitation from

Starting point is 00:16:37 the Eskdale's to dinner. the invitation, including the two Mrs. Douglas, as well as their father and mother. So the Douglases took very high ground on the great Teviot question. The other neighbours had various degrees of good fortune. Mrs. Thompson, the Curate's wife, had a very fair share of luck, considering, as she said, that she was sure to be looking the other way when anything worth seeing was going on. But she had just called in at South Lodge with a tract, when she saw several ladies and gentlemen riding up the avenue,

Starting point is 00:17:07 and she understood the happy pair were of the party, so that, though she could not distinguish who was who, yet she had a right to say she had seen the Marquis. She really thought those large parties must prevent young people from making acquaintance. They ought to be left more to themselves. Mrs. Burkett, the apothecary's wife, had had greater good fortune. She had crossed in her walk an open part of the pleasure-ground, and she had seen Lady Helen sketching, and a tall, dark-looking young gentleman standing by her. A most noble-looking young man is the Marquis. He reminds me of what Mr. Burkitt's cousin Sir Simon was when he was young. I own I was a little surprised, I won't say shocked, to see his lordship and her ladyship without a chaperon. But in high

Starting point is 00:17:52 life I fancy there is a great deal more ease than we should think right. But I can't say I approve of young engaged people being left so much to themselves. However, I am glad I have seen them, and I was much nearer to them than Mrs. Thompson was." However fortunate these two ladies had been, Sunday was the day that was looked to for the general gratification of public curiosity, and the church had not been so well attended for months as it was on that particular day. It was obvious to the whole neighbourhood that the Eskdale's wished to avoid observation by coming early to church, for they arrived before the end of the first lesson, a most unusual degree of punctuality. But this sign of timidity did not prevent the whole congregation from fixing their eyes in touch. intently on the tall young man who followed Lord Eskdale into church, and who took a seat opposite to Lady Helen in the pew. Never was the congregation so alert in standing up at the proper

Starting point is 00:18:48 opportunities. Old Mr. Marlowe, a martyr to rheumatic gout, and Mrs. Greenland, who had, for two years, made her stiff knee an excuse for sitting down during the whole of the service, were both on their legs before the psalm was given out. The clerk, who had a passion for his own singing, saw his advantages and gave out five verses of a hymn, with repetition of the two last lines of each verse. Seven verses and a half. But nobody thought it a note too long. Moreover, Lady Helen dropped her prayer-book, and the tall young man picked it up for her. Such an incident. Mrs. Thompson, as usual, missed it, because she was unluckily tying her little girl's bonnet-strings. There was a rush into the churchyard the moment the sermon was over.

Starting point is 00:19:35 to which nobody had attended, except those who were watching for, lastly. And when Lady Helen came out, leaning on her father's arm, and Lady Eskdale followed, attended by the tall young man, and when they all bowed and court-seed and got into the open carriage, the father and mother sitting forwards and the young people opposite to them, and when Lord Eskdale took off his black hat and bowed on one side, and the young man took off his grey hat and bowed on the other, Nothing could exceed the gratification of the assembly. Lord Teviot was exactly what they expected, so very distinguished and so good-looking.

Starting point is 00:20:15 Some thought him too attentive to his prayers for a man in love, and some thought him too attentive to Lady Helen for a man in church, but eventually the two factions joined, and thought him simply very attentive. They all saw that Lady Helen was very fond of him, and nobody could be surprised at that. It was a most satisfactory Sunday. And, as most of them were addicted to the immoral practice of Sunday letter-writing, the observations of the morning were reduced to writing in the evening, and sent off to various parts of England on Monday morning.

Starting point is 00:20:48 But hardly had the post gone out when an alarming report arose, that the real, genuine Lord Teviot had gone up to town on Saturday, and that the observed of all observers was an architect come down to complete the statue-gallery. It was too true. The reaction was frightful, and as usual in all cases of reaction the odium fell on the wrong man. The architect, who was in fact an awkward, ungainly concern, remained in possession of distinguished looks, and with the glory of being very attentive to Lady Helen, and it was generally asserted that Lord Teviot kept out of the way, as he was quite aware of being ill-looking, that he was not attached in the smallest degree to Lady Helen, or he would

Starting point is 00:21:32 not have gone to London, and that he was very unprincipled, not to say an atheist, or he would have gone to church." End of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The day of the wedding drew near. The whole Eskdale family, with the exception of the Waldgraves, were assembled for the ceremony. Lady Amelia Trevor and Helm. Helen had always been friends as well as sisters. There was a difference of little more than a year in their ages, and on every point of amusement or interest, in their childish griefs or

Starting point is 00:22:12 in their youthful pleasures, their trust and confidence in each other had been unbounded. Amelia's marriage had made no difference in their relations to each other, for Helen liked Mr. Trevor, and he admired her with all Amelia's enthusiasm and loved her with all Amelia's fondness. Amelia was in ecstasies on her arrival at Eskdale. She thought Lord Teviot charming. Helen had never looked so beautiful. Everybody ought to marry.

Starting point is 00:22:42 A married life was so happy. And then it was so lucky that she and Mr. Trevor had brought a set of emeralds for Helen, for the walled graves had sent a set of pearls, and she had once thought of pearls herself. Lord Teviot was quite as desperately in love as she had expected, just what he ought to be. In short, she worked herself up into such a state of prosperous cheerfulness that when she went into Helen's room three days before the appointed wedding, she was as childishly gay as when she had run into it five years before, with tidings of a whole holiday, or a child's ball, and now, to her utter discomfiture, she found Helen in tears.

Starting point is 00:23:20 "'Helen, my darling, what is the matter? What is it, love? Are you tired with your long ride? I said you would be.' "'No, Amy, I am not tired. We did not ride far,' said Helen, trying to stifle her tears. "'Have you and Alfred been out?' "'Yes. No. Oh, I do not know. Never mind where we went, but tell me what is the matter. Do, dear Nell, don't you remember how in former days I always used to tease you out of all your secrets,

Starting point is 00:23:50 and you must not cry without telling me why?' "'I do not know that I can tell you, dear. Perhaps I do not know myself.' I dare say I am tired. I often feel so now. And then I have so much to think of.' And she lent her head on her hand with a look of painful weariness. Yes, so you have, but they are happy thoughts, too, Helen, in most respects. Oh, dear me!

Starting point is 00:24:17 How well I remember the week before my marriage! Going to my own room and sitting down comfortably in my arm-chair, just as you are now, and thinking I would be thoroughly unhappy about leaving dear papa and my and you and Beaufort, and I meant to cry about it, and to make a complete victim of myself, and at the end of half an hour I found I had been thinking of nothing but dear Alfred, and wondering whether I had ever been in the world any creature so happy as I was. And yet you were leaving home. Yes, but not for ever, said Amelia, laughing.

Starting point is 00:24:51 Only for three weeks, I knew I should come back and bring dear Alfred with me, and so will you, and bring dear Teviot. Now, Helen, do not look so deplorable. Nobody can possibly pity you, I assure you." "'No, I suppose not,' said Helen, in a low tone. "'Alfred and I have settled to remain here till you come back from your great castle in the north,' said Amelia, determined to talk away Helen's low spirits. So you need not fret about Mama's loneliness. And besides, I never saw her so pleased with anything as she is with your marriage. I had a horrible fit of just a little bit of just.

Starting point is 00:25:28 jealousy yesterday, thinking poor Alfred was neglected. I may say quite cut out, but for Ma has taken a little more notice of him to-day. Oh, dear, what fun it will be when we visit you in your own house! I hear it as an actual palace! Alfred went there once for some shooting when he was a boy, and then I have never told you that I liked Lord Teviot so much." Helen raised her head, but her lips quivered, and she leaned back again without speaking. I was so very anxious to see him and make acquaintance with him. Because, you know, if I had not liked him, life would not have been worth having.

Starting point is 00:26:05 You would have found it out, and would have thrown me off at once as your friend. "'Never, never,' said Helen. "'I am sure I never should.' "'Oh, yes, you would, dear, and you ought. You will soon see how naturally one acquires a distaste for any ill-judging individual who presumes not to like one's husband. You would give us all up in a moment for Lord Tevey's sake if we—' "'Oh, no! No!' exclaimed Helen, clasping her hands. "'I shall cling to you all more than ever, and none of you must give me up.

Starting point is 00:26:39 Amelia, promised to be kind to me, to love me more than ever when I am married. Indeed, indeed, I shall want your love!' And she threw her arms round Amelia's neck and sobbed violently. "'Why now, darling! How silly this! This is! How can I love you more than I do? You are nervous and tired, and just see what a state you have put us into. Only look at me with my eyes as red as of ferrets, and you know how I hate to cry.

Starting point is 00:27:09 Now we must not have any more of this nonsense. There, you lie down on the sofa, and I will sit at the window and pretend to read while I cool my eyes. I won't speak another word, and if you fall asleep, so much the better you will wake up quite in spirits again." helen threw her handkerchief over her eyes and leaning back on the sofa seemed inclined to follow her sister's advice her sobs ceased and amelia sat quietly at the window in the fond hope that her directions were all obeyed and that helen was asleep in half an hour she saw lord teviot walking on the terrace below he stopped under the window and looked up at her is helen there he said amelia leaned forward and putting her finger to her to her lips, made signs to him to be silent.

Starting point is 00:27:56 "'What is the matter? Is Helen not well, Lady Amelia?' he said in a tone of vexation. "'Oh, bless the man!' murmured Amelia. "'Why can't he hold his tongue? He will wake her. She's asleep! A sleep, I tell you!' Putting her head quite out of the window, and speaking in a loud whisper. "'Who is it that you were talking to?' said Helen.

Starting point is 00:28:20 "'There now, Lord Teviot, you have woke her. I told you how it would be, only nobody ever can be quiet. She was tired with that hot ride you took her." "'Well, ask her, Lady Amelia, if she will not come and sit in the shade a little while. She will find it much pleasanter than when we were riding.' "'No. She says she is sorry, but she must keep quiet till due time.' "'Did you tell her it would be pleasanter?' "'Yes, but she don't seem to believe it.' Ask her if I may come and visit her in her sitting-room.

Starting point is 00:28:51 No, she says you are very good, but she does not wish you to take that trouble. There, Helen, he is gone, but why would you not let him come here? I wish you had seen him, and then you could not have said no. I cannot imagine how you could have been so unkind to such an erodoromal-looking man. Whether he is more like Lord Byron, or the superb Oros Man, or Sir Philip Sidney, or Alcibiades, I cannot decide, never having seen any of them, but he certainly is the most distinguished-looking individual I ever saw. "'Oh, but Helen,' said she, as she passed the dressing-table, "'who gave you the splendid brooch?'

Starting point is 00:29:32 "'Lord Teviot, he gave it to me this morning.' "'Well, I never saw such lovely rubies. No, never. And you would not even come to the window to look at the man who gave you such a brooch, and who was so extremely well worth looking at as I tell you he had. he is. What an unfeeling little wretch! Well, good-bye, darling. You are better now, so I will leave you.' "'No, don't leave me. I am better now, as you say, and I should like to have a little talk.' "'What was it, Amelia, that you were saying about Mama, that she is pleased with my marriage?'

Starting point is 00:30:06 Oh, delighted with it. She said that she was the happiest mother in the world, and that she was sure it had made your dear papa ten years younger.' And yet, if they had been told only six weeks ago that I was to leave them. Oh, but, my dear, if it is your happiness. Yes, if. What a frightful word that if is, Amelia, said Helen, turning to the table so that her sister could not see her face. Did it ever occur to you before your marriage, that if your engagement were broken off?

Starting point is 00:30:39 Oh, no, dear, I never thought of such an impossibility. I should have died of it. Besides, Alfred was naturally too much charmed with the precious treasury he had gained to think of throwing it away. He is much too sensible for that." Oh, I did not think of his changing his mind. But if you had found out that you did not love him as much as he expected—that he had some great fault—a bad temper, for instance—

Starting point is 00:31:07 Would you have broken off your engagement? Would you, Amelia?" No. Decidedly not. I should have married him bad, temper and all, and have turned it into a good one. I could never have given him up. Fancy me going through life without Alfred. How can you put such shocking ideas into my head?

Starting point is 00:31:26 Only think of the sin of breaking one's promise, and of the poor man's mortification, and of what Papa and Mama would have said, and of the explanations, and the disgrace of the whole business. I should have gone mad, I should have shut myself up in a nunnery, if I could have found one. I never could have shown my face again. My dear, what could have put such a notion into your head?' "'Oh, nothing,' said Helen.

Starting point is 00:31:52 "'It is talking for me a talking sake,' as our governess used to say. "'Helen,' said Amelia, after a pause. "'You have frightened me, but I see now how it is. I suspect that you and Lord Teviot have had some little quarrel to-day. Indeed, I am sure of it. You were fretting about it when I came. in, and he was evidently very anxious to make it up when he came under the window. Dearest, no, a slight unmeaning quarrel may be an amusing little incident, but it should not last

Starting point is 00:32:22 half an hour, and it should not happen more than once. Be kind to him, dear, when you come down to dinner. You have had your fit of dignity, and the pleasure of putting yourself rather in the wrong, and now make it up, and let it be peace and happiness for the rest of your life." She ran out of the room, thinking she had said enough. enough, only adding as she placed the brooch in Helen's hands, "'There, you ungracious little thing, look and repent.' "'Aye, repent indeed,' said Helen, throwing it from her.

Starting point is 00:32:56 "'And unless I were as cold and hard as those stones, how can I but repent?' She will not understand me. She will not help me. And how can she, unless I had courage to tell her all? Oh, but the disgrace would, as she says, be too great. And then papa and mamma, and the day fixed and so near! Oh, what shall I do? The dressing-bell rang, so it was clear that the first thing to be done was to dress for dinner.

Starting point is 00:33:27 And happy for us is it that these ordinary domestic habits of life watch over its imaginative distresses with the sagacity and decision of sheep-dogs, and bark and worry them, till they fall into the proper path. of the flock. End of Chapter 3. Chapter 4 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. This was the grand day of the Douglas dinner.

Starting point is 00:33:57 They arrived. Mr. Douglas prepared to dine and to talk, and to be thankful if the cookery and conversation were good. Mrs. Douglas, perfectly ready and able to detect what might be amiss, and and to say what would be disagreeable. And the girls, charmed with the new gowns that had been manufactured in honour of the occasion, and full of mysterious curiosity about Lord Teviot, and of real affectionate interest in Lady Helen. Lord and Lady Eskdale and most of the guests were assembled.

Starting point is 00:34:29 Amelia, for a wonder, was ready in good time. She was anxious to see her sister and Lord Teviot meet, and had taken her station near the door on purpose. Helen appeared soon after the arrival of the Douglas family, and received the friendly greeting of Mr. Douglas, and the meaning pressure of his daughter's hands, with the kindest cordiality. She looked flushed and excited when first she entered, but after a glance round the room her agitation subsided, and it was evidently a relief to her to see that Lord Teviot was not there.

Starting point is 00:35:02 Dinner was announced, and he had not appeared. "'Are we to wait for him, Helen?' said Lord Eskdale with a smile. oh no papa mr douglas you must take pity on me do you remember the first day i dined down how you protected me in to dinner the whole party marshalled themselves and went on to the dining-room How disappointing, whispered Sarah to Eliza. I wanted to see them together. Helen always sat on one side of her father, whatever guests there might be, and Amelia observed with pain the earnestness with which she tried to induce Mr. Douglas to take the chair next to her on the other side, but he laughed and left her,

Starting point is 00:35:43 telling her he preferred going of his own accord to be sent away. Lord Teviot came in just as the soup and fish were taken away. He took his accustomed place, but without looking at Helen, and not till the second course came did any conversation pass between them. And then it seemed to be short and constrained, but she talked to her father in apparently good spirits. Sarah and Eliza looked at each other, and wondered whether that would be the right manner to adopt under similar circumstances. The ladies rose to retire. Helen had dropped her bracelet. Lord Teviot stooped for it, but with an air of such unwillingness that Helen said,

Starting point is 00:36:24 "'Pray, do not give yourself so much trouble. I will send for it presently.' "'As you please,' he answered coldly, and stepped back to let her pass. "'Stay, Nell,' said Trevor. "'I will find it. Amelia has brought me into excellent training. I am quite in the habit of groping about under the table for all the things she drops. I am much more pliable than Teviot.' "'That you are,' said Helen. "'Thank you, dear Alfred.'

Starting point is 00:36:53 And without another look at Lord Teviot, she passed on. Amelia did not at all like the aspect of affairs, but consoled herself with the hope that it was a mere lover's quarrel, and would end in a burst of sentiment, and in the meantime she was glad to divert Mrs. Douglas's attention by showing her Helen's trousseau. It was indeed showing her eyes to grieve her heart, but if her saturnine dispositions could exhaust themselves on the senseless gowns and the poor, dumb trinkets, it would be better than allowing her to make remarks on more sensitive victims. Sarah and Eliza were in good-natured rapture with the whole show, from the Brussels lace wedding gown to the very last dozen of embroidered pocket-handkerchiefs, and they were quite sorry when a summons to coffee took them back to the drawing-room. "'Thirty morning gowns!' whispered Sarah as they went downstairs.

Starting point is 00:37:45 "'The idea of a new gown every day for a month! Now I call that rubeenough! real happiness." Not such real lasting happiness," answered Eliza, half-laughing. As eighteen bracelets, and then those heaps of gloves and handkerchiefs, a quarter of them Sarah would free our miserable allowances from embarrassments for life. It must be very pleasant to be so rich, and to be going to be married," said Eliza, and this sage conclusion brought them to the drawing-room door. Helen would perhaps have given them a very different opinion. She began to doubt much whether

Starting point is 00:38:24 it were happiness or anything like it to be going to be married. She had accepted Lord Teviot on an acquaintance of very few weeks, and that carried on solely in a ballroom or at a breakfast. She knew that her sisters had married in the same way and were very happy. No one, not even her mother, had seemed to doubt for a moment that Lord Teviot's proposal was to be accepted. And accept some slight misgiving. as to whether she liked him as much as Amelia had liked Mr. Trevor, she herself had had no distrust as to her future prospects, till she came into the country. Then she found every day some fresh cause to doubt whether she were as happy, engaged a Lord Teviot as she was

Starting point is 00:39:05 before she had ever seen him. He was always quarrelling with her—at least so she thought. But the real truth was that he was desperately in love and the she was not—that he was a man of strong feelings and exacting habits, and with considerable knowledge of the world, and that she was timid and gentle, unused to any violence of manner or language, and unequal to cope with it. He alarmed her first by the eagerness with which he poured out his affection, and then by the bitterness of his reproaches, because, as he averred, it was not returned. She tried to satisfy him. But when he had frightened away her playfulness he had deprived her of her greatest charm, and she herself felt that her manner became daily colder and more repulsive. His prediction

Starting point is 00:39:51 that she would be happier anywhere than with him seemed likely, by repetition, to ensure its own fulfilment. Even their reconciliations, for what is the use of a quarrel but to bring on a reconciliation, were unsatisfactory. She wished that he loved her less, or would say less about it, and he thought that the gentle willingness with which she met his excuses was only a fresh proof that his love or his anger were equally matters of indifference to her. No French actor with a broken voice, quivering hands, a stride and a shrug could have given half the emphasis to the sentiment. "'Generes Mere Mier than Lord Taviot did the upbraidings, with which he diversified the monotony of love-making. This very morning he had persuaded himself that Helen would have preferred

Starting point is 00:40:40 riding with her brother. She found the sun hot, and proposed to return. turn. This was a fresh offense, and he declared that it was only a desire to avoid him that made her wish to shorten their ride. Then he worked himself up by a repetition of his wrongs to a degree of violence that would have surprised himself at another moment. At first she laughed at his accusations. Then she was shocked at his bitterness, and at last, gay and giddy as she was, her spirits gave way. And when he helped her to dismount from her horse, he saw that her cheeks were pale, and that big tears were rolling over them. To his entreaties that she would only stay five minutes more with him, she shook her head and said faintly,

Starting point is 00:41:23 "'No, I am too tired now. I can bear no more.' And as she left him the thought rushed into her mind, "'Perhaps he is right. I do not love him as I ought. It is not yet too late.' It was in this mood that Amelia had found her. One word of encouragement would have given in her spirit to break off her marriage. But Amelia, who had been in love with Mr. Trevor from the first hour of their acquaintance down to the present speaking, could not realize her sister's feelings, and gave the only advice that she would herself have taken in Helen's position. Helen went down to dinner irresolute. Nothing in Lord Teviot's manner tended to reconcile her to him, and she thought that in the course of the evening she would bravely seek him to

Starting point is 00:42:09 dissolve their engagement. But perhaps he saw something in her ease of manner that alarmed him. Dinner, that useful counsellor, had smoothed his ruffled temper. Perhaps the instinct that always leads Amanda to foresee when an impending explanation is not likely to end in his favour prompted him to divine that he should have the worst of this. And the result was that when he came into the drawing-room and saw Helen conversing gaily with Mrs. Douglas, he drew quietly towards her, and sat down, looking very penitent, on a wretched, hard, cane chair with a straight back, immediately behind her. Gradually he edged himself into the conversation, took an opportunity of throwing Helen's

Starting point is 00:42:50 work on the floor, partly that he might stoop for it with all Trevor's pliability, and partly that in the course of that process he might contrive to touch with his lips Helen's hand, unperceived even by the sharp-eyed Mrs. Douglas. And that amend being made, he took his accustomed place on the way of the same thing to be the sofa by her side, and was so gentle and so pleasant that her resentment faded gradually away, and all her magnanimous resolutions were forgotten. Her misgivings as to the agree of affection she felt for him remained. But she supposed Amelia was right.

Starting point is 00:43:23 It would be shocking to break her promise. And in short, she was too young to act for herself, and too much devoted to her parents to ask them to do for her what she knew would give them pain. And so the evening ended peacefully. End of Chapter 4. Chapter 5 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The Douglases rolled home in their family coach.

Starting point is 00:43:54 Pray, might I ask Mr. Douglas if you thought that a pleasant dinner? Said his wife in an insidious tone. Yes, my dear I did indeed. Good cookery, pleasant company, and very pretty women, I ask nothing more. Ought not I to have liked it?' "'Oh, dear, yes, I am glad you did. Easily pleased, that's all I can say. Perhaps, too, you thought your beauty, Lady Eskdale, looked well in that floppity cap?' "'I have not the good fortune to know what a floppety cap is, my dear, but I thought she

Starting point is 00:44:30 looked very handsome, even by the side of those two pretty daughters of hers.' Well, it is to me the strangest delusion of yours, that about the beauty of the Eskdale's. Perhaps, too, in the extremity of your benevolence, you think, Lord Tevey it is very much in love with Helen. Is not he? I took it for granted that he was, because in the first place most men who saw her would be, and in the next, because I presume he would not marry her if he were not. What his reasons may be for marrying her, I do not know. do not know, but I never saw a more unpromising-looking business than that. He seems to me to be about the most ill-tempered, disagreeable, odious young man I ever saw,

Starting point is 00:45:15 and he does not care two straws for Helen. Girls, I am sure you must have observed it. He never spoke to her at dinner, and I am convinced she is very unhappy." "'Oh, Mama, do you think so?' said Eliza. I think Helen when she is married will be just like Lady Amelia, and I am very sure she is happy enough." She carries it off very well," said Mrs. Douglas. But in my humble opinion Mr. Trevor is rather a poor creature, and Amelia is sharp enough

Starting point is 00:45:45 to find it out. After all the fuss that has been made about Lady Eskdale's luck and the marriage of her daughters, I see nothing in it. The Waldgraves are never here to begin with. Oh, because he was obliged to go to Paris about that money of his uncles. Ah, so they say. I never believe those stories of people going rambling about in search of their uncle's money. I suspect he is very unsteady.

Starting point is 00:46:11 And so far as temper must be a trying one, I am sure, and probably they do not wish the Eskales to see how unhappy they are. So much for one daughter. Then Amelia is married to a man who looks, I think, though nobody will agree with me, like a fool. And moreover, his father is alive, and may live for ages, or marry again and have heaps of children. So in a worldly point of view, that is a deplorable marriage. My dear, how you do run on imagining grievances, the Trevers are very well off. How can you know, Mr. Douglas?

Starting point is 00:46:46 Nobody who has a father alive ever is well off. And besides, they are very extravagant. You will see that they will get into difficulties. And then, Helen, we were told that hers was to be the model marriage, the greatest piece of luck that ever was known. Now I am not easily taken in, but I really did expect to see a tolerable chance of happiness for that poor girl, and there she is going to be the wife of that horrid savage." Oh, Mama, he does not look like a savage?

Starting point is 00:47:17 No, my dear, savages would not be so affected, but I was alluding to his temper, which is evidently a savage temper. I am sorry for it, for Helen is rather a favourite of mine, and I see she will lead a wretched life, and taking all these circumstances together, I cannot wonder that with all this care and anxiety on her mind, Lady Eskdale looks as old and haggard as she does." "'Well, Anne, you have settled that family thoroughly,' said Mr. Douglas. Nobody can accuse you of too much benevolence in your opinions." "'No, my dear, I don't set up for that sort of character, because I happen to see things

Starting point is 00:47:58 as they really are, and I am never taken in by the cant of prospect. and that sort of pretension. So really, without offence, I must be allowed to observe that I do not envy Lady Eskdale her sons-in-law, and that I hope we shall not be asked to die in there any more this year. That is all." And on this conclusion the family rested till they arrived at home. End of Chapter 5. Chapter 6 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain."

Starting point is 00:48:32 "'I wish Mama did not hate dining at Eskdale Castle,' said Eliza to her sister when they went to their own room. And I wish they would ask us a little oftener. I think it is very good fun going there.' "'Do you?' said Sarah, in an absent tone. "'Yes, I like their large rooms, and the armchairs and the sofas, and the sort of smell of wealth that there is about the house. the dinner itself is so good.

Starting point is 00:49:02 How lucky it is that Mama does not hear me. It is the sort of thing she would hate me to say. But the soup was perfectly delicious, so unlike our dull scotch broth. Only I wish it had not been spilt on my new gown, and on the front breadth too. Just look, Sarah! What a pity! And it was all the fault of the servant. Those great tall footmen frighten me out of my senses, and I wish they would not go

Starting point is 00:49:26 and offering one all the dishes. It is so tiresome. I go on saying, No, no, no, all dinner-time. Lord Beaufort said I ate nothing. Ah, by the bye, miss, said Sarah, rousing up. How came you to contrive to sit by Lord Beaufort? You are always taking the best places,

Starting point is 00:49:47 and as I am the eldest, I ought to have my choice sometimes. Yes, but as I am the youngest, other people have their choice, said Eliza laughing. However, you need not mind it this time, Sarah. Lord Beaufort was obliged to take the only place that was vacant, because he did not come in, you know, till dinner was half over, and so that was the reason why he sat by me. He spoke to me three times, and asked me to have some wine.

Starting point is 00:50:13 Did you observe his waistcoat, Sarah? Such a love, as Lady Eskdale would say. How you do run on, Eliza. I wish you would let me have the looking-glass for a minute, if you have looked at yourself enough. "'Law, my dear, you may have it for a week if you like. I was only taking a last fond look at this dear gown before I take it off. I shan't have an opportunity, probably, of wearing it again for the next six months.

Starting point is 00:50:38 Not that I shall actually have any great pleasure in it again, because of those grease spots. I wish that servant had not done it. So awkward and provoking. However, I hope we shall dine there again some day or another. And I hope we never shall, as long as we live. said Sarah emphatically. She had taken one look at herself in the glass, and then threw herself into a chair with an air of deep despondency. "'Never dine there again as long as we live,' repeated Eliza.

Starting point is 00:51:09 "'Why, Sarah, what is the matter? You can't be well. What can have happened?' "'Something dreadful,' said Sarah in a deep tone. "'Why, what can it be? You have not greased your gown, too,' said Eliza, starting up as if she had made a great discovery. No. What then? Have you lost anything? Forgotten your fan?

Starting point is 00:51:33 Dropped your bracelet? Oh, no. Worse than all that. It is something dreadful that has been said of us. Good gracious, what? What can they find to say of us? Something quite shocking. And Sarah actually coloured at the mere thought of repeating it.

Starting point is 00:51:53 Well, tell it at all events. I should like to know the worst." It was just when he was sitting by the piano-forte, and I was behind the sofa, and Mr. Trevor came up to Lady Eskdale, and said,—' Looking at the flowers and the silver comb in your hair—' Don't you think, though silver a-penia full of flowers would look better on a dining-table than walking about a drawing-room? I know nothing of dress, but it's not that a little in the May-day line, rather chimney-sweepish. No.

Starting point is 00:52:22 Did he really say that? that?" And Eliza looked aghast. What a horrid man! Yes, but that is not the worst. Lady Eskdale said, Don't laugh at those poor girls, Alfred. They are dear good creatures, though they are vulgely dressed.

Starting point is 00:52:41 There, Eliza, now is not that dreadful, and so hard, too, when we took such pains about our dress and thought it was so nice. And Sarah's voice quivered with vexation. Oh, never must. mind, dear, don't fret about it. You did look very nice. I'm sure I thought so. And if we wore too many flowers to-day, next time we'll wear none. And as for that, Mr. Trevor, I dare say he knows nothing about dress. But I wish we were not like chimney-sweepers. I say, Sarah, it would be rather good fun to go to Eskdale Castle with our faces blackened, and we, covered with flowers

Starting point is 00:53:21 and tinsel, dancing round Mr. Trevor, rattling our shovels.' "'Don't talk nonsense, Eliza. I never thought we were vulgar.' "'Nor I, but we cannot help it if we are. I think we are two very nice girls, and Helen does not despise us.' Oh, Sarah, how beautiful she is, and how I should like to be going to be married to Lord Teviot. That is, I should not like it at all except I were Helen. I should be afraid of him as I am." "'Ah, she looked very pretty,' said Sarah.

Starting point is 00:53:55 "'She had no flowers in her hair.' And with a deep sigh Sarah unpinned a gigantic bunch of camellias, and her hair was braided quite smooth. And Sarah gave a desperate tug at a highly frizzed set of bows which she had built up on the top of her head with some pride. Eliza burst out laughing. Sarah's distress seemed to her to be out of all proportion to the calamity, and she was too merry and too light-hearted herself to be discomposed by such a trifle.

Starting point is 00:54:25 I hope they will ask us again," she murmured as she sank to sleep. "'What shall we wear if they do?' Sarah responded. "'Black jackets, tinfoil and calico roses, with shovels for fans,' said Eliza in a sleepy voice, and in another moment their troubles were forgotten." End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of the Semi Attached Couple by Emily Eden This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Eliza's wishes were more than fulfilled.

Starting point is 00:55:00 For the following day she received a very kind note from Helen, asking her to be one of her bridesmaids, and this was accompanied by a very pretty dress, with Lady Eskdale's kind love, and a note to invite Mrs. Douglas also to the wedding, and Mr. Douglas and Sarah to the breakfast that was to follow it. Mrs. Douglas could hardly do less

Starting point is 00:55:20 than make a very great grievance of what was intended as a kindness. She hated a wedding. It was just the sort of thing that the world chose to make a fuss about, but what she thought the most uninteresting ceremony on earth. She did not see why she was to dress herself out

Starting point is 00:55:35 in satin and blonde, just to go and hear two young people make foolish promises that they could never keep. What could be more absurd than to assemble a crowd to witness a man and woman and promising to love each other for the rest of their lives. When we know what human creatures are—men

Starting point is 00:55:51 so thoroughly selfish and unprincipled—women so vain and frivolous. This wholesale way of dealing with her fellow-creatures was one of Mrs. Douglas' favorite methods of treating them. "'I should like to go in my garden bonnet and coloured muslin gown, just to show I despise their love of fashion,' she said, as she sealed the note to her milliner, which was to order the well-chosen dress and bonnet, on which she had determined for the occasion. For the energy with which she declaimed against dress did not at all interfere with her inclination to spend a great deal of money on it. So to the wedding she went, and this is her description of it. My dear sister, you will expect to have some account of the Eskdale wedding, so I may

Starting point is 00:56:33 as well write to-night, though I am completely knocked up. You know what a wretched sleeper I am, and of course I could not close my eyes till five, from feeling that I was to be called an hour earlier than usual. And then, what with breakfasting in a hurry and dressing, and fancying we were too late, I was quite ill by the time we arrived at the castle. Eliza was to be one of the bridesmaids, and Lady Eskdale gave her her dress. I must own I thought it a shabby present, but as Eliza was pleased, of course I did not say so.

Starting point is 00:57:05 When we arrived at the castle there was poor Lady Eskdale looking ninety at least, though Mr. Douglas will not see how old she has grown, and the the tears rolling down her cheeks while she kept saying we are to have no crying that is all settled and no melancholy leave takings on account of poor dear helen we are none of us to shed a tear i am the worst person in the world you know to enter into these prettinesses i could only say there was no use in crying or some platitude of that sort for sentiment bores me lady amelia stayed with helen till almost the last moment and then came and made this sort of fuss with her mother which all all that family make with each other. Amelia's beauty is one of those delusions I have never given into. Large eyes and dark eyebrows and a great display of hair—I presume it is all her own—and a way of playing her features about as if she were more intelligent than other people.

Starting point is 00:58:02 It may be natural, but it looks like affectation. We all went in solemn procession to the chapel through rows of servants. What the expense of that establishment must be, I cannot imagine, nor how the Eskdale's have gone on so long without coming to a stop. As soon as we were arranged in our places, Lord Eskdale and Helen came in at one door, and Lord Teviate and Lord Beaufort at another, and they all went straight to the altar, with a great tangle of bridesmaids behind them. I thought it all a most theatrical arrangement.

Starting point is 00:58:36 Why could they not come like John and Jane Smith to be married like other people at the village church? Helen was so covered with Brussels lace that I cannot see how she looked. Some of the company, of course, declared she looked beautiful. I saw nothing but a veil, a mere lace veil. And besides, I have always set my face against the absurd idea that all brides look pretty. She shook very much, and though I am the last person from my friendship for the Eskdale's to hint at the real state of the case, I have a sad foreboding that Helen marries with the prospect of being one of the most unhappy women in England. England. And I do not wonder at it. Lord Tevi, it is one of the worst specimens of the class

Starting point is 00:59:17 dandy I ever saw, and I am much mistaken if his temper will not be a sad trial to poor Helen. However, don't quote me. You never saw such a frightful effect as the coloured glass had on Lady Eskdale's looks, and I think Lord Eskdale's hair is suddenly grown grey. It may have been the reflection of the blue glass, but it gave me the impression of grey hair, and I suppose all his worries must tell upon him at last. The chapel was all dressed out with flowers. And I could hardly attend to the ceremony, because I was expecting every moment to feel faint with the smell of the lilies and heliotrope, and then I thought I should catch my death of cold by standing on the marble pavement. To be sure, the manners of the present day are very different

Starting point is 01:00:00 from what even I can remember. I saw Lord Beaufort shuffling a cushion about with his feet, and thought that he was, of course, going to give it to me to stand on, when he went down on his knees and began saying his prayers, without the least consideration for my chances of cramp. After the ceremony there was a long scene of congratulation, and we all embraced each other without sparing age or sex. I had a narrow escape of a salute from Robinson, the old tutor, and Lizzie was frightened out of her wits by a kiss from Lord Eskdale. There was a great breakfast immediately after the wedding, to which most of the neighbourhood were invited. Helen went to change her dress, and Lord

Starting point is 01:00:39 Teviot stalked about amongst the company for a little while, looking bored and sullen. I always pity the bridegroom on these occasions. The bride is supported by her father and attended by her bridesmaid, and everybody is or pretends to be in a fright, lest she should faint or cry, and she has all the protection of a veil in case she should be too shy, or not shy enough, and there is a general sympathy in her feelings. The poor man has to walk himself up alone to the altar, he stands, looking uncommonly foolish, without even the protection of his hat. There is the mother sobbing at him for carrying off her child, the sisters scowling at him because he did not choose one of them, the clergyman frowning at him for not producing

Starting point is 01:01:23 the ring at the right moment, or for neglecting the responses in their proper places, the brothers laugh at him, the bride turns from him, and the only person who pays him the slightest attention is the clerk, who tells him when he is to kneel, and when to stand, and which is his right hand, in which is his left, and helps him to the discovery of his waistcoat pocket, in which the ring may or may not be. Lord Tevey it is not a man to look foolish, but he looked decidedly cross. Two carriages and four were waiting at the door, and an immense crowd was assembled round them.

Starting point is 01:01:56 We all went and stood on the marble terrace above, and in half an hour Lord Eskdale led Helen out from the cloister door, and handed her into the carriage. Teviot stepped in, and they drove off, followed by the other carriage in which all the dressing-boxes and the jewel-cases and the valet and the maid had been packed up for some time. You know that Lady Teviot's maid is that pert Nancy, who originally waited in my school-room, and of course I am rather amazed at her presumption, calling herself Mrs. Tomkinson, and travelling in a carriage in four. Lady Eskdale came back to the company, still crying, and still declaring it was the gayest

Starting point is 01:02:33 wedding she had ever seen, and she was so glad there had been no tears. I was dead tired when I got home, and am very glad that the Esk-Dales have married all their daughters, and that we have no more weddings to do. A dear, my dear sister, is it true that your son has sold out of the fifteenth? If I were you, I would advise him to live less at clubs, and not to keep so many horses. Yoursever, A. Douglas End of Chapter 7 Chapter 8 of the Semi Attached Couple by Emily Eden This Libravox recording is in the public domain

Starting point is 01:03:10 And now, whatever might have been Helen's fears or hopes, her fate was sealed. She had turned to that page of life over which she had lingered with distressful doubt, and now it must be read, though on herself partly must she depend for the interpretation of the characters at bore. St. Mary's Abbey, at which her honeymoon was to be passed, was the most magnificent of all Lord Teviot's residences. It almost calls for a formal description. But how can anyone be expected to write what no one ever reads when it is written? That pert Nancy, now by the grace of presumption styling herself Mrs. Tomkinson, addressed a letter to Mrs. Hervey, the housekeeper at Eskdale Castle, in which she gave her views of St. Mary's Abbey, and in her sketching her sketching,

Starting point is 01:03:58 catchy way, she succeeds so well in the descriptive art that it is impossible to join in the total contempt with which Mrs. Douglas looked down upon her from the marble terrace. Dear Mrs. Irvey, I hope this will find you in good health and spirits, not forgetting all other friends in the old house. Me and my lady are quite well, and of no reason to complain that we have changed our abode for the worst. We were very nervous that day when we left you—me in particular, that had been sitting in the brooch, baked to a jelly, and and watching all those dual boxes while my lady was bidden good-bye, and with that great mob of people staring at me. But Mr. Phillips was very attentive, and helped me to bow to them as we drove off.

Starting point is 01:04:40 He seems a superior young man, quite a London-bred servant, and quite confidential with my lord, which was the reason why he was left at St. Mary's during my lord's courtship, because he knew all the plans about the furniture. We went at such a pace that I was quite giddy, but found great comfort in the sandwiches, and gingerbread and chickens and buns that she put into the carriage, which was a kind thought, for otherwise we should have gone the whole fifty miles without refreshment. When we had arrived all but a mile, my lord's tenants met us, and took the horses off from my lord and lady, and dragged them their own selves, and they came to drag us, but Mr. Phillips

Starting point is 01:05:16 explained that we was only own man and ladies-maid, and that our horses would be let alone. So they hurried and threw flowers, and it was very agitating. When we arrived, my lord made a speech, and my lady made a curtsy, and I got the imperials and boxes in as soon as I could. I was terrified lest any of our new trousseau should be stole. Dear Mrs. Hervey, St. Mary's is a most beautiful place, and the great mirrors in the ballroom are alone worth coming to sea, and I have not power to describe the scenery. There is a lake quite full of water, like the lakes abroad, and endless woods filled with the finest trees, that seem to run for miles and miles, and the gardens that beat our gardens at the castle all to nothing. The furniture would please you in particular, chiefly silk and damask, but some rooms with velvet.

Starting point is 01:06:06 And my lady's suite of rooms is what I can't describe, straw-coloured sat and embroidered with real flowers, and such cabinets in China, and on the dressing-table a service of gold plate with my lady's name on it. Mrs. Nelson won't like to see it. She was so set up about her ladies. In every respect I feel satisfied with the accommodations for me and my lady, except that I was obliged to ask for another wardrobe, and to tell Mrs. Stevens that I was accustomed to a larger looking-glass in my own room. Mrs. Stevens and May seem inclined to be very friendly. She is the very moral of a housekeeper in a romance, quite an old lady.

Starting point is 01:06:44 We are a princely establishment, and sit down twelve in the stewards' room with wine, and a man and boy to wait. Mrs. Stevens and May joke each other about our bows, for there are ten gentlemen, and only us two ladies, and Mr. Phillips has, of course, the precedence. I hope to pick up a little French between the cook and the confectioner. I wish she would ask Mrs. Warren whether, when Lady Amelia married, she did not get all her ladyship's shawls with the rest of the things. My lady kept a suit of Brussels, and I have nothing to say again that, for I believe

Starting point is 01:07:14 Brussels lace is what every lady has the right to keep. But she also kept two shawls, which I believe am my prerequisites, as the lady wore them before my lord proposed. I want to know if you and Mrs. Warren and Mrs. Nelson think that there being real Injee makes a difference. My mind misgives me it does. It is not for the lucre of gold, I speak, nor would I begrudge my lady the shoals, nor the gown off my back if she wanted it. But I hate to see poor servants defrauded, and if the shoals is my due, I shall take the liberty of mentioning it. I had not time to tell you of the pride of that

Starting point is 01:07:49 Mrs. Douglas, who met me on the wedding day, and said, Fine times for you, Nancy, your head will be turned. I was mad with myself afterwards for having made her a curtsy, and said, Yes, indeed, Mum, when I might as well have said something sharp. If Lady Eskdale asks if you had heard from me, will you please make my duty, and say that my lady is quite well, and has had no cold or headache? Mrs. Stevens thinks of the beautifulest lady she ever saw, and compliments me high on my manner of hairdressing.

Starting point is 01:08:19 I remain, dear Mrs. Hervey, your kind friend, Anne Tomkinson." End of Chapter 8. Chapter 9 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. It is not worth while to give any of Helen's letters to her family. Some years ago it was the fashion of all newly married people to write word to their friends that they were the happiest of human creatures. Heaven alone knows if it were true, but so they always said. Now this romantic state of bliss has been laughed at in society, and sneered at in

Starting point is 01:08:59 novels, till nobody dares say a word about it. It may be wiser, but it is not quite satisfactory. The domestic novels of the day have described with such accuracy, and with so much satire, all the little fidgety amiabilities of life, that a wife who is inclined to praise her husband checks herself, for fear she should be reckoned like Mrs. Major Waddell. An active mother has suspicion that she is laughed at as a Mrs. Fairbairn, and the kindly affections of the heart are now so carefully wrapped up and concealed, that it seems just possible that they may die altogether of suffocation. Helen did not commit herself by any asseverations of extraordinary happiness, and made no mention of any fresh trait of perfection that every day must have

Starting point is 01:09:49 revealed in Lord Teviot's character. But there was St. Mary's to describe, and the neighbourhood to explain, and all the various congratulatory letters she received were duly quoted, and her own regularly ended with—Taviot's love to all—and Lady Eskdale was satisfied. Amelia read her sister's letters with greater distrust. She thought they were written in a constrained, guarded tone, and she remembered the week that preceded the wedding with pain and doubt. She hoped in another fortnight to see and judge for herself. But Mr. Trevor and she were summoned into Sussex by the sudden death of his father, and ten days after Helen's marriage, Lord and Lady Eskdale sat down, for the first time during the last ten years, to a tte-a-tete-a-tete

Starting point is 01:10:37 dinner. Poor dear people, it fairly puzzled them. They were more attached to each other than many husbands and wives are after twenty-four years of married life, and they had been in the daily habit of taking a comfortable half-hour's talk in Lord Eskdale's library, uninterrupted by any of their children. But they had never contemplated the possibility of dining, and passing the whole evening together, without a child to come in to desert, or a daughter to look at and listen to. Then, who was to make breakfast the next morning, and to answer notes, and to receive visitors? Lady Eskdale was quite posed.

Starting point is 01:11:16 She actually ordered a riding habit, and declared she would begin riding again with Lord Eskdale, who hated going out alone, and had always been accompanied by one of his children. Then she thought she could rub up music enough to play to him after dinner. But when the evening came she was fast asleep on the sofa, half-died. dead with the fatigue of her morning ride, and she almost cried when a note was brought to her that required an answer, partly because, as she said and thought, she missed Helen so much, and partly because she was too indolent to sit up to write. "'I don't think I can ever exist in this way, Lord Ask Dale,' she said.

Starting point is 01:11:56 "'What is to be done? Here is this note to be answered.' "'Give it to me, Jane. I will be your secretary.' Oh, thank you. That is very good of you. It is a great relief for this once. But how am I to get on when you were out? To be sure that poor dear Lord Walden might as well have put off dying for just a month, and then the Trevers could have stayed here. I am utterly lost without Amelia. There never was anything so unlucky. I wish Boffet would marry. Her daughter-in-law

Starting point is 01:12:27 would be better than nothing, or if the Waldgraves would come back to England, Sophia might come here. It is really very hard to have no daughter at all, after all my trouble." And Lady Eskdale's voice faltered. "'The schoolmistress, my lady,' said the groom of the chambers, "'is waiting for directions about the children's stuff-books.' "'There again now! What am I to do? I have mislaid the patterns. Very well. Tell her I will send to her." Now, Lord Eskdale, you know you cannot settle about the school-children's frocks. That was poor

Starting point is 01:13:06 Helen's business. Dear child, I do trust she is happy. But it is sad work marrying off one's daughter. It makes me very low at times. Lord Eskdale, do you think, if I were to ask Mrs. Douglas to let me have Eliza here, that it would bore me very much?" You must be the best judge of that, my dear Jane. At all events, take care to ask the right daughter, not the one with the voice." "'No, no, I mean Eliza, who was Helen's bridesmaid.

Starting point is 01:13:37 You know you thought her very pretty that day. She plays very well on the piano-forte, and I could take care that she should be always well-dressed, and she would write my notes and see the schoolmistress, and help to entertain the company. She is a good-humoured, amiable girl, and I have always felt that I could be fond of her, and it would be such a thing for her, for the Douglas's see so few people. I wish I could guess whether I should like this plan or not. I can ask her for a fortnight only at first, and if it does not do, then there would be an end of it. As you please, my love, it concerns

Starting point is 01:14:13 you more than me." Yes, but I wish she would say what you think best. I am so little in the habit of making up my own mind. Helen always knew what I should like. I must say we have been unlucky in our daughters all marrying rich people. If any one of them had married a younger son without a shilling, they must have lived with us. But my girls had no time allowed them to look about them and choose for themselves, and so they have all married men with country houses of their own, and I have lost them all." And roused by this overpowering calamity of wealthy sons-in-law, Lady Asgdale sat up to write

Starting point is 01:14:50 her note to Mrs. Douglas. End of Chapter 9. Chapter 10 of the Semi Attached Couple by Emily Eden This Librivox recording is in the public domain. "'Mama,' said Eliza Douglas as they were sitting working in the evening. "'Did you know that the Trevers had left Eskdale Castle?' "'No, my love, how should I know anything about the Trevers? Lady Amelia never deigned to call here but once,

Starting point is 01:15:19 and then at an hour when she knew I should be out.' Yes, another time with Mr. Trevor, Mama, if you remember. Well, Mr. Trevor wanted to see your father, and she was obliged to come with him. I do not call that a visit. And then on Sunday, Mama, after church? My love, what is the use of contradicting me? If Lady Amelia did call, then, she ought to be ashamed, with all her pretence of goodness, to pay visits at all on a Sunday.

Starting point is 01:15:50 And all these little trifling facts make no difference, in my opinion, that all All these young women are much too fine to pay any attention to their mother's old friend. Who told you they were gone?" Mrs. Burkett told Sarah, and Betsy said when she was dressing me, that she had seen Lady Eskdale's maid who had mentioned it. Well now, I should like to know what business Betty had to be talking to Mrs. Nelson. It will not do at all for our servants to get a habit of gossiping at Eskdale Castle. Not that I shall be at all sorry if it obliges me to speak out and make a thorough reform in our

Starting point is 01:16:22 household. I am always glad of an opportunity to tell servants which a thoroughly bad race I think they are." "'That must be encouraging to them,' said Mr. Douglas, and produce a great increase of attachment to yourself. "'Oh, my dear, that is one of the subjects you do not understand, and so you may as well not talk about it. If you would let me send away that old Thomas of yours, the house would go on much better. Mrs. Burkitt and Mrs. Dashwood, and every one says I manage servants better than anybody, and I know I do, by never letting them have their own way on any point, and as for attachment you might as well expect it from this table."

Starting point is 01:17:03 "'I should think so, under the circumstances,' said Mr. Douglas. "'But whatever you do, do not interfere with Thomas.' A silence followed, while Mrs. Douglas was thinking what a clever manager she was, and how well she contrived to make her servants hate her, and then her thoughts returned to the Yeskdale's. "'So, Amelia is gone?' I suppose to some gay party at a country house. I must say that after all the fuss that has been made about those girls, it is not much to their credit that they leave their parents quite to themselves in their old age, while

Starting point is 01:17:38 they are flying about in search of amusement. I will answer for it, Amelia went off because she thought it dull." "'Are you speaking of the Trevors?' said Mr. Douglas, who was reading the paper. I see his father is dead, and they had been sent for into Sussex. Trevor is now Lord Walden. Oh, said Mrs. Douglas, and there was another long silence. Well, she began again. I do pity Lord Eskdale.

Starting point is 01:18:07 I do not see what he is to do after being accustomed to the society of his daughters, and used to having one of them always with him. Those die-away, languid airs of Lady Eskdale's must be rather tried. To be sure she is not so young as she once was, whatever you may say, Mr. Douglas, but she might exert herself to be a little more of a companion to him. She has none of my ideas that a wife is bound to exert herself for her husband's good. I met them riding together to-day, said Mr. Douglas. "'Riding, my dear?' "'Yes, riding, Anne.' "'You must be dreaming, Mr. Douglas. Lady Eskdale on a horse.'

Starting point is 01:18:49 No, my love, on a mare, the grey mare Helen used to ride. Impossible! How was she dressed, Mr. Douglas? In a habit, my dear, and a hat with a veil? I can swear to the hat, for it became her particularly. Well, said Mrs. Douglas with a scornful laugh, I think this is by far the most amusing thing I ever heard. Lady Eskdale doing the youthful galloping about the country, flirting with the husband. I suppose she will begin dancing next. Lord Eskdale and she are probably at this moment practising the gavotte de Vestris up and down the saloon. I don't know when I've been so diverted. But to a person of plain common sense like myself, the tricks and ways of these London ladies are amazingly entertaining.

Starting point is 01:19:43 However, you must allow, Anne, that this is not a die-away languid air, and as you take such a kind interest in Lord Eskdale's fate, you will be happy to hear that he is quite delighted to have his wife riding with him again. Oh, my dear love! Unless you mean to make me quite ill, you must not offer me the mawkish idea of Lord Askdale making pretty speeches to his wife. I really cannot stand that. And pray, are this promising young couple likely to remain long in this solitary paradise? Or are they going to St. Mary's? Or is there any company coming to the castle?'

Starting point is 01:20:19 "'I think they are expecting a large party at home. Lord Eskdale was beginning to say something about it, and then she gave him a look, and he stopped short.' "'What? I suppose we are not to know, for fear we should expect to be asked. White is just the very thing I would go miles out of the way to avoid, and the last society into which I should like to take my girls.' "'Amama,' said Eliza, I wish she would not say that, and I wish that they would ask us constantly to their house. It is very odd, that though I feel afraid of everybody all the time, there is nothing I like so much as dining there. And I am sure, Mama, it would be very good for my manner, which you say is so unformed at home.

Starting point is 01:21:03 Before I have crossed the hall at Ascdale Castle, I feel quite refined," she said, laughing." Mrs. Douglas laughed too, for though she rarely lost any opportunity of speaking malevolently of her neighbour's children, she was very much disposed to admire her own, and her own misanthropy found a pleasant relief in Eliza's enjoyable views of life. End of Chapter X. Chapter 11 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Lady Eskdale's note of invitation arrived, worded in the most engaging manner. She begged Mrs. Douglas to consider her forlorn situation, and and to lend dear gay Lizzie to her for a few days.

Starting point is 01:21:54 The few days not to be construed literally, but to extend to a fortnight if Eliza could bear to leave home for so long. She feared it would be very dull at first, but hoped that some friends who were expected would amuse that "'Tre amusable petit person.' If Mrs. Douglas consented to this plan, the carriage would come for Eliza and her maid the next day.

Starting point is 01:22:17 Mrs. Douglas was excessively surprised. It was unlucky that she had said just so much against the manners and customs of Eskdale Castle. Protests made two in vain, for she had no hesitation in allowing Eliza to accept the invitation. The friends who were expected might include a second Lord Teviot. That horrid, rude Lord Beaufort might be at home, and she could magnanimously forgive his nefarious conduct at Helen's wedding, if there were any chance of her officiating at his own in the capacity of his mother-in-law. Visions of grandeur rose before her eyes, and when Mr. Douglas, in the consultation held between them on the subject, asked if she had not said that the society at Eskdale Castle

Starting point is 01:23:00 was not what she would like for her daughters, she boldly took Falstaff's line of defence when accused by Justice Shallow of having broken into his park and stolen his dear. I have, Mr. Justice, I have. And so I hope that's answered. Yes, my dear, I said so, but what of that? It is rather hard to be tried in the morning, for every little careless word spoken overnight. Nothing provokes me so much as to be accused of inconstancy, when it does so happen that I am remarkably consistent. However, I am decidedly in favour of Lizzie's going, so it does not much matter what I said.

Starting point is 01:23:37 We may as well tell her." Eliza was in raptures. A whole fortnight of visiting, and only think, mamma, of Lady Eskdale, saying she would send for my maid. Why, I have none. You must take Betsy, I suppose, and my maid must dress Sarah. It will turn Betsy's head, and make her rather purter than she is, but it cannot be helped. What fun it will be! Only what shall I do about going to the room alone?

Starting point is 01:24:07 And I hope I shall not be sent out to ride with Lord Eskdale, for I do not know how to talk to him. And then—about dress, Mama, what gowns am I to take? And then poor Sarah left all alone. How unhappy she will be! Oh, no, she won't, though, because of Mr. Wentworth's coming here. And besides, I shall write to her every day." This hint of Mr. Wentworth was well thrown in. Sarah was just beginning to wonder whether she ought not to be affronted, because Lady

Starting point is 01:24:33 Eskdale had not invited her. But the handsome manner with which Mr. Wentworth was made over to her—he being the only semblance of a lover that had ever appeared at the house—quite appeased her, and her affection for her sister was always strong enough to conquer any little feelings of of jealousy, awakened by Eliza's superior popularity. "'Yes, you must certainly write every day,' she said when they were alone, and describe all your little difficulties. I think you'll be very fond of Lady Eskdale.'

Starting point is 01:25:03 "'Yes, I'm sure of it. She is such a dear, as she herself would say.' But Lord Eskdale, Sarah, is very alarming, is not he? "'Rather so, but perhaps he will not take much notice of you. If I were you, Lizzie, I would read the newspaper more than you do, and then you can talk to him about trials and murders and politics and accidents. I observe that those are the kind of topics he likes. Oh, goodness, Sarah! Think of me talking politics to Lord Eskdale. A nice mess I should make of that. No, I had better not think about it. I must take some pretty work with me, something that will not annoy Lady Eskdale in a drawing-room, and then music is always a resource. And my daily letter to you? And Sarah, mind you, send me every particular of Mr. Wentworth's visit, and what he says and looks and thinks. Oh, dear, if you should write me word he had proposed,

Starting point is 01:25:59 what a state I should be in! Oh, nonsense, said Sarah. There's no chance of that. But the idea led her into a dream of happiness, and when Eliza and her Betsy, her embroidery and her best gowns were all carried off the following morning in Lady Eskdale's carriage, Sarah saw her depart without one twinge of envy, for Mr. Wentworth had sent word he should arrive in time for dinner. End of Chapter 11. Chapter 12 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden.

Starting point is 01:26:36 This Libervox recording is in the public domain. The Teviets had reached the end of the second week of their honeymoon undisturbed, except by the visits of two or three neighbors. It was almost time that there should be some change. At least Mrs. Tompkinson wished to goodness that there might soon be what she called, "'A little stay-in' company,' in the house, if it were only that my lady might wear some of her bettermost gowns, and she also thought my lady seemed rather moped somehow. Mr. Phillips gave it as his humble opinion that, "'Ah, folks, it had had enough of their own company for one while.

Starting point is 01:27:13 It has never been definitely stated what period of time, one while, comprises, nor whether there is a plural to the substantive, and two wiles represent a certain number of days or weeks. However that may be, Phillips and Tompkinson had judged with their usual discrimination. That same day Lord Teviot went into Helen's boudoir with some letters in his hand. Helen, here is some company for you. Lady Portmore has offered herself for Friday. That is rather a short notice, is it not? Yes. No. I do not think that signify. We should be glad of her visit, either on a short notice or a long one.

Starting point is 01:27:54 I shall be delighted to see her, and she must know she is welcome at St. Mary's, always has been and always will be. Are you expecting any other friends?' said Helen, putting aside the question of the Portmore welcome. Yes, two or three men. Lady Portmore says she is sure we shall have been too much occupied with each other. And he smiled rather scornfully. To think of arranging a pleasant party.

Starting point is 01:28:18 and that we shall be obliged to her for her inviting a few people we all know." "'I am not sure that I am obliged to her just now,' said Helen, hurrying on through her sentence. "'My letters had given me the idea of a totally different plan. The Trevers had been obliged to go to Walden, and Papa and Mamara left quite alone, and I thought he might surprise them with a visit now instead of next month when you promised to go to them. How I should like it! But if we cannot put off Lady Portmore— We neither can nor will, said Lord Teviot. I am sorry you were already tired of your own home, but such as it is I am afraid I must trouble

Starting point is 01:28:57 you to stay in it. And though my friends are not of course to be compared to yours, I cannot begin by affronting them all." Helen made no answer, and after a moment's pause took up her work. Lord Teviot walked to the window, and began playing with the table. came bullfinch that stood in it. The silence that ensued was long and awful, but was broken by him, as he said, in a constrained voice. "'Have you had no other letter but that from your mother?'

Starting point is 01:29:27 "'None of any consequence.' "'Did not Beaufort write? I thought I saw his hand.' "'There is his letter. There are all my letters if you like to see them,' said Helen, a faint suspicion dawning on her mind that Lord Teviot was jealous of her family. He seemed to waver, but she placed them on the table, and moving her work-frame nearer to the window, left the field open to him. He took up the letters with a slight sensation of shame. Lady Eskdale's was as usual affectionate and amiable, and though she expressed strongly

Starting point is 01:30:01 her wish to see her daughter, she said she knew it was not likely Lord Teviot could leave his home again so soon, and she mentioned her invitation to Eliza Douglas, which she hoped would satisfy Helen's doubt of her comfort. It is a sad change, my darling, but as it is for your happiness I cannot complain, and your letters are the greatest possible comforts to me. Do tell your idle husband to write to me." Lord Beaufort wrote from London, where he had seen the Portmores, and he said he should have joined their party to St. Mary's, but that he was seized with a fit of filial duty, and meant to run down to Eskdale Castle, to console his respected and deserted Papa and Mama. They fancy, poor deluded creatures, that they miss you dreadfully, and that no one can fill up your vacant place. Strange illusion!

Starting point is 01:30:52 Which my august presence will instantly dispel. After I have raised their spirits to their proper pitch, it is just possible that I may raise my own by coming to see my little knell. So tell Teviot to expect me, and to turn his attention towards partridges and pheasants. There was a third letter in a handwriting Lord Teviot did not know. am i to read this helen if you like it is from my friend mary forester of whom you may have heard me speak yes i have seen her at the portmores a very handsome girl where is she now at richmond with her aunt she like the other two seemed full of deep interest in helen and it was with a strange mixture of pride in the affection she inspired and jealousy of those who expressed it so warmly that he perused the letters. He saw how tenderly Helen had always been treated, how dear she was to her family.

Starting point is 01:31:50 He himself loved Lady Eskdale almost as a mother. Lord Beaufort was one of the young men of his own standing, whom he liked best. But when he looked upon them as his rivals in the heart of his wife, he could not bring himself to speak kindly of them—at least not to her. He hardly knew how to begin the conversation again. Helen seemed to have no curiosity about his guests, but he recollected a paragraph in Beaufort's letter that might help him. "'Did you observe that Beaufort says your cousin Ernest is coming here?' "'Yes. I supposed he was. At least that he was asked. He is sure to be included in the Portmore list.' "'That is a hit at Lady Portmore, I suppose,' said Lord Teviot,

Starting point is 01:32:34 again on the point of taking fire. But he checked himself. "'It'll be a great pleasure to you to see Ernest, I should think.' "'Yes,' said Helen faintly. "'He is rather amusing.' "'More than that, he is clever, and can be very pleasant when he chooses. "'I am going to answer, Lady Portmore. "'Have you any message? "'She asks if she can bring anything from town for you.'

Starting point is 01:33:00 "'Nothing whatever, thank you.' "'Have you any letters for the post-bag?' "'I shall have one for Papa.' "'To your father,' said Lord Teviot, and suddenly the thought occurred to him that she was going to write to complain of her situation. She was silent. Might I ask, without being considered impertinent, what is this sudden fancy for writing to Lord Eskdale,

Starting point is 01:33:26 and when the idea entered into your head? Helen stooped down, and taking a letter from the work-basket that stood by her side, broke the seal. She pushed away her work-frame, and passing quickly by the table at which Lord Teviot sat, I must go and breathe the fresh air, she said, and her voice sounded low and dispirited. There is my letter to my father. Will you seal it and send it? If you like to write in this room, you will find pens and paper there, and you will not be disturbed, for I am going out." She went without waiting for an answer.

Starting point is 01:34:03 "'So, I drive her out of her own room if I come into it,' thought Lord Teviot. She thinks I am jealous, or curious, or she would not have shown me all these letters. She cannot say one kind word. She does not even look kindly at me, and she evidently thinks of nothing but her own family. I suppose she compares me with all these doting relations, and thinks me cold and hateful, and yet which of them can do on her as I do if she would let me? She would actually have gone back to them without me, I believe. No, I remember she said we.

Starting point is 01:34:39 But still she called Eskdale Castle her home. My house is clearly not her home, and she is not asked one of her friends to come and stay here. Does she think I should not like it? Or is she afraid that they will see she is not happy? Not happy. Helen. My own Helen, whom I could have loved, whom I do love as I never loved any human being. There are moments when I think she hates me.

Starting point is 01:35:06 Now here is this letter to her father. How quick and angry she was about that! I did not ask to see it. I did not know she had written to him till she said so herself. I have a great mind to write to Lady Eskdale and to ask her to come here. She and Lord Eskdale and Beaufort, and that Miss Douglas and the whole plan, and that will show Helen I am not jealous of them. And it is the best chance I have of pleasing her.

Starting point is 01:35:31 I dare say that because I ask them she will not be glad to see them. Who's knocking there? "'Come in! Come in, I say!' Good heavens! How I hate to be made to roar out! Come in ten times over!' "'It's only me, my lord,' said Mrs. Tomkinson.

Starting point is 01:35:49 "'If you please, my lord, her ladyship has left her bonnet here.' "'Very well, Mrs. Tompkins, look for it.' "'Her ladyship will be ready in a moment, my lord,' said Mrs. Tompkinson, who could not resist the chance of a little talk. She had an ambitious idea that she was diving into my lord. "'Very well. Shut the door.' "'Hem!' thought Mrs. Tomkinson as she obeyed. "'How very uncivil! And calling me Tompkins, too! I hate to be called out to my name.

Starting point is 01:36:21 Now I should like to know what he's doing with all of those letters. I wonder whether my lady chooses for him to be ransacking her papers, and whether that's the right thing with marriage people. "'Here's your ladyship's bonnet. I could not lay my hand on it rightly, because of my lord's sitting-saw just at the writing-table. Is my lord writing? His lordship seemed to be busy with some papers as was on the table, said Mrs. Tompkinson guardedly,

Starting point is 01:36:47 and with a look of curiosity to see if the hint told. The pause that ensued left her still in doubt. Shall I step back and tell, my lord, your ladyship is ready? No, said Helen absently. I can easily go back on pretence to see for your ladyship's gloves. And Tomkinson began to think the case was assuming great interest. "'No, no,' said Lady Teviot, thoroughly roused. "'Don't disturb Lord Teviot. He was so good as to offer to finish and seal my letters.

Starting point is 01:37:19 Don't run in and out to disturb him.' "'Law, my lady! How good his lordship is! He quite pleased me to see him sitting so comfortable and at home in your lady's beautiful boudoir. I wish, my lord and lady-askedale over here to see how happy your ladyship is. There, there's my lady gone, I declare I think she looks very bad, not a hat of my colour, compared to what she had. I ain't quite sure yet, but I think my lord's a brute. At least I shall make a point of thinking so if he plagues my lady.

Starting point is 01:37:51 And calling me Tomkins too! Such an idea! End of chapter twelve. Chapter 13 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Lord Teviot wrote all his invitations. Then he thought of showing them to Helen before he sent them. And then again he felt some difficulty in renewing the conversation.

Starting point is 01:38:24 The waywardness of his temper had so often displayed itself that between him and Helen many of the commonest topics of conversation were attended with awkwardness. And he had discovered that she not only abstained from contradicting him on any point that had once inflamed his temper, but that she never even alluded to the disputed point again. Even this caution offended him. A bright thought now occurred to him.

Starting point is 01:38:50 He would ask Lady Portmore to bring Miss Forrester with her. He knew they were acquainted with each other, and the arrival of Helen's favourite friend would reconcile her to the Portmore visitation, and to the consequent delay of her return to Eskdale Castle. And then, if her family came, he did not see anything. of which she could complain. He had done all he could to please her. She ought to make allowance for his manner, for he owned that it was at times rather taunting. But she ought to be above such trifles. It was a pity, Lord Teviot had never read Hannah Moore. Her prose would have been

Starting point is 01:39:25 of great use to him. But even her poetry would have taught him that, since trifles make the sum of human things, and half our misery from trifle springs, O let the ungentle spirit learn from thence a small unkindness is a great offence. And consequently, a series of small unkindnesses is very offensive indeed, and it would not have been surprising if Helen were offended. But she was not. She was depressed, half frightened, and half unhappy. Lord Teviot's expressions of affection were almost as alarming as his anger. He was so energetic in all his professions, so violent, as it seemed to her who had been accustomed to the gentle love of her mother and the playful tenderness of her brothers and sisters, that she did not know how to answer his vehement

Starting point is 01:40:13 protestations and eager upbraiding's, and then his sudden starts of temper puzzled her. In short she did not understand him, and amidst all the grandeur that surrounded her, and the magnificent gifts which Lord Teviot heaped on her, she felt troubled. She longed to be at home again, and at her ease. but she was too gentle to be resentful. When Lord Teviot had dispatched his letters, he found her in her garden. Not one of the old-fashioned gardens full of roses and honeysuckles, and sweet-peas, suggestive of the country and redolent of sweetness,

Starting point is 01:40:50 but in a first-rate gardener's garden, every plant forming part of a group, and not to be picked or touched on any account. All of them forced into bloom at the wrong time of the year, and each bearing a name that it was difficult to pronounce and impossible to remember. Helen was standing, apparently absorbed in admiration, of a Lancifolium speciosum, which she had been assured by her gardener was a better variety of the Lancifolium punctatum. But in reality she was thinking first of her mother, wondering when she should see her again, and next what she could find to say to Lord Teviot at dinner.

Starting point is 01:41:29 She hoped he would not look for her before that, but just as she had devised an inoffensive remark which might be hazarded before the servants she saw him standing beside her and the conversation had to begin forthwith the flowers were a safe topic lillium punctatum played its part that led to admiration of the place then lord teviot who as well as mrs tomkinson perceived that my lady had not a hattom of culler offered her his arm and finding no signs of resentment thought that it would be a greater support if he put it round her waist, and once established in that confidential and highly conjugal attitude, he felt he could explain away more easily the misunderstanding of the morning. And when he saw the delight with which Helen heard of the arrangements he had made, and the ecstasy with which she looked forward to the arrival of her family, his heart smote him for the pain he had inflicted on her. His kindness gave her courage

Starting point is 01:42:27 and spirits. "'And so you have written yourself to marry Forrester, How pleased she will be! Oh, I hope she will come! And you have really asked Eliza Douglas, your own particular guest? Mrs. Douglas will be enchanted, and, of course, say something bitter about it. But still she will think that Lord Teviot has some good qualities at least. She tries to think so for poor Helen's sake, and at all events he is very civil to us. "'Poor Helen,' repeated Lord Teviot, as he pressed her fondly to his heart. And may I ask why you are poor Helen with Mrs. Douglas? Oh, because everybody who is not a Douglas is poor something or somebody.

Starting point is 01:43:10 She has for years pitied poor Mama, who has never known what grief is, and I heard of her saying that the high spirits of poor Lord Beaufort would end by wearing himself and everybody belonging to him. And would she pity you now? Not at this moment, said Helen, gaily and carelessly. And even a moment of happiness is to be prized,' he answered coldly. Happiness seldom lasts much longer. However, let us hope you may overtake it again on Thursday.

Starting point is 01:43:40 I suppose you will have your family here, then. Did you name Thursday? I said the sooner the better, that you would be very uneasy till they came, and that I should hardly be able to persuade you to stay at St. Mary's much longer without them. It was only because Mama was alone that I wished to go to her now," said Helen timidly, for she felt a change of tone in the conversation. And I thought she would be unhappy. Oh, it requires no excuse. Nothing can be more natural.

Starting point is 01:44:11 It is only a matter of surprise to me, Helen, how you ever prevailed on yourself to leave her. I ought to be flattered that I had influenced enough to persuade you to take such a step, though it is rather a check to my vanity to find that I cannot prevent your regretting it. "'Dear Teviot, I have never expressed any regret, I am sure.' "'No. You are much too guarded, too careful of giving offence, I mean. And besides, let us hope that even moments of happiness—since you can have no more—' "'Has that offended you? O Teviot, how you will misunderstand me!' "'I am very unfortunate, certainly. My want of comprehension is most distressing. Perhaps if our feelings were more the same, my obtuseness would not be so great. But, as it is, I am not sufficiently cool and guarded to judge calmly.

Starting point is 01:45:00 I hoped I had at last found a way to please you. However, it is of no consequence. I have intruded on your ladyship's horticultural pursuits, I fear." He said, with a bad imitation of playfulness. You must have wished me away repeatedly, and as I have hardly time for a gallop before dinner, I have the honour to take my leave. I thought you meant to ride in the evening, but I can be ready in a moment. moment.

Starting point is 01:45:26 It is just possible that I may be able to ride twice in one day, and that for once I may choose to ride alone. I have been long enough in your way now, and so good-bye." "'Now what can I have said that has annoyed him again?' thought Helen. But so it always is. He never understands me. I wonder why he married me—and yet at first how different he was from what he is now. When we danced together in London how pleasant he was.

Starting point is 01:45:55 So gay and so ready to talk and laugh and be amused. But then I was different, too, and more amusing I should think, for I feel so grave and dull now, and whenever I try to be in spirits I say something that vexes him. Well, papa and mamma will be here soon. That is one comfort, and dear Beaufort. Nothing ever puts him out of sorts. But I must not think of that. wandered home, absorbed in ruminations over her new position, and she was so absent that Mrs.

Starting point is 01:46:27 Tompkinson's distrust of my lord was confirmed, and it seemed almost time to hint her very low opinion of him to Mr. Phillips. The evening passed away better than Helen had expected. Lord Teviot's gallop had put him into better humour, and Helen's spirits rose when she was dressed for dinner. I have often observed that the petty vexations and worries of the early part of the day are are taken off and folded neatly up with the morning gown, and a fresh fit of spirits and good humour put on with the evening adornments.

Starting point is 01:46:59 It is a change for the better, personally and mentally. End of Chapter 13. Chapter 14 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Thursday came with its promise of guests. There was no answer from the Portmores. So, besides the interesting uncertainty of their arrival, it remained to be seen whether Mary Forrester would accompany them.

Starting point is 01:47:33 Lady Eskdale had written one line of joyful acceptance, apologizing for bringing Eliza Douglas, but adding that she was a dear, good girl, and the idea of paying Helen a visit pleased her so much that Lady Eskdale could not resist bringing her, if Mrs. Douglas gave the consent for which Eliza had written to ask. As I consider the Douglas paper as valuable, not only for their own merits, but as proofs of the exact truth of this history, I shall make use of some of Eliza's letters. Dearest Mother, I do not know what you will say to it, but Lady Eskdale desires me to ask if you have any objection to my going to St. Mary's with her and Lord Eskdale to-morrow. I hope you will let me go. Lord Teviot asked me himself, for Lady Eskdale told me so. And besides, my name. was in his letter, which was lying open on the breakfast-table, so I could not help seeing it. I am very happy here, though rather sleepy in the evening, because they sit up so late.

Starting point is 01:48:35 There never was anything like Lady Eskdale's kindness. She has given me two beautiful gowns and a bracelet, two pumps and one vanity, and she takes such care of me that I am quite ashamed of never feeling ill. She is always asking how I am. I write in such haste that I have not to be. time for more than several very important questions which I want you to answer. What am I to give the housemaids here? And do you object to my reading novels, if Lady Eskdale says there is no harm in them? They look very tempting, particularly one called pride and prejudice.

Starting point is 01:49:10 And when we go to St. Mary's, that is, if you let me go, ought not I to sit backwards in the carriage, though Lord Eskdale is so civil he will be sure to say not. I play to him every evening, he is so fond of music, I am glad I can play. Every evening he says, now, Miss Douglas, are we to have a little harmony? May I sing to him? My love to Papa, and I wish he would advance me my next quarter's allowance, and pray tell Sarah my work is turning out beautiful, and that gowns are still worn without any trimming.

Starting point is 01:49:43 I wish she would hear Susan Dawson her catechism while I am away, else she will be sure to forget that long answer to, what is thy duty to thy name? And it has been such a trouble to teach it to her. It nearly wore your poor little Eliza quite out. Lord Beaufort came last night, and is also going to St. Mary's. Ever dearest mother, your dutiful and affectionate Eliza Douglas. Please mention what Papa's politics are. They talk a great deal about government and opposition, and I do not know which I am for." Mrs. Douglas's answer was propitious, and But she was so gratified by the prospect of her daughter's amusement that she assured Mrs. Burkett, much to that worthy person's surprise, that Lady Eskdale was one of the most warm-hearted, amiable people she knew. Not that she joined in the common cant about warm hearts and kind dispositions, because she

Starting point is 01:50:40 happened to know what men and women really were. But still there were exceptions, and from long intimacy with the Eskdale she was able to say, etc., etc. In short, she evinced a spirit of her. of benevolence that took poor Mrs. Burkett quite by surprise and spoiled her visit. She had come armed with some little anti-Eskdale anecdotes, and with a small supply of malevolence, which would, she had expected, make her visit unusually acceptable, and she was left without a word to say for herself.

Starting point is 01:51:11 End of Chapter 14. Chapter 15 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Eliza wrote to her sister immediately after her arrival at St. Mary's. I begin my letter after I have come up to bed, dearest Sarah, for there is so much to say that unless I write at night I never shall have time to say at all. This is such a beautiful place. But you hate descriptions and so do I.

Starting point is 01:51:45 We arrived an hour before dinner, and met Lord and Lady Tebriot at the first lodge, when Lady Eskdale got out and walked home with them. I wish you could have seen how pretty and happy Helen looked. Lord Eskdale and Lord Beaufort arrived just after we did, and we had not been half an hour in the house before a number of other people came. A Colonel Boffert, a horrid man, like that Mr. Brown we used to call ape Brown, though Colonel Boffat is very good-looking, but he is so grand and conceited. Then there are two Mr. Stirlings and a Sir Charles DeVier, and one or two others, and at last

Starting point is 01:52:23 there came Lord and Lady Portmore, and with them a Miss Forrester, a great friend of Helens. Don't you remember how Mrs. Duncombe used to talk of her, and say how clever she was, and that she was going to be married to somebody? I forget who? Who liked somebody else? I do not like Lady Portmore at all. She came in, just as if she were mistress of the house, and as if it were her place to receive the guests, and she called everybody by their names and without their titles. Oh, Teviot, why did not you ask Melmouth to meet me? So, Beaufort, you were here, that is right. Ernest, meaning Colonel Beaufort.

Starting point is 01:53:03 You should have sent my house before you set off. I wanted you to bespeak horses for me on the road. Well, now we must go in dress. It is almost time for dinner. I have my old room, I suppose, Teviot. So, dear Helen, you need not come with me. I am quite at home, so stay where you are. Who is that with your mother?

Starting point is 01:53:22 Miss Douglas, Helen said. Oh, Miss Douglas, rather pretty is not she? Now you know, Sarah, that I am not vain, nor perhaps even rather pretty, but I longed to say, yes, quite beautiful, just a quell Lady Portmore, who walked off, saying, Well, good people, will you all go and dress? I hate waiting for dinner. I should have liked to put it off for half an hour, for the pleasure of thwarting her. though I was rather hungry myself.

Starting point is 01:53:54 I have such a pretty room, with a dressing-room and such looking-glasses and sofa and arm-chairs, Mama would be shocked. Lady Eskdale was so good as to send for me before she went downstairs, and Lord Beaufort took me into dinner, so I was less frightened than might have been expected. He is so good-natured I am not at all afraid of him. I wore my blue gown. This is such a magnificent house. How I should like to be married to a very rich man!

Starting point is 01:54:22 with a very fine place. Your affectionate sister, E. Douglas. Helen was quite happy at dinner, with her father on one side of her, and Mary Forrester sitting next to him, and her mother near the opposite to her. She had been all day preparing for the arrival of her family, surveying their rooms again and again and adorning them with flowers. The books that she thought would amuse them were placed on their tables. The claret cup which Lord Eskdale drank after dinner had been ordered.

Starting point is 01:54:52 and tasted by herself. Even the Bill of Fair, which was usually submitted only to Lord Teviot, was looked over by her, lest the boiled chicken for Lady Eskdale, and the potage which Beaufort liked so much, should have been omitted. And now they were all there, the guests and their comestibles, and she felt at home again. She had more questions to ask her father about Eskdale Castle than he could possibly answer during one dinner, for she was obliged to do the honours to the rest of the company. But that was no trouble to her. Her eye was bright, and her cheek flushed with happiness. She was willing to laugh at every joke, and break through every silence, for there was a pleasant

Starting point is 01:55:33 consciousness about her, not only that the good things of life were collected very handsomely and becomingly around her, but that those she loved best were with her also to share them. "'Upon my word, Lady Teviot,' said her father with a gratified smile, as the ladies rose to withdraw. You seem to me to be a very finished specimen of the lady of the house. That little head will be turned, and my little Helen will be spoiled. She kissed his hand as she moved on, but the gloomy look with which Lord Teviate regarded her as she passed him at the door might have satisfied Lord Eskdale that there was still a chance that his daughter would not be utterly spoiled by unqualified indulgence. End of Chapter 15.

Starting point is 01:56:18 Chapter 16 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden This Libervox recording is in the public domain. It was a beautiful August evening, a real summer's evening, and the ladies, instead of betaking themselves to the drawing-room, strolled out on the lawn. Helen, passing her arm through her mother's, contrived to draw her away and turned into the shrubbery, having whispered to Miss Forrester to take charge of the others, and her to her. And Lady Portmore, who hated walking, sat down on one of those wretched grid-irons commonly called garden-chairs, and desired Mary to take another.

Starting point is 01:57:02 Eliza thought she should be in the way, and was quietly withdrawing. But Lady Portmore, who had seen Lord Beaufort talking and laughing with her, and had heard Lady Eskdale call her, Dear Liz, thought it would be the right thing to make much of her. "'My dear Miss Douglas, you must not leave us! I foresee that you and I shall be great friends. Pray sit down with Mary and me. Mary is one of my dearest friends, and you must not be afraid of her, though she is the cleverest creature in the world."

Starting point is 01:57:34 "'There is one of the prettiest creatures in the world,' said Mary, waving away the compliment to herself, and pointing to Lady Teviot's receding figure. "'And there Miss Douglas will agree with me, I see.' "'And I, I am sure,' said Lady Portum. In fact, you could not speak to anyone who is such an authority on the subject of Helen's beauty as I am, for I was the very first person who discovered it. The night she came out at H. House, just as she entered the room, so that nobody else could have seen her, I said to the Duke, there is the prettiest girl that has appeared this year.

Starting point is 01:58:14 And I remember turning round and saying, instantly to Count Chandashevsky, the man with the scar you know, Prince Saldovich's hero. "'Vuala, Monsieur Le Comte, "'ungeolée d'ébutante.' "'And after that, "'all the world, English and foreign, "'raved about her beauty. "'I really set that fashion.'

Starting point is 01:58:33 "'I suppose,' said Mary, "'that when she appears next year as Lady Teviot, "'that is if she does appear. "'How do you mean, my love? "'What is to prevent her appearing?' "'Nothing but her own good-will and pleasure,' "'said Mary, laughing. "'It is a foolish,

Starting point is 01:58:51 expression, but I meant to say that I hope Helen will not adopt the reigning fashion of young married women and lead a life of balls and parties. I think she will be a stay-at-home wife." "'I don't understand,' said Lady Portmore fussily. "'If she stays at home, what becomes of her position and her rank, and Teviot-house? And you forget her diamonds. But that is the way with you clever people, you so often overlook the important point which we silly ones remember. If she shuts herself up, what is the use of her having married Teviot?"

Starting point is 01:59:28 "'But she liked him, did she not?' said Eliza, who looked aghast at Lady Portmore's reasoning, or rather calculation, for reasoning was not Lady Portmore's strong point. "'I think if I were married to anybody I liked I should prefer staying at home with him to going to a ball.' "'You dear, little romantic thing! Now that is so like—' me. I foresaw we should suit each other exactly. There is nothing equal to the comfort of a long evening at home for the husband and wife. But then, you know, other people must be considered, the people who invite one to their houses, and one must go, for fear of not being asked again,

Starting point is 02:00:09 and that is the rock on which my domestic happiness splits. There was a pause, while Lady Portmore mused sadly upon this shipwreck of her domestic felicity, and then the conventing conversation began again with the Teviets. "'Did Helen's marriage take you by surprise, Mary?' I could not be surprised at any amount of admiration that Helen might excite, but I was in the country at that time, and I had heard very little of Lord Teviot. It was a short romance, you know. My dear Mary, there is nobody who knows so much about it as I do.

Starting point is 02:00:45 Miss Douglas will think me very vain, but as she does not know me I must just let her into a little into the secret of my character. She will say I am frank, too frank, perhaps. But the fact is, as all the world knows, that before his marriage, Teviate almost lived at my house. It was his home, literally his home. He is the most warm-hearted creature on earth, and chose to take a great fancy to me. Why, I am sure I can't guess, but he was on that footing at my house that my own brother might have been. It was the sort of thing that the world might have talked of, and I never know how I escaped all sorts of ill-natured remarks. In fact—but this is between ourselves.

Starting point is 02:01:28 I did say to Lord Portmore, "'If you think Teviot had better not come so much to our house, only tell me so, and I will contrive that he shall not dine here so constantly, and yet there shall be no ensign here, no esclundre.' I thought this right, don't you agree with me?' "'And what did Lord Portmore say?' said Eliza, who was listening in breathless delight to what she thought a very odd and slightly improper story.

Starting point is 02:01:57 "'Oh, it was a most gratifying answer to me. He said he had not the smallest objection to Teviot's dining with us as often as he liked, and that he saw no opening for any scene, and no necessity for any explanation. In short, he evidently placed the greatest confidence in me. This was in June, and there were constant fates at Teviot House in the village, and I was rather annoyed by the notion that the world would say they were given for me. And one day, I remember it as well as possible. It was at a breakfast at the villa. I said to my friend Mrs. Hanbury, I charge you, Cecilia, if you hear any ill-natured comments made

Starting point is 02:02:33 on my being at all these fates, that you will give me warning in time. I can tell Tevi they had better be given up. And she said in her odd way, Why, my dear, what do you mean? Don't you know that he is desperately in love with Helen Beaufort? I believe he is proposed. If not for mercy's sake say nothing to him, or you may do mischief. I do mischief. I, who am the last person in the world, to think of such a thing. I went to Teviot directly, and said, My dear Teviot, tell me the truth. The world says you are in love with Helen. Are you quite sure of your own feelings? Will she suit you? And so one, exactly what

Starting point is 02:03:13 his own sister might have said to him. And I am as much convinced as if it were told me by an angel from heaven that I made that marriage, for he proposed the next day, the very next day." I suspect he had been a little piqued by my easy way of talking of it, for when he came to tell me it was settled I never saw a creature in such a state of agitation. It was a very hot day, and he asked directly for a glass of iced water, which shows how nervous he was. I took my line at once, and wished him joy, and said that I would call on Helen, and that I was much flatter that he had put me in his confidence the day before, and then he grew calmer.

Starting point is 02:03:51 But he laughed, and talked a great deal, and was certainly very much excited, and hurried away again, so unlike him. And after that I saw him but little. Indeed, I kept out of his way, as I guess the Eskdale's had wished to keep them to himself. But as soon as he was married, I was so anxious for his sake and talons, that there should be no awkwardness, no coolness between us, that I offered to come here, actually offered myself, and you. You saw how well the meeting went off?" "'Perfectly,' said Mary. "'Nothing could be more commonplace—more easy, I mean.'

Starting point is 02:04:26 Lady Portmore did not look as if she quite liked the answer, and was on the point of turning to Eliza to extract a more flattering opinion when the gentleman appeared and her thoughts took a new direction. Lord Teviot looked round as he came out on the lawn, and seemed to miss someone, though he asked no questions. But Lord Beaufort said immediately, "'Where's Helen?' Miss Douglas, have you mind to come look for her?

Starting point is 02:04:49 I saw when my mother go up that walk.' "'I should like to go,' said Eliza. "'But—' "'Oh, dear, yes, we want a chaperone, I forgot,' said Lord Beaufort. Perhaps my respected father will have the kindness to act roughy into us babes in the wood.' "'Not I,' said Lord Eskdale. "'I can't stir a step without my coffee. But there are your mother and sister in sight at the end of that avenue.

Starting point is 02:05:15 So you may go, and in all propriety join them." "'Will you come, Miss Forrester?' said Eliza. "'Now, Miss Douglas,' said Lord Beaufort, "'let us be off, or they will be here, and our excessive attention in going to look for them will not be appreciated. Don't ask that Miss Forrester to come,' he added as they walked away. "'I can't abide her.' "'Oh, why not, Lord Beaufort?

Starting point is 02:05:40 I like her look so much.' Her looks, then, are the seatful above all things. I am not going to add that she is desperately wicked, but she affects to be desperately good, which is nearly as bad. I dare say it is not affectation. Why should she not be really good? Now, Lord Beaufort, what right have you to judge of either real or affected goodness?' she added, laughing.

Starting point is 02:06:05 The right, Miss Douglas, which lookers on assume of knowing most of the game. And as for Miss Forrester's game, I admire the neither it nor the way in which she has played it. Neither do I admire her, and let me advise you not to be taken in by her as Helen is. I am afraid your advice will be thrown away. I feel frightfully tempted to like her. I like everybody, except Lady Portmore, by the by. I am very willing to dislike her if that will satisfy you. Ah, poor Lady Portmore. All women hate her. I wonder why. But we have not time to discuss her now. Well, Helen, my beauty, we are come to conduct you and our well-beloved mother to coffee.

Starting point is 02:06:48 Have you finished your confidential communication? And can you listen to a few original remarks in the Repton line, which Miss Douglas and I are prepared to make on St. Mary's? Is it not pretty, Eliza? More than pretty, beautiful! Oh, Helen, how happy you must be here! So I've been telling Mama," answered Helen with a faint smile. And she has been making me jealous of you. You are creeping into my place." She says you take

Starting point is 02:07:17 such care of her." "'I should be very ungrateful if I did not,' said Eliza, gliding round to Lady Eskdale's side and pressing her hand. "'No sentiment, dear Liz,' said Lady Eskdale, "'for you must all put on our company faces and company manners now.' They joined the rest of the circle, and found Lady Portmore proving to Lord Eskdale that she had brought about most of the political changes of the past year, and that she knew beforehand all that were likely to take place in the ensuing one.

Starting point is 02:07:51 End of Chapter 16 Chapter 17 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. What will you all like to do today? said Helen one morning after breakfast. Drive, or ride, or stay at you. home or go to Langley ruins? Lady Portmore, what is your goodwill and pleasure?" "'I hardly know,' she said with an air of mystery.

Starting point is 02:08:26 "'Let me have a little talk with you in your dressing-room, a real comfortable chat before I decide.' "'Good heavens, how inhuman!' said Ernest Beaufort, who was lolling on a sofa supported by countless cushions and reading the paper. You are not going to make that guiltless Helen endure the agony of a regular talk at this early hour of this broiling day. Besides, what is there to talk about? A thousand things! I have not seen Helen for ages, and we have so much to hear and to say.

Starting point is 02:09:02 And are you, Lady Portmore, he said, giving the cushion that supported his back a languid push. Are you still going on with all that old humbug of being glad? to see people, and of having something to say to them. Has not everything been said forty times over, and is not any one individual quite as good as another?" "'Now that is so like you, Ernest, how odd your theories are! And yet how true!' I said myself the other day, that one never hears anything new till it is old, and Craecroft, the poet who is sitting with me, laughed very much at the originality of the idea. You and I think so exactly alike, Ernest.'

Starting point is 02:09:45 "'Perhaps, then, Lady Portmore, you were thinking of picking up the supplement of the times, which I have had the misfortune to drop. In that similarity of our dispositions, we are probably of opinion that it ought to be picked up by one of us.' "'Now that is too bad. Oh, Miss Douglas,' she said, as Eliza stooped for it, "'you are spoiling that wretch.' Miss Douglas, the wretch thanks you. Your attentions to me in my old age do you infinite credit. When I was as young as you—a period which my enfeebled memory can scarcely recall—I doubt whether I was equally mindful of the infirmities of the old. "'And what may be your age?' said Lady Portmore.

Starting point is 02:10:31 "'It is a painful subject. You have probably observed this morning that I am unusually grave and meditative. Today is one of those eternal birthdays of mine which are always coming round, and with shame I avow that for six and twenty years I have now existed in this very tiresome world, bored and boring. Now don't all begin to wish me many happy birthdays. I am tired of good wishes. If you like to make me any presents you may, but I am tired of things too, so do not give yourself any trouble. I am twenty-six and can't help myself." Oh, we must leave him, Helen. He is really too odd. Come and show me your boudoir." "'Directly,' said Helen. "'Taviot, as you and Bofutt are going to the stables, will you order the open carriage for Mama? And the pony-fayton we wanted—shall I ride with you?' she said timidly. "'Your attention, my dear, is most gratifying. But as you know that the Smiths, Beaufort and I agreed to have our first shock

Starting point is 02:11:35 the partridges to-day. Your obliging offer is made in all safety." "'I am glad you will be so well employed,' answered Helen, speaking as unconcernedly as she could, for she saw Mary looking inquiringly at her. "'Then I will make my own arrangements as I am discarded by you. Mary, you have brought your habit, of course, and there is a charming horse which heavy it provided for me, but papa has given me my old favourite, so he will ride after luncheon. Now, for Lady Portmore, shall I get off under an hour of confidences?" Mary shook her head, and the party dispersed in various directions.

Starting point is 02:12:15 End of Chapter 17. Chapter 18 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. The library at St. Mary's was of a high, old-fashioned form, and within it was a small flight of steps which led to a light gallery built round three sides of the room, giving thus an easy access to the higher shelves of books. The room itself was full of arid, deep recesses, and was altogether a dangerous style of apartment, for the occupants of the gallery were not necessarily visible to the occupants

Starting point is 02:12:55 of the room, so that if any two conversable guests were inclined to discuss the character of a third, there is a very reasonable probability that their conversation might be overheard by the party most concerned. Mary Forrester had entered this gallery from a door above, and was standing in one of the recesses, with a book under her arm, which she meant to take to her room, and another in her hand which she read as she stood. And while she was thus occupied, Lord Beaufort and his cousin came into the room below. "'We can get out through that window,' said Lord Beaufort. "'Oh, then I need not announce myself,' thought Mary.

Starting point is 02:13:35 Why, so he can, but won't it be a great deal of trouble? I wish both as you would tell me why you hate her, before you drag me any further." Again Miss Forrester was on the point of saying, I am here, when a name that had the power to arrest her at any moment drove her back. Why, on that poor Reginald Stewart's account, she led that man on to attach himself to her in the days of his prosperity, and threw him over the moment his little money-peccadilloes came to light. "'That's bad,' said Ernest. "'But I dare say they were dead tired of each other. "'It is so difficult to go on liking the same person for ever and ever,

Starting point is 02:14:15 "'and besides, as Reginald was ruined, they could not have lived on air. "'No, but she had had a large fortune left her, "'and jilted him just when she might have helped him, "'and that is what people call a saint. "'And there is that unfortunate steward, gating into no end of scrapes, "'for he has become reckless, and will be thoroughly dothed. dished." Mary could stay no longer.

Starting point is 02:14:39 As quietly as she could she glided to the gallery door, and certain that she could not be recognized, allowed herself the natural solace of letting it fall with a slight tendency to a bang, and rushed along the passage to her own room. The sound of the closing door made the two gentlemen start. "'Who's there?' said Lord Beaufort, in a very guilty voice. "'Is there anybody just come into that gallery?' he added as the silence continued. nobody just come in but somebody just gone out said ernest dryly if it were miss forrester you are about as much dished as stewart my chief merit happily is that i am a good listener and he sauntered on into the ante-room lord beaufort rushed up the steps still with a vague hope of finding a deaf librarian or a dusting housemaid but no there was nothing but a handkerchief and on one of its corners an intricate

Starting point is 02:15:35 arrangement of forget-me-nots and roses represented to an acute decipher the word Mary. Lord Beaufort laid it down again as if it were made of glass, walked down the steps as if he were treading on ice, and following Ernest, whispered to him, "'We must never open all lips again in that confounded room!' Mary, on her part, was promising to herself never again to fetch a book from that same unlucky apartment. She would never enter that gallery again. She would never speak to Lord Beaufort as long as she lived, or perhaps she had better annoy him by talking to and at him constantly, though she was not quite sure whether she would not leave St. Mary's at once.

Starting point is 02:16:15 But she would tell Helen to explain to him all the Stuart history, and then crush him by the most lofty contempt. Not that she cared what he said or thought, in fact she rather enjoyed his malice, and then she burst into a violent fit of crying, and found she had dropped her handkerchief. There is nothing like a good, handsome flood of tears when these atrocious attacks on our good name or good looks are detected. The whirl of resentful thoughts, the angry resolves, the crimson cheeks, the burning eyes, the swelling heart, and the twitching fingers, all these moral and physical symptoms of injured innocence are instantly alleviated by a hearty cry. Mary felt better directly, and then she began to look at her mortification

Starting point is 02:16:57 rationally and not passionately. She still thought Lord Boe, Beaufort very unjust, because she had really behaved so uncommonly well. She had taken such pains to do what was right in that business, but she began to see how her conduct might have been so represented as to take a selfish colouring. And then the recollection of Lord Beaufort's hatred of her as a saint made her smile as she thought of the fit of temper to which she had just given way. "'Oh, that I were one,' she said, "'in the genuine sense of the word.' And in pursuing that train of thought the momentary mortals of the momentary mortals.

Starting point is 02:17:31 her justification she had suffered sank to its proper dimensions. Better feelings resumed their sway, and though she ended by thinking it a great pity that Helen should have such a detestable brother and should live in a house that contained such an absurd room as a library with a gallery, yet she thought there was no necessity for leaving St. Mary's, that Lord Beaufort might have some good qualities, though she could not guess what they were, and that Ernest, who was at first involved in his cousin's disgrace, was not to be treated as a criminal at all. By degrees she began to see that it was good for her, that her vanity had met with such a check. Her natural good temper and her acquired humility helped each other, and when she joined the rest

Starting point is 02:18:11 of the party at luncheon she was almost as cheerful and as benevolent as she was when she left them after breakfast. Helen's morning had not been passed much more prosperously. Lady Portmore had talked unceasingly for an hour and a half, and though from the vague diffusiveness of her words and the hopeless entanglement of her ideas, it was difficult to ascertain the precise purport of her remarks, Helen felt that the general result was irritating, though she hardly knew why. She had not the remotest idea what Lady Portmore meant to convey when she said, "'Dearest Helen, you will be candid with me. You will understand me when I implore you to tell me frankly if you think my visit likely to do harm.'

Starting point is 02:18:52 "'Helen, you know my heart. You may trust me. Say, am I welcome?' "'Dear Lady Portmore, why should you doubt it? Of course I am delighted to see you, and so is Teviot, and as you have asked her own party I hope you will be amused. Helen! You are a noble creature. I see you understand me." Helen felt thoroughly puzzled, but tried hard for a look of intelligence, so that she might

Starting point is 02:19:18 escape a long explanation. We shall be friends. We are friends. And as a proof of confidence, before I say anything further on the subject which is at this moment uppermost in both our hearts." "'I wonder what it is,' thought Helen. "'I will ask your advice on a point that more immediately concerns myself. It is a difficult case to explain, Helen.

Starting point is 02:19:44 Cannot you guess what I mean?' "'No, indeed, I cannot imagine the point on which I should be capable of advising you. Oh, what a relief! I was afraid you were condemning me all this time, that you thought it so strange I had let him come." "'Let who come where?' said Helen. "'Pray remember the seclusion in which we have been living, and have pity on my ignorance.' "'Oh, yes, I forgot you lost all the end of last season, but you must have heard—in fact

Starting point is 02:20:13 you must have seen yesterday how it was—' "'Ernest!' Helen, do you think that I was wrong in asking him to come here?' "'Certainly not. We always expected him this week. He had promised to come when—' "'Yes, yes. my love, you must know. This is, of course, in the strictest confidence. But you must see that

Starting point is 02:20:33 Ernest is desperately smitten with me. It is almost ludicrous, for he is not the sort of person from whom I should look for sentiment, but he has been too absurd. I had really been completely blind to the whole thing, till one day at my house your brother said to me with one of his meaning looks. If I want to find Ernest, Lady Portmore, I always come here. I caught his eye. I felt myself cut. colour to my finger's ends, and I instantly guessed what the world was saying, and what the warning Beaufort intended to convey. I shall always feel obliged to him for the candour and courage with which he put me on my guard. How he came to be so very clear-sighted it is not

Starting point is 02:21:13 for me to guess. I was rather puzzled what to do. For Helen, you and I have, I know, the same high ideas of a wife's duty, and I really hate scenes, but it is so difficult to make that strange creature earnest understand hints. He made the most absurd excuses for calling. The streets were so hot, or he wanted luncheon or dinner. And if I looked grave, he affected to be bored or to fall asleep. At last I thought of coming here, and I said honestly to him, Now, earnest, I positively forbid you following me to St. Mary's.

Starting point is 02:21:47 And what do you think was his answer? My dear lady, there is nothing I should so dislike as following you. The roads are so dusty I should be smothered. So I will go before you.' "'How like Ernest,' said Helen. However, that does not sound very sentimental. But, my dear, if you had seen his look, I know Ernest's look so well. You do not understand your cousin, Helen, but I must teach you to know each other thoroughly.

Starting point is 02:22:18 You will like him.' "'Like Ernest. My dear Lady Portmore, I've known him and liked him all my life. He was brought up at Eskdale Castle. I think I told you so when I introduced him to you in London." Oh, true, but he is so reserved, and yet there is a good deal under that dry manner I am sure you will like," said Lady Portmore, who invariably claimed a right to be the first and only friend of all her acquaintances.

Starting point is 02:22:45 It would have been foolish, don't you think it would, if I had put off our visit when I found that Ernest had contrived to include himself in the party? I think apparent unconsciousness is the most dignified line to take, don't you? You see, Helen, what confidence I have in your judgment. You are very good. I am sure you will do what is right. No speech is, my love. Thank you for your attention and advice. You have put me quite at my ease, and you must not think ill of poor, earnest, from what I have told you. He is an excellent creature. You may take my word for it.

Starting point is 02:23:20 And now, my dear, talk to me about yourself. Are you quite happy, Helen? What a question. Dear Lady Paul! more," said Helen, affecting to laugh. You must really find out the answer for yourself." "'My love, do not misunderstand me. I see,' she added, looking round with rather a vexed air, "'that you have all the luxuries of life in profusion. But I am sure that you are like me, and do not care for those kind of things, and

Starting point is 02:23:48 that teviate's feelings—I beg your pardon, I care very much for the luxuries of life,' said Helen, determined to pursue that safe subject. It is a real pleasure to me to look round and see the absolute perfection of my room, and besides most of my pretty things are gifts, and I love them for the sake of the givers. Do look at this beautiful gold-dressing service which Teviot gave me on our wedding-day." Oh, very handsome, beautiful! Lord Portmore wanted to give me just the same set. At least I told him of one I had seen, and he would have given it to me, only he thought it would be useless. But to return to Lord Tevey. it. But just look first at my sapphires. I have heard you admire sapphires. Yes, so I do in the abstract.

Starting point is 02:24:35 The blue is beautiful, and Lord Portmore would have given me a set if I had wished for them. But don't you think—not that I wish to put you out of conceit of your stones—but don't you think they are less becoming than rubies?" Do you think so? said Helen, raising the tray on which they were placed. I suppose Papa agrees with you, for he gave me these. But Teviot and I like the others best. You agree in that, then.

Starting point is 02:25:01 Ah, similarity of tastes, even in trifles as a blessing. But now, my love, shut that box, and let us talk rationally. I know Teviot so well that I am sure I can give you some useful hints. Do you think this miniature on my watch is like him? Yes, very like, I have seen it before, said Lady Portmore impatiently. Of course I know all about it. I recommended Holmes to Teviot. But it is of himself and not of his picture that I wish to speak.

Starting point is 02:25:29 For though you seem to fly from the subject, let me tell you, Lady Teviot! Nothing of my husband, Lady Portmore, said Helen firmly. Mama told me that married people were never under any circumstances to make each other the subjects of discussion or comment. So tell me nothing of Lord Teviot. Lady Portmore was completely defeated, and it seemed to her quite marvellous that such a child as Helen should presume to withstand and baffled. her.

Starting point is 02:25:56 But even she could not renew a conversation so pointedly interrupted. And after settling her plans for the afternoon, and advising Helen to have her sapphires reset with more diamonds, she left the room, saying as she passed, "'Now, my love, you were not angry with me. I quite agree with you that we wives should say nothing and hear nothing about our husbands. I should fire up just as you did if any one spoke to me about Portmore. But I know, Tevi, it so well, and am so aware of all the little shes. shades of his character on which everything depends.

Starting point is 02:26:28 Yes, yes, but I mean to see nothing but lights, no shades, and so good-bye. Luncheon will be ready at two. Oh, you were very discreet, but I respect you for it." And she walked off, rather mortified, while Helen soothed herself by repairing to her mother's room for the rest of the morning. But at first through her windows wide open, having a vague idea that nothing short of a thorough draft could drive Lady Portmore's conversation thoroughly out of the room. End of Chapter 18.

Starting point is 02:27:03 Chapter 19 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. The gentlemen all dropped into luncheon, beginning by wondering how people could eat at that time of day, and ending by seating themselves and enjoying a good hot dinner. Beaufort came in last with a very guilty countenance, but Miss Forrester was talking to Sir Charles Smith, and showed no sign of mortification or peak. He began to dislike her more than ever. The walk with the gamekeepers was apparently given up, as Lady Portmore was imparting to Ernest in an apologetic tone that Tevi had insisted on driving her in the phaeton.

Starting point is 02:27:43 "'And what a vehicle is ordered for me, and who is to drive me?' said Ernest languidly. "'Helen, will you take a little more care of the rest of your guests?' "'You may ride with all of us. Mary, Papa, and Beaufort. in me. Sir Charles goes with Mama and Eliza and the Britska, and we are all to meet at the most beautiful ruins you ever saw." "'So be it,' he said, "'I shall be a beautiful ruin myself by the time I've ridden an hour in this sultry weather, but I am resigned.' And the party set off.

Starting point is 02:28:15 "'I shall be dreadfully frightened if we get mixed up with that crowd of people and horses,' said Lady Portmore as she took her place in Lord Teviot-Svaiton. "'Can not we take some other road?' "'Certainly, if you are afraid, but my horses are very quiet, and if you wish for a pretty drive.' "'But all the drives are very pretty. Let us go down that road, and I will give you my advice as to any improvement that may strike me. Nessfield says I have a good eye for the picturesque, but above all I want a quiet talk with you, and we should be interrupted if we went with the others. Is that Helen's new horse she is riding?'

Starting point is 02:28:54 No, Miss Forrester is on Saleem. Well, I wonder Helen did not prefer your gift! I am sure from that sentiment I should never allow any human being but myself to ride a horse that had been given to me by the person I loved best in the world. That is an interesting and romantic idea. But, as I shall probably have the honour of furnishing Lady Teviate's stud to the end of our days, it is not very likely that she will refuse to lend a horse to her friends when they come. Oh, dear, no, that would be selfish, and you know how I hate selfishness. I often say there is nobody thinks so little of self as I do.

Starting point is 02:29:32 Still, I wonder Helen did not ride Salim. Lord Teviot was silent. Are you well, Teviot? said Lady Portmore with an air of great interest. Quite well, thank you. My dear Teviot, do you know I am not quite easy about you? You certainly are not in your usual spirits. Do tell me, is there anything the matter?' "'What can be the matter, Lady Portmore?

Starting point is 02:29:58 Pray do not put fancies of illness into my head, and allow for a little additional steadiness in a respectable married man.' "'Yes, that is all very well, my dear friend, but I know you too well to be satisfied with that sort of joke. Come, Teviot, shall I put you at your ease at once? That pretty little wife of yours is not the least in love with you, and your vanity—men are so vain, is a little hurt? Is not this the case?

Starting point is 02:30:26 If so it is another proof that Tutt Verity ne'est a bonadir, said Lord Teviate hastily, for he was stung to the quick by the remark. Why is it that fools always have the instinct to hunt out the unpleasant secrets of life and the hardiness to mention them? But I am speaking entirely if you're good,

Starting point is 02:30:46 and you must not be angry with me. You know what a warm friendship I have for you, and the interest I take in your your happiness, and I really look upon Helen as a sister of my own. So I want to make out why it is that you are not so happy together as I wish to see you. Perhaps you expect too much from Helen. She is a child, you know, and a petted child, and she has been idolised at home, so it is natural that she should love her own family.

Starting point is 02:31:13 I see you think she is too devoted to them, and perhaps a little afraid of you." Lord Teviot gave the reins a jerk, in the fond hope of giving Lady Portmore, affright. But she went on. Perhaps that is the case now, but you must give her time. Her little head was turned by your rank and position in the world, and she married without that attachment that a girl older and more experienced would have felt. But trust me, Teviot, she will fall in love with you some of these days. It is impossible it should be otherwise. And then you will forget now that her father and mother and all that Eskdale clan are more to her than you are."

Starting point is 02:31:51 This was the pith of Lady Portmore's harangue. Lord Teviot hated to hear what she was saying. He hated her for saying it, and himself for listening. But yet because she fed the delusion under which he labored, because she talked to him of himself, and because she was handsome and foolish, he allowed her to go on putting, rancers in the vessel of his peace, confirming all the painful suspicions against which he had struggled, and extracting from him of vowels that he wished unmade the moment that he was. they were uttered. Lady Portmore prevented Lord Teviot from meeting his wife and guests at

Starting point is 02:32:24 the ruins. She put into words thoughts most repulsive to his better feeling. She told him all that he had rather not have heard, and he came home dispirited and annoyed, but convinced that Lady Portmore was an excellent friend, and that it was most kind of her to persuade him that his wife did not care a straw about him. End of Chapter 19 Chapter 20 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. "'Law! Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Aunt,' said Mrs. Tomkinson when this riding-party set off, "'do make haste to look at our folks. Here, put your heads out, and don't let them be seen for all the world.'

Starting point is 02:33:10 "'Well, what are many?' said Mrs. Hunt, who was the original Betsy of the Douglas Young ladies, but called Hunt on her travels. Her manners were not quite equal to her position. "'Well, what a sighted company to be sure, and what a show of horses?' "'Mrs. Hunt,' said Mrs. Nelson, who was prim and considered rather pompous in her own set, "'I must trouble you not to squeege my sleeve.' "'There's another window,' said Mrs. Tomkinson. "'You go there, Mrs. Unt. You can see quite as well. She's a shocking uncouth, Mrs. Nelson," she added, as Betsy bustled off to a distant window.

Starting point is 02:33:51 She squeeges certainty, and pushes about too much, but she has had no time to learn manners. Rome was not built in a day. There's your lady getting on her horse, Mrs. Tomkinson. Yes, and your young lord are helping of her, and there's the old lord helping Mrs. Forrester, and there's them Smiths." Who are they, Mrs. Tomkinson? The heavens above, only no, Mrs. Nelson. There is such a tribe as Smiths in this world. I say Miss Douglas going with our young lady

Starting point is 02:34:20 and the brooch. Between ourselves, Mrs. Nelson, what's the meaning of this fancy for the Douglases?" "'I have not been consulted, Mrs. Tomkinson, but my ladies is full of fancies as an eggs full of meat. I can't rightly account for it, except to be sure, that it is lonesome for her now all the young ladies is gone. However, the girl's pretty and civil enough.' "'Well, if there ain't my lord and Lady Portmore driving off by the selves, I do declare, "'If I was my lady, I would not stand that. "'Do you know, Mrs. Nelson, now that there Betsy doesn't hear us,

Starting point is 02:34:57 "'do you know, I can't tell what to think with any certainty of my lord. "'I don't stand high in my good books for any means.' "'I am sorry to hear you say so,' said Mrs. Nelson in her primaced manner. "'For, of course, a person's servant is the best judge, But I am sure my lady has no idea than anything is amiss. Oh, and my lady makes no complaints, but still you know, if what has eyes one must see what's under one's nose, and the lady is not half this fine spirit she had? She feels strange, poor young thing, I dare say it first. Yes, but, ma'am, I'm sure it's more than that.

Starting point is 02:35:36 My lord is one of the most nagginous tempers it's possible to see, and it's my belief he frets and worris'-a-ladyship, till she wishes herself back at her old home again. And as for that, Lady Portmore, if all's as true as are here, she's not one as I should choose to see driving about in a curricle with my husband. What do they say of her? said Mrs. Nelson. Those Portmore's have never come much in my way.

Starting point is 02:36:04 Oh, I heard enough of her when I lived chambermaid with the stewards. They say she has no more respect for Lord Portmore than she has for the hearth broom, and that all she is from morning to night is to catch up admirers, and she don't care for other people's husbands being other people's husbands, but likes all the better to make them follow her. And that is just the sort of lady who says poor servants ain't to have any followers at all, not even to keep company. I have no patience with her, and if I was my lady I should look after her pretty sharp with my lord."

Starting point is 02:36:36 "'These are early days for suspicions, Mrs. Tomkinson,' answered Mrs. Nelson, dogmatically. And I hope your lady will never have cause for any. I hope so too, ma'am, but I don't quite like me, Lord." And so they parted. One of the odd channels scooped out by Lady Portmore's restless vanity was a persuasion that she was the world's universal confidant, and she would enter into long arguments to prove that she must necessarily have foreknown any piece of intelligence or gossip that was imparted

Starting point is 02:37:08 to her. Like all very vain people, she was contradictions. victory, and this, added to her pretensions to universal knowledge, rendered her conversation a glorious mass of inconsistencies. "'I have heaps of news,' she said one morning when she came down to breakfast. "'I dote upon letters, particularly from clever people, though it is a sad thing for me having the reputation of a good letter-writer to keep up. You know there is no vanity in saying so, for my letters are very original.' "'Patically so,' said Ernest.

Starting point is 02:37:42 For they always seemed to me to consist of rows of rather crooked lines, without either vowels or consonants." Lady Portmore gave him a look which meant to imply to the company at large that Ernest was committing a little indiscretion by letting out that she corresponded with him. She put on an air of pretty confusion, and said, "'Pray, what do you know about my letters?' And then went on. But now for my news, one of my great favourites is going to be married, Charles Wyndham."

Starting point is 02:38:12 "'Yes, here is an account of the wedding in the paper,' said Lady Teviot. "'What, already? Well, I have shown my discretion. I take you all to witness I never said he was going to be married.' "'Did you know it?' said Ernest. "'Of course I did, because the Wyndham's are my second cousins. At least we are connected somehow. But now I have another piece of news about Reginald Stuart.' Lord Beaufort could not resist to look at Mary. She seemed quite calm. I am so vexed about Stuart, as you may well guess. He is such a dear creature, and he

Starting point is 02:38:47 has actually gone off to Scotland with that dancing girl, Pauline the Gay. I am sorry for him, and still more for myself. It will put me into such an awkward position as to visiting her. He is actually married by this time." "'I doubt it,' said Lord Taviot quietly. "'Oh, I wish I could,' said Lady Portmore with a deep sigh. "'But there is no use keeping his secret any longer?' "'Not the least, unless you mean to let him have the pleasure of telling it himself. He will be here to-day.'

Starting point is 02:39:19 "'Stewitt here! And he is coming at last. I thought he would. I made such a point of it. But he will marry that horrid girl at last, you will see.' There is one strong reason against it. "'You would not think so if you were in his confidence,' said Lady Portmore most mysteriously. To a certain degree I am, said Lord Taviot, for he tells me here, that fool Reed has actually carried the poor liner off to Scotland, and took the precaution to change his name for fear of pursuit. Though who was to run after them except a dancing-master remains a mystery. However, he has cleared me of the odium of being supposed to courtise la Belle Pauline.

Starting point is 02:40:00 Now, Lady Portmore, are you satisfied? Yes, but not at all surprised. I remember Reed a play. She applauded her so in that stupid ballet, Rose d'amour, that I said he must be in love with her. Mary, you were with me that night. You must remember it." "'Was I?' said Mary, with an air of doubt. "'I do not recollect.' "'Oh, but I did indeed. I always foresee these things. I am so glad I persuaded Reginald's do it to come here, out of the way of that girl.'

Starting point is 02:40:29 "'Mary, my love,' she said, lowering her voice and affecting great interest of manner. "'Have you a headache? You look pale. this morning." "'Oh, no, pray don't have the headache, Mary,' said Helen, indignant at this instance of Lady Portmore's want of tact. "'I beg that both my young ladies,' she added, smiling at Eliza, "'will look their very best, for there will be a large party to amuse, to say nothing of Colonel Stuart.' "'I can promise to take some of that trouble off your hands, young ladies,' said Lady

Starting point is 02:41:02 Portmore in a tone of pique. Well, Stu, it comes on my invitation." It was an unlucky morning for her. She had been vexed by the total failure of her letters and her news, and when her vanity was in a state of mortification she became more than unusually untaxed. She complimented Helen on her dress, and asked if it were tevi its taste. But I am sure it is, for he used to complain of your style of dress is too simple before he knew you well, so I must congratulate you on the improvements he has made.

Starting point is 02:41:31 You are, Tire, a catra e pangler, this morning." This pleasant speech made three people uncomfortable. Helen did not like to hear that Lord Teviot had ever found fault with her. Lady Eskdale was hurt that it was supposed she had dressed her daughter ill, and Lord Teviot did not choose it to be supposed that he had made Lady Portmore his confidant, and that on the very important point of his wife's dress. Then she tried a little sport of condescension, in the shape of a joke to Eliza on Lord Beaufort's attentions, and that made Eliza colour till the tears came into her eyes, as, in

Starting point is 02:42:04 the primitiveness and innocence of her home education, she looked upon love and lovers as sacred mysteries never be profaned by a jest, and, moreover, expected that Eskdale Castle would fall down at the mere idea of Lord Beaufort's condescending to admire her. Lady Portmore finished by what she thought a noble touch of magnanimity, taking Mary's hand and saying in an audible whisper, "'You must forgive me, my love, if I distressed you by what I said of Colonel Stuart. You know how thoughtless I am. we won't allude to that history any more. Pray say you forgive me!"

Starting point is 02:42:38 What a woman! And what a fine quality what an absolute virtue tact is! Lady Portmore never had a grain of it—a misfortune that fell more heavily on her friend than on herself. End of Chapter twenty-one of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Colonel Stuart arrived. But another change took place in the Society at St. Mary's. Lord and Lady Eskdale were sent for by Lady Sophia Waldgrave, who had had a sudden attack of illness, and Sir W. Waldgrave requested her mother to come and assist in nursing her.

Starting point is 02:43:23 There was a consultation, and a demur, and a fuss about Eliza's destination. Lady Eskdale thought Mrs. Douglas would not like her daughter to be taken so far from home as the Waldgraves, so she was left to Helen's care, till Mr. and Mrs. Douglas should come and fetch her. Eliza's letters to her sister give an accurate account of St. Mary's at this time. My dearest Sarah, I would give anything for a good hours talk with you. You have not told me half enough about Mr. Wentworth, and that walk to the mill, and your fit of dignity about the music-book.

Starting point is 02:43:58 It is so interesting, and quite as amusing as one of Miss Austen's novels, and this is all true and your happiness is concerned in it, so you may guess how I pour over your letters. If he does not propose soon, I shall think he is behaving very ill, and shall hate him. But I know he will. We go on very happily here. At least I hope poor dear Helen is happy, but I do not feel quite sure. Lord Tevey it is very pleasant, I dare say, and very clever, but he is sometimes rather cross, and he seems to tease Helen.

Starting point is 02:44:31 I always wish when he does that I were a lady of great consequence, and could speak out and tell him what I think. Talking of great ladies, that Lady Portmore is worse than ever. I am sure Helen cannot like her. She takes up so much of Lord Teviot's attention, and yet she is not satisfied with that. Last night when Colonel Beaufort came and sat down by me she actually called to him to come to her, and though of course I did not care whether he went or not, it was very uncivil of her. He is very amusing. I was quite wrong when I said he put me in mind of ape Brown, and he is always trying to

Starting point is 02:45:10 persuade me that I shall be bored, and that life is nothing but trouble. And you know I was never bored in my life, and I think life very good fun. There is a Colonel Stuart here who was once engaged to Miss Forrester, they say. But it cannot be true, or she would not seem so unconcerned as she does, and he does not take so much notice of her as he does of Helen. He is a great friend of Lord Beaufort's, and Lady Portmore says he is a great friend of hers, But so she says of everybody. She says the same of Colonel Beaufort, and yet one day after she had left the room, he said,

Starting point is 02:45:43 "'Bless that fair lady, she talks greater nonsense than ever. She has been talking rural economy for the benefit of the country neighbours. I would give a hundred pounds to hear her explain the poor laws to Harriet Martineau. She is capable of it. She becomes a greater treat every day.' Now that does not seem as if he liked her, does it? If Mama comes to fetch me home, I wish she would send my other white bonnet. I suppose there is no chance of Mama's letting me stay here till Lord Eskdale comes back.

Starting point is 02:46:13 I shall be very glad to be at home again. But it is so seldom we pay any visits. I should so like to stay here a little longer. When I said that Colonel Beaufort was amusing, I did not mean that he made jokes and laughed a great deal, but he says odd things in a dry grave way that make other people laugh, without seeming to take any trouble about it himself. I am afraid Mama will think him affected. Not that it would signify.

Starting point is 02:46:37 Only I do not think he is. Yours affectionately, Eliza Douglas. Colonel Stuart's history, which Miss Douglas could not explain, was simply that he had been as much attached to Mary Forrester as it was in his nature to be, and his peculiar talents for pleasing had not been exerted less successfully with her than they had in many other instances of which she knew nothing. He disguised his faults for a time.

Starting point is 02:47:02 and when Mary discovered that he was extravagant, that he played, and that he was totally without religious principle, she found that she determined to give him up, which followed her discoveries, was accompanied by bitter feelings of regret. But Lord Beaufort was wrong in his assertion that she jilted Colonel Stuart on her recession to wealth. Their engagement was at an end some weeks before the unexpected death of a distant relation gave Miss Forrester her fortune. This circumstance added to the mortification which Colonel

Starting point is 02:47:32 Stuart felt, and if he had not actually said that her sudden prosperity had induced her to change her mind, he had allowed it to be said by his friends. He was a popular man with men, and there were many of his partisans who made it their business on this occasion to talk of Miss Forrester as cold-hearted and capricious, and who, when they meant to go the extremest lengths of attuporation, accused her of being actually a saint. But this awful assertion was, of course, made in a low tone of horror, and and mentioned only in strict confidence. Colonel Stewart for some time kept up in appearance of attachment and regret.

Starting point is 02:48:10 Perhaps he thought it impossible that any woman whom he had condescended to love could give him up and forget him. But when the consistency of Miss Forrester's conduct convinced him that she was in earnest, he returned to his former course, played higher, betted more, and flirted more determinedly with married women. And whether his love of Mary were really or not forgotten in the bottom of his heart, he He met her in society with apparent indifference, and in general seemed to forget that they had ever been on more intimate terms. He did not know that she was at St. Mary's when he accepted Lord Teviot's invitation,

Starting point is 02:48:44 but her presence, when he found her in the drawing-room, appeared to give him neither pain nor pleasure. Lady Portmore talked to him in the evening for two hours into half, in a low, confidential tone, making him thoroughly uncomfortable by assurances that she was his constant friend with Mary Forrester. Now, my dear Stuart, I am not paying you a compliment when I assure you I feel quite justified in persuading Mary that she ought to relent at last. She will be a model-wife, and I know you have too much good taste not to give up play, and any other little pursuits when you marry. My dear Lady Portmore, for propriety's sake, don't talk of my other little pursuits in that meaning tone. And for my sake, do not propose in my name to Miss Forrester. She might accept me.

Starting point is 02:49:30 well, and you know you are dying to marry her. Now you must have no disguise with me, Stuart. We know each other too well for that. You are a little mortified. Yes, you know you are, at Mary's perverseness. Come own it at once, and then trust to me for taking up your cause warmly." Good heavens, Lady Portmore, what a strange way you have of proving your friendship. I will trouble you not to assume that I wish to pay court to your rich friend, or that if I did, that I am not able to make my own cause good." But I see how it is. You wish to get Miss Forrester out of the way?

Starting point is 02:50:07 She has evidently been tampering with some of your victims. Has Ernest waived in his allegiance?" Colonel Stuart had often found that there was no way of checking Lady Portmore's remarks, but by a bold impertinence addressed to herself. She had not wit enough to answer it, nor discretion enough to seem not to understand it. So it threw her into long, verbose explanations, during which she had been able to answer to answer it. she lost sight of her original topic.

Starting point is 02:50:33 And now she had, in her character of the most virtuous woman in the world, to repel with becoming scorn the imputation that Ernest should admire her at all, and in her character of the most attractive woman in the world, to explain how it was that he should admire her so much. It took her nearly twenty minutes to conduct this argument with herself to a satisfactory conclusion. During which time Colonel Stuart took a survey of the rest of the society, and at last broke in with the abrupt question. "'And how about our host and hostess? Are they very tiresomely in love still, or have

Starting point is 02:51:05 they begun to be good company again?' "'Tevie, it is a great friend of mine,' said Lady Portmore, with a look of great discretion. "'So there is no use in trying to extract from me any opinion about him, poor fellow.' "'What? Is it come to poor fellowing him already?' That's awkward. Calm out with it. You know you are longing to to tell me all about it? Is he bored, or jealous, or what is it? If he is not desperately in love with that little jewel of a wife, I am surprised at his taste, that's all. But those wealthy dogs are never satisfied, and I don't wonder at it. Wealth is not allowed its rights

Starting point is 02:51:45 in this straight-laced country. It is monstrous heart that a man who is rich enough to pension off his old wife when she grows tiresome and marry a new one, should be obliged to go plodding on the old routine, with the same woman sitting ever-like. lastingly opposite to him at his own table. But Teviot can't be bored already, is he? I am half in love with his wife myself." I will not have any remarks of that shocking kind maid, and above all to me. And what has more, Stuart, I must insist upon it that you talk no nonsense to my little friend

Starting point is 02:52:18 Helen. She does not know you so well as I do, and it might put ridiculous ideas into her head. And then Tebiet's temper. But I say nothing about that, only let me tell you Mary Forrester will not take very well any marked attentions of yours to Helen." "'Won't she? Suppose we try,' said Colonel Stuart. And rising, he joined Lady Teviot, and devoted himself to her for the rest of the evening. End of Chapter 22 of the Semi-attached couple by Emily Eden.

Starting point is 02:52:57 This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas arrived at St. Mary's, bringing to Eliza satisfactory accounts of the Wentworth affair. Mrs. Douglas, to be sure, knew that there was no trust to be placed in any man on earth. They were all as hard as boards and as fickle as the winds, and one more selfish than the other. Therefore, if Mr. Wentworth jilted Sarah at last, it would not surprise her for a moment. But otherwise, she would have said, nobody could doubt his intentions. "'And Mama?' said Eliza, who had met her parents with unfeigned delight. "'Sarah herself seems sure Mr. Wentworth likes her, and I am sure of it from what she says.

Starting point is 02:53:41 "'So I dare say he is not so unfeeling as you think. I like him very much.' "'Oh, my dear, I do not say there is any harm in him. In fact, I had rather have him for a son-in-law than such a Jerry as Sir William, such a goose as Lord Walden, or such a Bayshore as Lord Teviot. But even if he is really attached to Sarah, that will not make me think better of men in general. And pray, Eliza, how does Lord Teviot behave to Helen, and at what time do they dine? It must be nearly dressing-time. You will hear the bell-mama. It rings half an hour before dinner. Helen seems very happy, and Lord Beaufort, and Colonel Beaufort, and Miss Forrester are so fond of her,

Starting point is 02:54:25 that she must be delighted while they are here. There was an intonation in Eliza's voice when the name of Colonel Beaufort occurred that struck Mrs. Douglas' ear. No woman, be she ever so hardened or hackneyed in the ways of the world, can ever achieve an indifferent pronunciation, if the term may be allowed, of the name of the individual most interesting to her. There is no disguise she does not attempt. She draws it out slowly, it will not be slighted. She runs over it quickly. It will not be slurred. She inserts it between two other commonplace names. It is still the guinea between the two half-pence. Still it is spoken in the tone of voice that belongs only to him. I have not seen Colonel Beaufort since he was quite a boy, said Mrs. Douglas. I suppose he is like all the rest of the family, thoroughly grand and fine. I think you wrote word he was very conceited. No, Mama, affected. I thought him so at first, and perhaps he is a little affected. I do not think you will like him, Mama. I dare say not, my dear, I very seldom do like anybody. But probably he is not worse than Lord Teviot, nor so bad as Lord Beaufort. I have an idea that I shall prefer him to them.

Starting point is 02:55:46 Eliza was quite enchanted with such positive praise of her hero, but she defended Lord Beaufort valiantly. declared that he was the most good-natured man in the world, and not the least grand or fine." "'In short, the best of the two cousins?' asked Mrs. Douglas. "'But now, my dear, we must dress, and when I have seen all your fine friends I shall know better what to think of them. Ring for Hunt! How I hate these large rooms where the bells are always a mile off!' Mrs. Douglas found considerable food for observation in the party assembled at St. Mary's, and after the lapse of two or three days she had drawn from the events that were passing before her eyes the cheering conclusions, that the Teviot menage was not happy, that Lady Portmore,

Starting point is 02:56:32 a beauty and a fine lady was perfectly insupportable, and that it would be a virtuous action to be as disagreeable as possible to her, that Colonel Stuart was in his way quite as detestable, that there was no chance of Lord Beaufort's marrying Miss Forrester, and that Colonel Beaufort was a shade less languid when Eliza was talking to him than under any other circumstances. The house was full of company, for the first week in September had arrived, and Lord Teviot's friend seemed to be unanimously possessed with an unusual eagerness to visit him. The breakfast table was covered every morning with letters from enterprising travellers who were naturally going to the other side of England, but who could make a detour to St. Mary's if they

Starting point is 02:57:14 were wanted, and who added in a postscript that they should be there before an answer could arrived to stop them. Some, who did not know Lady Teviot, wrote to express their anxiety to make her acquaintance, and those who did were particularly desirous to renew it. Nobody said a word about partridges, but it was remarkable that from each carriage that arrived there was taken a long mahogany case, followed by a tin canister and a powder-flask, and that each newcomer in the course of the first evening invariably asked if the harvest were well in, and if the birds were tolerably strong and numerous. The crowd in which the Teviates lived was not favorable to the growth of their eventual happiness. At least in nine cases out of ten, a young couple should be left

Starting point is 02:57:58 very much to themselves during the first few months of their married lives. That complete dependence on each other, which ensures habits of confidence and forbearance, is more easily acquired while the first dream of love lasts, and tastes and tempers amalgamate better in the end when there are no witnesses to observe that they do not quite fit at first. Lord and Lady Tevi at would, even if they had wished it, have found it impossible to be much together in their present train of life. He was out shooting all the morning with his friends, and in the afternoon she was riding or driving with hers. During dinner they were at opposite ends of a long table, and in the evening there were guests to be attended to,

Starting point is 02:58:40 and the work of general amusement to carry on. Helen did not own it to herself—perhaps she did not know it, but it was a relief to her to be spared those tete-on-tets with her husband, which she had found so alarming in the outset of her married life. Her youthful spirits were sufficient, and more than sufficient, to carry her through the many hours of amusement which each succeeding day presented. Joining great powers of enjoyment to a strong wish to please, and aided by adventitious circumstances, she moved amongst her guests the queen of a gay circle, and if she caught Lord Teviot's eyes fixed on her sometimes with sternness, sometimes with admiration, she merely thought, in the one case, that it was a pity he was so unlike everybody

Starting point is 02:59:23 else, and in the other, that it was unfortunate she had not time to talk to him while he was in a good humour. But in the meanwhile her impulse was to turn to her brother or her cousin for assistance in all her plans, and participation in all her gaieties. So young and so lovely a mistress of a house was sure to attract, and Lady Portmore began to feel some frightful misgivings. Not that Helen would eventually rival her in general admiration. No, she felt convinced that there had never been, and could never be such an universal favourite as herself, but she considered that she was at present in a false position, and had brought the real, genuine, well-established Portmore article into competition with a frivolous, tinsely, girlish plaything, which derived a momentary value from peculiar

Starting point is 03:00:07 circumstances. She began to think at time to assert herself, and to overthrow the usurper. She once tried to look bored, and apologised to the company for the dull evening which would necessarily ensue. But she found that it ended in her being left to nurse by herself the touch of headache she had announced, while the rest of the society were dancing in another room, and Mrs. Douglas took the opportunity of saying that she would come and sit quietly with her, while the young people were amusing themselves. So the next day she found it more expedient to declare that she was going to make the evening very amusing, and to arrange some charades.

Starting point is 03:00:45 "'Come, Teviot, Ernest, all of you, you must each take a part.' "'Who?' "'I,' said Colonel Beaufort, looking at her with an air of astonishment from the very depths of his arm-chair, where he was sitting very contentedly by the side of Eliza. "'My dear lady, you may just as well ask me to go in break stones for Teviot's new road. It would be quite as much in my line, and perhaps less trouble. I never shall forget what I went through last year at Kirkwood Hall. I was asked there, and was foolishly good-natured enough to go.

Starting point is 03:01:18 My mind misgave me the first evening that there was a screw-loose, that there was something sinister in the designs of the party. There were two or three abortive attempts at troublesome games, questions and answers, which entailed the bore of thinking, and forfeits which gave an infinity of trouble, and a penalty for having thought wrong. Well, I put down these atrocities by a contemptuous smile or two, but the next evening I was overborne in my turn, and I give you my honour that I, who am by nature peaceable and inoffensive,

Starting point is 03:01:48 and who had never done any harm to any human being in the house, was during three hours, persecuted into being Lucius Junius Brutus, a village school-mistress, the hind-legs of a Camelbert, and wooden clock saying tick, tick, tick. The next morning I made an early transformation of myself into Colonel Beaufort in his travelling carriage, but I doubt whether my constitution has ever quite recovered the trial of Kirkwood Hall. No, no charades for the love of mercy." "'Well,' said Eliza, "'I wish she did not object to them. I think they must be very amusing. And then you would act so well. I wish Lady Portmore would arrange one.' "'How odd that you should always be ready to be amused! I am quite sorry I have destroyed your

Starting point is 03:02:35 entertainment for the evening. What is to be done? Lady Portmore whisks about so fast it would be vain for me to attempt to catch her. Shall I write her a note, and ask her to act for your diversion? Oh, no! Besides nothing diverts me more than to hear you talk. Pray go on, and tell me more about Kirkwood Hall, and the charades there. And it was by this naive and genuine attention to his conversation, and this open delight in his society, that the unformed, candid Eliza attracted the languid Blase, Colonel Beaufort. The simple and melancholy fact was that she had fallen in love with him, which was an undignified measure, and if she had had only a year's knowledge to the world, she would carefully have concealed the preference

Starting point is 03:03:21 she felt. But as it was, she thought only that he was very pleasant, and that she was quite happy when he came and sat down by her, and she showed this without disguise. It was something so new that Ernest was flattered by it. he did not care much about it at present but if the chair that stood near her was as comfortable as any other in the room he let himself drop into that by preference he would perhaps even if put up with a cushion less lady portmore did not quite like his manner of passing his evenings and when her particular plan of charades failed she had nothing for it but to try to disturb the general comfort of the society "'Come, Miss Douglas,' she said, moving her hands about as if she were playing on the piano-forte. "'Are we to have no harmony this evening? I am in the mood for a little music.' "'I do not think Lady Teviot wishes for it,' said Eliza, who joined to a strong desire to contradict Lady Portmore, a great disinclination to move.

Starting point is 03:04:22 "'Oh, Lady Teviot has made over her powers to me this evening! I think, Teviot, your little wife has abdicate and has become Helen Beaufort again. She and her brother have been reading letters and whispering to each other for the last half-hour. Are you shut out of their counsels?' Lady Teviot has not had a very good account of her sister, he said coldly, and Beaufort was naturally anxious to see the letters. "'Dear, I am very sorry. I wish they had consulted me. I am a great homeopathist. I dare say Helen wishes us all away that she might go to the the walled graves, but really we have collected such a large party that it will be difficult to disperse our forces. Pray, who is that foreigner playing at whist?' "'Don't you know him? Monsieur Lagrange, he comes over to England every year, and fancies himself a complete Englishman in language, pursuits and habits, but without the slightest aptitude

Starting point is 03:05:21 for either. He goes, in the winter, to any country-house of any description, to which he can get himself invited, without much discrimination as to the society he meets there. It is all, he says, the charming life of Castle, and between that and Melton, where he passes a miserable month of falls and fright, he makes out an existence which he thinks perfection. He is a good-natured animal, and I never grudge him a night shooting. You must introduce him to me. I dare say he has heard of me at Paris and in London. All foreigners look to me as their patroness is a matter of course. But come, Helen's colloquy is in an end.

Starting point is 03:06:00 "'Bowford, come here. I am so sorry your sister is ill, but I want you to sing. Miss Douglas is obdurate. But Mary will accompany you.' "'Pardon me, Lady Portmore, but I must finish this bit of work to-night,' said Miss Forrester. "'Oh, nonsense! Only one song! Come, Beaufort!' But on looking round she discovered that Lord Beaufort had disappeared, and so that attempt fell to the ground. and Lady Portmore's gay evening was rather a greater failure than her dull one." End of Chapter 22. Chapter 23 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. "'Mrs. Douglas,' said Lady Portmore, "'I am going to take quite the privilege of an old friend with you,

Starting point is 03:06:55 but I feel as if I had known you all my life, and I am going to say something very impertinent.' Mrs. Douglas nodded. It was apparently a nod of acquiescence in the latter proposition. "'That dear little Eliza of yours! I am charmed with her! I am indeed! I would not say so if I were not. But if you will take my advice, you will not allow Colonel Beaufort to be so much with her.' "'I think it would be difficult to prevent it,' said Mrs. Douglas, with an affectation of carelessness. Colonel Beaufort seems to be, like most men, very much in the habit of taking his own way. Yes, but my dear Mrs. Douglas, I am so afraid your gay, innocent Eliza, who is not aware how encouraging her frank manner is, should fancy that Ernest's attentions mean more than they do.

Starting point is 03:07:47 I know him so thoroughly. He is a dear, kind-hearted creature, but rather a dangerous man. He means nothing by it, but he always seems as if you were making him. being loved every woman he speaks to." "'That may be rather tiresome, and is very wrong,' said Mrs. Douglas. But it cannot be very dangerous. Those seeming lovers never take anybody in.' "'Elyzer is so young,' continued Lady Portmore, who was longing to bring the conversation round to herself.

Starting point is 03:08:20 And very little attention turns those young heads. And what made me wish to put you on your guard, Mrs. Douglas, is that That I know. This is, of course, entirely between ourselves, but I happen to know that Ernest is much attached to another person—quite a hopeless attachment, but—so it is. He is very much in love with—a married woman. More shame for her. It is a pity she does not see him now," answered Mrs. Douglas, still preserving her coldness. She would be thoroughly mortified, and it would do her a great deal of good. I have no patience with married women and their lovers."

Starting point is 03:08:58 "'Oh, but you mistake me, dear Mrs. Douglas! I would not have you supposed for an instant that because Ernest is in love with—this person we are alluding to—she has ever thought of giving him the slightest encouragement.' "'But it is what I do suppose, and always shall believe, Lady Portmore.' I am not speaking of Colonel Beaufort individually. I never met him before, and shall not very much care if I never meet him again. But I shall always suppose that when a man makes love to a married woman it is entirely her own fault, and it gives me the worst possible opinion of her." "'My dear Mrs. Douglas,' said Lady Portmore, growing quite warm in the argument. "'I do think you are a little too severe. I am sure I know of some instances of married women who are quite surrounded by admirers, who have yet conducted themselves in the most

Starting point is 03:09:51 wonderful manner.' "'I dare say they have,' said Mrs. Douglas significantly. "'I know several instances myself, and very wonderful women they are. I cannot bear them.' "'I, but I mean in the most exemplary manner. Now, Mrs. Douglas, only last year I knew a person, a married woman, very much admired,' sinking her voice modestly, Who had reason to know that a man whom she met constantly in society was very much in love with her?

Starting point is 03:10:25 He was in her opera-box every evening, met her at every party she went to, and passed half his mornings at her house. She saw the folly of this, knew that she was in danger of being talked of, and without the least hesitation, without a thought of the inconvenience and trouble, she set off to Cornwall, and passed a whole week there with the most tiresome old aunt in the world. This at once proved to the man that he had no chance, and he withdrew immediately, and effected a passion for somebody else. Now what do you think of that?" Why, that there was never anything half so absurd. If your friend had given up her opera-box, sent excuses to her balls, and said, not at home for a week, the gentleman's passion would soon have come to an end, and if she

Starting point is 03:11:11 had at first stayed at home with her husband and children, it never would have had a beginning. That grand action of a sudden rush to Cornwall must have flattered him amazingly. It showed she was obliged to go to the land's end for safety. No, whenever I hear any of that cant about the difficult position of a married woman with her lovers, I know exactly what to think of her. I think her a good-for-nothing woman." Really, Mrs. Douglas? Good-for-nothing is rather a strong term. I must say I cannot go so far as that.

Starting point is 03:11:44 Good-for-nothing is an odd expression applied to a well-mead. woman." Why, what is she good for, Lady Portmore? She is not a good wife, nor probably a good mother, and certainly not a good Christian. So I adhere to my expression. She is good for nothing. But if you lived in London you would think differently, Mrs. Douglas. You would see how difficult it is for a woman of ordinary pretensions.

Starting point is 03:12:10 However, we will not argue for. In fact, I am just like you, one of the strictest people possible. excessively straight-laced in all matters of principle, and besides we have wondered for our original topic. I merely wish to put you on your guard about earnest. He is just the sort of man to whose attentions I should object, for a daughter of my own. I forget whether you have any grown-up daughters?' asked Mrs. Douglas, with an innocent air of doubt. "'My dear, Mrs. Douglas, I have not been married nine years, or ten at the very utmost.' "'Indeed!'

Starting point is 03:12:48 There is an emphasis on the first syllable, indicative of profound astonishment. "'And I was quite a child at the time, married literally from the schoolroom. Before—' "'Ah!' with a half sigh. "'I knew what I was about.' "'Indeed,' said Mrs. Douglas, still in a marked state of emphatic surprise. "'Well, I am much obliged to you, Lady Portmore, for putting me on my ear, guard about Colonel Beaufort. But these things must take their chance. Perhaps he would not show

Starting point is 03:13:23 such a decided preference for Eliza's society if there were anything else to amuse him. But Miss Forrester does not seem inclined to take any notice of him, and Lady Teve it is so surrounded by all the other gentlemen. She has no time to attend to her cousin. So, there are only left you and I, Lady Portmore, and apparently he has not the slightest taste for our society. And so saying, Mrs. Douglas, who had been rolling up her strips of canvas and winding off her ends of Worcet, quietly took her basket and walked away, leaving Lady Portmore thoroughly discomfited by the many offensive insinuations conveyed in her closing speech. She was regularly out of sorts, and in that soured state in which the wish to do a little mischief is a

Starting point is 03:14:07 consoling idea. She was half inclined to leave St. Mary's, where her vanity felt half-starved, but her faith in her power over Lord Teviot remained unshaken, and her wish to try it had become stronger. Besides, she could not go now. There was a great man coming. End of Chapter 23 Chapter 24 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Mr. G. really was what is commonly called a great man. To the advantages of being being a Secretary of State and leader of the House of Commons, he joined those of being a brilliant orator, and a very agreeable member of society. He had offered himself as a visitor at St. Mary's,

Starting point is 03:15:00 which lay within reach of the large commercial town which he represented, and in which Lord Teviot possessed considerable property. There was to be a public meeting, and the opening of a new bridge, and a launch of a large ship, and much good eating and still better speaking, which Mr. G. and Lord Teviot were to assist. Mr. G. had been a youthful friend of the late Lord Teviot's, and the kindness which he received from the father he now repaid to the son. He had a high opinion of Lord Teviot's talents, founded more in the intimate knowledge he had attained in private life of the acuteness and straightforwardness of his mind than on the two or three successful speeches he had made

Starting point is 03:15:40 in the House of Lords, and Mr. G. was anxious to remove, by the stir of official life, the shadow that Lord Teviot's shyness or sensitiveness threw over his higher qualities. "'Come, Teviot,' said Lord Beaufort at breakfast. "'I'll bet you what do you like, that you are in office before this day three months.' "'What am I to be? A clerk in the foreign office. I do not see any other opening.' "'Oh, they will make an opening fast enough if you will go into it. They can shove off Old Leal to India, or make out an embassy for Chaffent. You will be in somehow before. Christmas?"

Starting point is 03:16:17 Not before Christmas, if at all. Nobody has time to be turned out during the holidays. "'How very droll!' exclaimed Lagrange. "'But it is a truth of the most striking. We in England are so occupied with the chase and the sport, and with the life of the castle in the winter, that we forget entirely our politic. I am very much delight to think I will meet Mr. G. in the ease of the country. He is one hero of mine.

Starting point is 03:16:45 He voyage alone, my lord?" Nah, who comes with him, Teviot? Only his private secretary, the faithful Fisherwick." "'Fisherwick!' repeated Colonel Stuart. "'Heavens and earth, I trust not!' "'Why, what harm do you know of him, Colonel Stuart?' said Lady Teviot. The gods forfend that I should know anything more or anything worse of him than his extraordinary cognomen.

Starting point is 03:17:11 But imagine travelling with one of that curious species. Think of being shot up alone in a carriage with a live Fisherwick. It makes my blood run cold. Fischerwick, repeated Lagrange. It is a difficult word, but I do know other of that name. At least I know of Mrs. Fisher very well, who lives at Ampton Vick. So I suppose she is one relation. She is made to be painted and very charming.

Starting point is 03:17:41 Does your ladyship know, Mrs. Fisher? Addressing Lady Portmore. Oh, dear, no, never heard of her," said Lady Portmore tartly. She began to think Lagrange not worth a civil answer. "'But, Teviot, to return to this idea of your coming into office, it is what I have always wished for you, and I shall insist of G's making some arrangements that will bring you in. I can promise you, Lord Portmore's support, he is a very high opinion of G.' "'Poor G,' whispered Ernest to his cousin. I hope she won't let that be generally known. It might give him a shake in public estimation.

Starting point is 03:18:20 "'And then Helen,' continued Lady Portmore, "'when Teviot is in office, you and I must set about being popular for the good of our friends. We must keep open house for the supporters of government. I will send you my list, and with a little of my help, you may make Teviot House of real importance to our party.' "'I am sure,' said Helen, laughing. i should be puzzled to say what my party is for at this moment i am very ignorant of all political matters but if lord teviot comes into office i suppose i shall grow as eager as most people are

Starting point is 03:18:56 would you like me to take office dear said lord teviot who was pleased with this avowal yes i think so and yet oh yes to be sure you would interrupted lady portmore everybody likes distinction and you as well as the rest, Helen, and then you could be of use to all the beauforts and pelham's and creation, which would delight you." I need not begin to think of them yet. Lord Tevey it is still unprovided for." No, Helen, and as you seem so well disposed for a political life, I am sorry to say that the whole thing is a vision of Lady Portmore's, and that G has no more idea of giving me an office than I have of asking for one. "'I am thinking,' said Lady Portmore.

Starting point is 03:19:41 If nothing else is available, which of the foreign embassies you could have?' "'Oh, no, not an embassy,' said Helen eagerly. "'I could not bear to live abroad, and to leave Papa and Mama,' she was about to add, but from some undefined feeling she stopped and said, "'And to leave England and my own home.' "'No, I think I might ask you in vain to do that,' said Lord Teviot coldly, for he rightly interpreted the meaning of the pawn. in her sentence. I should not have a willing companion in my exile."

Starting point is 03:20:16 "'Oh, you naughty girl!' said Lady Portmore, effectively. "'To hesitate about following your husband wherever he goes! To say nothing of such a husband! I am quite shocked at your hard-heartedness.' "'I do not think Helen's hard-heartedness to be compared to yours, Lady Portmore,' said Mary Forrester. "'You have suddenly sent Lord and Lady Teviot out of the country without the slightest warning. I have no doubt, Lord Tevey, it would be just as sorry to leave his friends as Helen would be to leave hers. Of course I say nothing of such friends," she added, laughing as she looked round to the table. In common politeness, neither he nor Helen can say that they could

Starting point is 03:20:57 quite console each other for the loss of us." "'Very true,' said Ernest, who saw Lady Portmore's game. And—' "'Very true,' added Lord Beaufort, who was struck with Miss Forrester's energy. and warmth. But at the sound of his voice and approval, the colour that came into Mary's cheek, and the slight curl of her lip, reminded him that he was not privileged to offer his opinion to her. Since the unlucky conversations in the library, not a word had passed between them, not even a look. She never seemed to see him. Once or twice it had nearly fallen to his lot to hand her

Starting point is 03:21:35 into dinner, but without any apparent premeditation, without a shadow of pique in her manner, she had contrived either to put Eliza forward, or by negligently continuing the conversation in which he might be engaged, to make it seem inevitable that Sir C. Smith or Mr. Douglas, or Colonel Beaufort should offer her an arm, and walk in before him. He did not quite like it. He would have preferred an open war, an attempted explanation, or a tart retort. But she did not deign to show her dislike in words. End of Chapter 24 Chapter 25 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden

Starting point is 03:22:18 This Librivox recording is in the public domain Mr. G arrived, of course too late for dinner, but as it was some years since he had seen either soup or fish in their best and hottest state of culinary excellence, he was quite satisfied, made the slightest possible apology for sitting down to dinner in his travelling dress, and looked like to eat. like a gentleman and a well-dressed man. Fisherwick looked horrible. He was, from his sedentary habits, averse to an open carriage even in the dog-days, and the afternoon had been very wet and foggy, so he was chilly to the last degree, and he always turned bright yellow,

Starting point is 03:22:57 tipped with blue when the fresh country air blew for any length of time on his worn-out Downing Street frame. His hair contrived to collect more dust than the usual laws of capillary attraction warranted. His black neckcloth turned browner and hung looser than common black cravats, his coat was a dingy brown, and altogether he had the air of an exhausted ink bottle. If he had been allowed his luncheon on the road and gallons of hot soap and water on his arrival, he would have been quite another Fisherwick. But as it was, he looked like a very unwashed artificer indeed. Until he arrived at his third glass of champagne, he was as depressed and as uncomfortable as it was possible for a cabinet minister's private secretary, nay Fisherwick,

Starting point is 03:23:42 to be. But then he revived, and resumed his usual habits of official affability and courteous in communicativeness, and his little dry pleasantries flowed forth, playfully cloaking his inflexible discretion. "'Any foreign news, Fisherwick?' said Sir Charles. "'I don't half like your last Spanish accounts.' "'Ah, trust you, country gentlemen for croaking. and for finding out what is not to be liked. You were never satisfied." The last published details are anything but satisfactory. Have you any later accounts?" I do not know the date of the last you saw. They were dated the twenty-third. You must have heard later news than that."

Starting point is 03:24:26 We ought, certainly. For myself I ask nothing more from Spain than a glass of this excellent sherry. "'Are you asking about the Spanish news?' said Mr. G from the other end of the table. "'Nothing can be worse. Our friends are in full retreat, and in fact the game is up.' "'Now, is not that so like him?' exclaimed Fisherwick in an ecstasy. "'I always say there is nothing like his candour and courage. I never saw such a man.' "'At what time did you start this morning?' At seven. He's always ready, you know. You must have found it coolish work, starting in the rain and fog at that hour."

Starting point is 03:25:10 "'He is never cold,' said the pinched and suffering Fisherwick. He said it was as fine a morning as we could expect. He has the cheerfullest mind, and a power over it that I never saw equaled. What do you think he did the last stage? Slept like a top, though I told him when we changed horses, that I was afraid we should be too late for dinner. "'We always are, my dear fish,' he said, and went to sleep again with the greatest composure. He has such equable spirits.' "'He looks well,' said Lord Beaufort, considering what a bore of a session it has been. "'Does not he?' said Fisherwick triumphantly.

Starting point is 03:25:51 "'I am excessively glad your lordship has observed it. It is quite remarkable. I never saw him look better.' And his dear, dusty eyes filled with tears, for his devourable. devotion to his chief was as genuine as it was apparent, and he always took to himself the comments, whether complimentary or condemnatory, that were made on Mr. G. It made him feel well, himself, to be told that Mr. G. looked so. Lady Portmore was not satisfied with her position at the dining-table. She was seated by Lord Teviot, and as the place next to Helen had been reserved for Mr. G., she was as far removed from the reigning great man as was possible, and to her surprise she saw Helen and Mr. G. talking and laughing with all the ease of old acquaintance.

Starting point is 03:26:36 Once or twice she tried to enter into their conversation, but the distance was too great, and her sparkling remarks were lost in the steam of the entrees before they reached the head of the table. "'What a clever countenance my friend G. has!' she said to Lord Teviot. "'Such a brow! If I met him without knowing who he was, I should say directly, that must be a clever man!' "'It is very unlucky,' said Mrs. Douglas, who was seated on the other hand of Lord Teviot. "'But I cannot agree with you at all. I never was more disappointed in my life with anybody's looks.

Starting point is 03:27:12 He is so bald, and nearly grey, at least ten years older looking than I had expected, and altogether very much like other people. But that is always the case. I never yet saw anybody who had been much cried up who did not seem to me particularly commonplace.' "'Wait till you hear him converse,' said Lord Teviot. "'Perhaps you will then own that he is rather above the common herd.' "'Yes,' said Lady Portmore. "'You will see how it will be this evening. He is perhaps more at his ease with me than with anybody,

Starting point is 03:27:44 and I will lead him to talk on subjects that interest him, and you will be amazingly struck with his talent.' "'At present I am much more struck with his teeth. Pray does he laugh always so much. among common characters that would be looked upon as a proof of folly. Perhaps G will turn out to be a fool at last, said Lord Teviot. Oh, no! interrupted Lady Portmore, who had not the first principles of a joke in her.

Starting point is 03:28:13 You may believe me! G is no fool! I can answer for that! I have known him for ages, and can venture to say he is decidedly above par. Well, then, his laughter is only a proof that Lady Tegov. Teviot amuses him. They certainly are very gay at that end of the table." "'Yes, absolutely noisy,' said Lady Portmore spitefully.

Starting point is 03:28:36 "'Now, my dear Teviot,' she added, lowering her voice, "'this shows you how right I was, when I told you that Helen required mixed society to put her in spirits. Only let your house be full, and she will be happy. And perhaps, when she is a little older and wiser, she will be more content with domestic life." And with this food for meditation she left him, as she obeyed Helen's signal to retire. End of Chapter 25. Chapter 26 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. "'Don't you think Reginald's do it very much out of spirits?' said Lady Portmore, when she was lingering over the breakfast-table after the other ladies had withdrawn.

Starting point is 03:29:29 and Lord Teviot and Stuart had gone out shooting. "'Yes, I think he is,' said Ernest. "'Rather out of spirits and very much out of cash, I suspect, the old story of cause and effect.' "'Poor fellow,' continued Lady Portmore. "'It is a very deplorable case, for I don't believe that tiresome, pokey brother of his Lord Weybridge will help him. In fact, between ourselves I don't like Lord Weybridge.

Starting point is 03:29:59 He is so hypocritical. He always pretends to be on good terms with our friend Reginald, and yet he lets him go on, distressed to the last degree for money. He did pay his debts once, you know, £16,000. Yes, but that was years ago. When Stuart was so young, he hardly knew which he was spending. I have heard him say twenty times that he had no more idea how he spent all that money than the man in the moon. But now that he is older and wiser, I have heard him say, I feel certain that if Lord Weybridge were to pay off what he owes, and give him something reasonable to live on, he would be very steady.

Starting point is 03:30:37 "'Waybridge has six boys of his own, you must remember,' said Lord Beaufort. "'Now, my dear Beaufort, do you not join to run down, poor Stuart? You can have no idea of his position. There you are an only son, with a large allowance, and Lord Eskdale ready to pay your debts at any moment.' "'Is he? I am charmed to hear it, but I beg to observe that he has not had to pay sixteen thousand pounds, or even sixteen hundred pounds for me, and my run against Stuart consists simply in the observation that Lord Weybridge has six boys to provide for.' "'What? Those babies? Why, the eldest is not eight years old. They can cost him nothing but a few yards of stuff for their frocks. Children can be clothed and fed for nothing now, and I only want him to put Steve. it straight with the world, and then he may say for his own children at welcome." "'A hope,' said Lagrange.

Starting point is 03:31:35 "'Gonel Stuart is not so much indebted. He have a horse which will run at Doncaster, and have taken one house at Melton.' "'Yes, quite a cottage. I know he has given up the large house he had last year without a murmur, and as for his horse at Doncaster, he told me himself that he is sick of the turf, but he thinks it is absolute duty to try if he cannot recover a little money at Donkaster. "'Ah, then he run that horse for just a matter of trade, as a lawyer makes a speech for fee.' "'Exactly! That is his view of the case. And in all other respects I never saw a creature more unselfish.

Starting point is 03:32:11 I know he only came here with a pair of horses. He has withdrawn his name from one club, if not more, and accepting his riding horses he keeps nothing but a cabriolet.' "'Ah, that cabriolet,' said Mr. G. Now that is one of the mysteries I wish you would solve for me, Lady Portmore. There are about sixty clerks in my office, most of them younger brothers of good family, with allowances of two or three hundred a year, and by writing eight hours daily they can earn another hundred. And yet two-thirds of these youngsters keep a cab with a high-stepping horse and in a minute

Starting point is 03:32:46 of groom. I do not know what it costs, as I never indulged in such a luxury myself, but I presume that above half of their income goes in this foolery. But what can they do? London is so large. Yes, said Lagrange, it is of such immense grandeur, and without a cab how can you bring yourself out of the affair? Suppose yourself with a visit to make in the high end of Portland Place, how would you get there from the travellers? By Regent Street, said Mr. G, smiling. But how? I beg a thousand pardons.

Starting point is 03:33:22 On foot? "'Oh, impossible,' said Lady Portmore. "'It would kill any of the young men of the present day to attempt such a walk. It must be four miles at least, or two or some immense distance. No, I dare say a cab is rather an extravagance, but I own I think it in absolute necessity.' "'Yes,' said Lord Beaufort. "'I do not see what a man is to do in London without a cab.' "'No,' said Ernest.

Starting point is 03:33:50 "'I quite agree with you. It is as indispensable as a coat.' "'Exactly so,' said Lagrange. "'I am quite convinced of the fact by this unanimity of opinion,' answered Mr. G. "'I am only thankful I was born before this fatal cabriolet obligation was invented, and that I am able to walk every day from Grovenna Square to Downing Street and back again.' "'But if it rains!' I put on my great-coat and put up my umbrella,

Starting point is 03:34:19 and it is curious that I am generally accompanied by some man of my own standing, and that every crossing we are either splashed or nearly run over by a tribe of young boys going nodding along in one of those puppet shows on wheels. However, if it is necessary, I say no more, but I am not surprised to hear of so many young men deeply in debt. And so saying he walked after his red boxes and his fissurewick. It is very sad, certainly. And G may be partly right,' said Lady Portmore. "'But in Stuart's case his cabriolet is an actual measure of economy. He sold those magnificent carriage horses when he set it up. I must repeat that I think he is in a very pitiable position. He is willing to submit to every sort of probation. But as he says, what is the use of trying

Starting point is 03:35:09 if his family will not help him?' I thought his mother was very liberal to him. Yes, she makes him some sort of allowance, but she does not do all that he expected. And that is where I think his family is so much to blame. They help him only to a certain extent. And that, as he says, puts him in a false position. He gets the reputation of having his debts paid over and over again, and yet he is never so entirely clear as to feel encouraged to live economically. No, it really makes my heart bleed to think of all those selfish waybridges, and to see Stuart so unlike himself. "'Has not your friend Miss Forrester?' said Lord Beaufort.

Starting point is 03:35:47 a great share of Stuart's low spirits to answer for. "'If you mean that he cares about her,' said Lady Portmore, "'that is what he never did, and never will, in my opinion. But at one time he had certainly good right to expect that she would marry him, and it is a great pity she did not.' She jolted him in the coolest manner when she inherited that fortune. Did she not?' said Lord Beaufort. "'Had you not better look behind the screen, Beaufort, before you proceed?'

Starting point is 03:36:17 whispered earnest pah nonsense he said as he started from his chair as he spoke for leaning against the conservatory where she and eliza had gone to gather flowers stood mary forester and any faint hopes which he might have entertained of not having been overheard were dissipated by the decided measure she took of walking straight up to the table and addressing him this is the second time lord beaufort in which i have by chance overheard you accuse me of the most odious conduct to Colonel Stewart." She stopped, apparently choked by the violence of her emotion. Her face was pale, but hot tears of shame and anger stood in her beaming eyes. After a moment's pause, which no one dared to interrupt except La Grange, who politely pushed a chair half an inch nearer to her, she passed her hands rapidly over her face and said in a more collected tone. "'But this is foolish. I am speaking as if I were angry. And perhaps I was so for a minute.'

Starting point is 03:37:17 at all events it is evident that i am not calm enough not enough at my ease to make a good defence against your charges but lady portmore has already borne witness that i never possessed the affections of lord beaufort's friend and if lord beaufort will take the trouble to ask his sister how and when i became aware of the fact she has my free leave to tell him all I think she can exculpate me from the crime of jolting Colonel Stuart. I am sure, said Lord Beaufort. I am certain that is I have no right to ask Helen. Perhaps not, she said dejectedly. But I ask it as a favour. You have only heard and repeated the statements of your friend. Hear what my friend, and Helen is my real and best friend, has to say for me.

Starting point is 03:38:04 Perhaps you will think me still to blame, but I think your persecution of me—and she half smiled—will not be so constant as it now seems to be. Again there was a short pause. She leant with both hands on the table to steady herself, for she shook with timidity as she added. I am ashamed to say so much about myself. But the fortune that is supposed to have influenced me does not exist. I mean that I am not the heiress Lord Beaufort thinks I am. The fortune is not mine now. I wish everyone to know that. Now Eliza let us go." And so swift was their retreat that no one had time to speak before they were fairly housed in the next room, and Eliza had thrown her arms around her friend's neck, and given way to the burst of tears

Starting point is 03:38:50 which had been gathering during the whole scene, while she said, "'Never mind them, dear Miss Forrester, it is all ill nature, and they had much the worst of it at last.' And so they had. There never was a more discomfited set of people, barring La Grange, who considered himself in high luck at having witnessed such a scene. It was an incident quite unmatched in his English recollections, and he was only longing to slip away and write it down before he lost the idiom of Miss Forrester's expressions. Lord Beaufort was completely overpowered.

Starting point is 03:39:22 Even Lady Portmore was annoyed, for though she knew she could never be in the wrong, she thought she might have been more in the right if she had taken Mary's part more decidedly, but she was the first to speak. Well, this is very unlucky. Very, said Ernest. Dost unlucky, said Lagrange, who was learned in vulgar English expletives. I hate the sort of thing, said Lady Portmore. Because though I said nothing, Mary might think I did, and it will make such a tracassery.

Starting point is 03:39:54 Come, Beaufort, speak up, said Ernest, patting him on the shoulder. I cannot. said Lord Beaufort, rising and leaning his head against the chimney-piece. It's a bad business. It certainly is, said Lady Portmore, and those sorts of scenes take away one's presence of mind, so, or else I would have explained it all to marry at once. It was very fine, though.

Starting point is 03:40:18 Miss Forrester represented very much pasta in Madea, at the grand moment when she says, lo! added La Grange. Can't you send him away? whispered Lord Beaufort to Lady Portmore. Mr. Legrange, if you mean to go out shooting today, there are all the keepers now on the lawn. Ah, I see, Lady Portmore, you do think my chamber—I mean, my room, better than my company, as—may we say in England.

Starting point is 03:40:47 And I dare say I will disturb you if I stay. My lord, do not distress yourself. When Miss Foster thinks it over, she shall think it all fudge to be affronted just for so few words. And with a hearty laugh at the excellence of his English vulgarity, which harmonised ill with the fearing of his hearers, La Grange walked off. "'Oh, I am glad he's gone,' said Lady Portmore. "'Do shut the door, Ernest, for fear he should hear me say how detestable he is! And now what are we all to do?' "'We have done enough for one morning,' said Ernest. "'But what did Mary mean by the second time?' Lady Portmore asked. Beaufort gave her the benefit of his opinion once before, in the library, when she was in the gallery.

Starting point is 03:41:33 No, did he? Oh, really, that is being imprudent, my dear Beaufort! And what distresses me particularly is, that Mary came in just when she did. If she had waited a moment, I was going to tell you that the engagement, or attachment, or whatever it was, was at an end a fortnight before Mary ever heard of that fortune, and that she gave Stuart up on hearing of that unfortunate Mrs. Neville. In fact, I think Mrs. Neville sent to some of Stuart's letters, or wrote to her, or something of that kind.

Starting point is 03:42:02 You might have told me sooner, Lady Portmore, and then I should not have said what I did. How did I know that you were not aware of it? I think, really, Beaufort the Scraper's entirely your own, and you need not try to draw me into it. Besides, I am the last person in the world likely to say anything against Mary, who I am sure loves me better than anybody upon earth, though she did call Helen her best friend, but then she was angry. Why, I've brought her here, you know, in my own carriage." "'It is rather a pity you did,' said Ernest, as things have turned out.

Starting point is 03:42:35 "'Don't joke about it, Ernest,' said Lord Beaufort, for I am heartily vexed, and that is the truth. It does look like a persecution, as she said.' "'She came forward very gallantly,' said Ernest. "'I did not suspect she had so much spirit. We all looked remarkably small, I thought.' "'As for that,' said Lady Portmore, "'I must beg to say that I did not look the least put out.' "'My dear lady, I wish you could have seen yourself. Such a look of guilt. I expected you to faint.'

Starting point is 03:43:07 "'Nonsense, Ernest! Why should I? I was taking Mary's part. At least I should have taken it another minute. But for fear of any mistake I shall just go after her, and explain to her that I was quite innocent during the whole conversation.' "'And I shall go to Helen,' said Lord Beaufort. "'And I shall go and look for my own particular little Miss Douglas,' said Ernest. She looked aghast at the sudden breeze. The confidant's look of horror prevented me from giving my undivided attention to the principal performers.

Starting point is 03:43:37 I should like to hear what she thought of it. "'You really will persuade yourself that you care about that little Douglas girl, if you carry on the joke much farther,' said Lady Portmore in a vexed tone. "'Boford, I would advise you to wait a little, or you will find Mary with your sister.' "'I don't very much care if I do. The meeting will be awkward at any rate, and I'd rather have it over when I in the mood to say all is humble.' And he walked off. "'It is rather unfair that he should see her first,' said Lady Portmore. "'So I shall go to her room and see if she is there.'

Starting point is 03:44:12 "'And when you have both exculpated yourselves for saying too much,' said Ernest, "'will you add in a note that I, according to my praiseworthy custom, was saying nothing?' End of Chapter 26 Chapter 27 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. Lord Beaufort waited some time in his sister's room before she came to him. She had been with Mary, and had heard the history of the contretemps of the morning, and was prepared to pacify and explain, and smooth and conciliate, till all should be peace again.

Starting point is 03:44:56 Such is the daily toil of the mistress of a large country house. No laundress ironing away at an obstinate row of plates. No carpenter, planing the roughest plank of wood. No gardener, raking the stonyest soil, has half the trouble she has, to maintain a smooth surface in the aspect of her mixed society. Nothing more is asked. They may all hate, all envy, all rival each other. They may say everything that is ill-natured and do everything that

Starting point is 03:45:26 his mischievous, but the general effect, as painters would call it, must be harmony, and this must be maintained by the tact of the hostess." Such an outbreak as had occurred this morning was an unusual novelty, and Helen must quell that before the parties at variance met at dinner. She found Lord Beaufort most willing to do all in his power to deprecate Miss Forrester's resentment. Her appeal to Helen had touched him, and as he hated to see a woman in tears, her struggle for composure had excited his admiration and gratitude.

Starting point is 03:46:01 And when he heard her whole history, he found further reason for her regretting what he had said. Mary had received Colonel Stewart's attentions with pleasure during the time in which she believed him to be attached to her, and until she was surprised by a visit from a Mrs. Neville, who had good reason to suppose herself the object of Colonel Stewart's preference. Driven to desperation by the report of his marriage to Miss Forrester, she adopted, the decisive expedient of making her rival her confidant. She told her story, and produced her vouchers, in the shape of some of Colonel Stewart's letters, and she cried over them, and her own guilt and his treachery, and Mr. Neville's wrongs, and in the madness of her passion and her jealousy threw away her own character, her pride, her delicacy, all, so that she could

Starting point is 03:46:49 prove that the man she loved was a villain. She succeeded, so far as thwarting Colonel Stewart in his hope of marrying Mary could be called success. Whether disappointing him and his dearest hopes were a likely method to regain his affections, she had not, perhaps, considered. Miss Forrester declined a continuance of Colonel Stuart's attentions, and when pressed by him to assign a reason for her change of manner, she frankly pleaded her knowledge of his want of principle, his seduction of Mrs. Neville, and his heartlessness in deserting her. He flew off into a violent rage with Mrs. Neville, and ended by being so much—and ended by being scarcely less furious with Miss Forrester. A fortnight later, when she became a rich heiress,

Starting point is 03:47:31 his anger turned upon himself for having quarreled so completely with her, and, to save his own character he changed the date of their disagreement, and allowed his friends to suppose that her money had been the root of his evil fortune. All this Helen repeated to Lord Beaufort, and his knowledge of all parties gave him instant conviction of the truth of the story. "'But why does she say that the fortune is not hers now?' That is a point she would be unwilling to explain, but that she is anxious it should be understood now that she is not an heiress, and she imagines that it is ignorance on this subject which

Starting point is 03:48:05 induced Colonel Stuart to follow her here. It was always supposed that the fortune which old Mrs. Forrester left to her would have been divided between her and her two brothers, one is in the West Indies with his wife, and the other at sea. From some scruples about the will, not worth explaining, Mary is convinced that her brother's claims are as good as her own, at least so she chooses to say, and as she came of age two months ago she is written to them, giving each of them a third of the property. I do not know the exact sum, but I believe she will have nearly thirty thousand pounds herself, which she says is quite enough for her."

Starting point is 03:48:44 And does she really mean to give away sixty thousand pounds? Well, she is a noble creature. I am in the humour just now to give her credit for every virtue under heaven, but I would rather not see her again. Can't you, dearest Nell, make the humblest apologies for me, and crown the whole by saying that as I am sure she must hate the sight of me, I have taken myself off to London?" "'Oh, no! Dear Beaufort, you do not really mean you were going.

Starting point is 03:49:12 That would be too absurd.' But the best thing I can do—I shall look so foolish when I see her. And there is that blockhead, Lagrange, to make his ungrammatical remarks on us. And as I said before, she must hate the son. of me?" No, indeed she does not. Perhaps she does not like you much at this moment, but it will all soon be forgotten. She is now waiting for me in my garden, to which she went, and that she might escape poor

Starting point is 03:49:39 dear Lady Portmore." Ah, it is more than half Lady Portmore's fault. She will sit gossiping for an hour over the breakfast-table, and somehow people are always ill-natured at that early time of the day—bilious, I suppose. But those empty egg-cups and dirty plates always hear a great deal of scandal, and then Lady Portmore likes to denigre her dear friends. Well, never mind, now. Come with me to the garden, and make your speech of regret, etc.

Starting point is 03:50:09 Oh, no, not with you, Nell. I could not say a word if you were standing by." Well, then go without me. That is a thousand times worse. No, the whole thing is a mess and past cure, and the only resource is for me to take myself off." "'Oh, but that is so hard upon me,' said Helen, with tears in her eyes. "'You must stay, darling.'

Starting point is 03:50:34 And she stooped down and kissed his forehead. At this moment Lord Teviot entered, but seeing how eagerly they were conversing, drew back. "'Oh, come in, Teviot, pray come in.' "'I will come back presently, if you are engaged.' "'No, I am not engaged, but Boet will insist on going away today, and I cannot possibly let him." "'Boford, may I tell Lord Tevey it the whole story?' "'Certainly, my dear, if you like to repeat such a foolish business—'

Starting point is 03:51:05 "'If it is a family's secret, my curiosity is not ungovernable. I had no idea you were closeted together for a mysterious story, or I would not have interrupted you.' "'But it is no secret,' said Helen, and she told him Arl that had passed, which threw him into such fits of laughter that Beaufort began to think the matter was not so serious as he had supposed." "'Then you advise him to stay,' said Helen. "'In his place I should go, but—'

Starting point is 03:51:35 "'There, Helen, you hear what Teviot says.' "'You did not let me finish my sentence,' said Lord Teviot. "'I was going to add that you cannot possibly go to-day, because you promised to dine with a mayor of N to-morrow, and your going away would be in front to him, and to me, etc., etc." "'Yes, that is clear,' said Helen. Long live the mayor of N. And now, both it I will tell you how it shall all be.

Starting point is 03:52:02 Mary and I will go out riding with Ernest only, and you shall join us accidentally, and make your peace, while Ernest and I are cantering on first, and then follow us directly. You and Mary will, of course, hate each other for the rest of your lives, but that does not signify. So now it is all settled. You are going to drive Lady Portmore, of course, Teviot?" "'Of course,' he replied, though provoked that Helen took it so coolly for granted. "'And the Douglases are going to pay a visit in the neighbourhood. Mr. G. may ride with us if he likes.

Starting point is 03:52:35 He will never discover any little treaty of peace that has made under his eyes and without a red box. The rest are out-shooting, I believe. But there is poor Mr. Fisherwick. Something really ought to be done for him.' He is quite happy. There are dispatches both from Lisbon and Madrid, quite enough to keep him in perfect content until dinner." "'Then we are all provided for,' she said, and ran off to Mary. Everything came to pass as planned. The riding-party set off. Lord Beaufort surprised them by a clever ambuscade from the stable wall.

Starting point is 03:53:09 He told Mary he had been quite mistaken and wrong in what he had asserted, and he was sorry that she had overheard it. Mary agreed with him in both these propositions, and said she should think no more of it, It was a bold assertion. He begged her to forgive him for Helen's sake, and hoped she would shake hands to show they were friends. She suggested that their shaking hands might have an alarming effect on the nerves of the grooms who were riding behind them.

Starting point is 03:53:35 But she forgave him with all her heart, and then she contrived to give Salim a slight touch with her whip which brought him cleverly up to the rest of the party. And so the affair ended, and with a little additional dislike on the lady's side, and some irksome reflections on the part of the gentleman. Lady Portmore had already seen Mary, and proved to her that she had not such a friend as herself, that when she had said Mary was cold-hearted she meant quite the reverse, and so on. La Grange gave one or two mal-apropos laughs when they met for dinner, which were put down by acclamation, and the only person who derived unmixed delight from the occurrence was Mrs. Douglas.

Starting point is 03:54:15 Eliza told the story to her, and she was charmed, because it enabled her to give a little hit at all parties. She hoped it would cure Lady Portmore of that excessively improper practice of sitting gossiping half the morning with the gentlemen. She knew it was the right thing to say that Mary had not jilted Colonel Stewart. But somehow she—Mr. Douglas, should never get rid of the impression that she had—and she had never been more surprised than she was to hear that Mary was only just of age. She looked six and twenty at least. And if Colonel Stuart was her only lover, much could not be said for her success in the same. life. She only wondered that Lord Beaufort did not get into more scrapes from his unguarded way

Starting point is 03:54:56 of talking, and she supposed that if Lady Teviot ever could believe him to have a fault, she could not be much pleased at finding he spent his mornings in taking away the reputations of her friends. Colonel Stuart and Fisherwick were the only people not in the secret. The first, because Lady Portmore had not had the opportunity of talking with him, and Fisherwick, because he had been writing from ten in the morning till the dressing-bell rang, when he took a run in the dark round the shrubbery, and came down to dinner looking yellower and more narrow-chested than ever, but declaring that nothing agreed so well with—'os official men—as plenty of fresh air and exercise.

Starting point is 03:55:32 "'I am afraid that you had not time for a ride to-day, Mr. Fisherwick,' said Lord Tevey at civilly. "'No, my lord, though it was rather an idle day with me, but I indulged in a charming walk, only the sun was rather low.' It had been gone down about an hour. but he had a ride i was happy to hear exercise is so good for him that i was delighted to find our despatches were not of a nature to keep him at home all day exemplary creature murmured ernest why have we not each a fisherwick vain wish unless each were a cabinet minister there are hours in which the devoted lover grudges the attendants on his mistress which keeps him from tattersalls the devoted husband expected his wife to attend solely to him, and even the devoted parent has moments in which the impulse

Starting point is 03:56:24 to give the idolized child a good shake is almost irresistible. All have their provocations and their fits of doubt and impatience. But the private secretary has none. He believes his chief to be faultless, and his official plans unequalled. He identifies himself with the man and the system. The minister and the red boxes, the treaties and the bills, the blue The new ribbon and the red tape, the members and the messengers, are all part and parcel of what he calls public life. They all stand on the same line. He looks upon them as the attributes of the individual who has made him a private secretary,

Starting point is 03:57:03 and he worships and writes. "'Remember, you are all up early for breakfast to-morrow,' said Lord Teviot as the ladies withdrew at night. "'We must be often good time. There is the new bridge to open, and the collation to eat, and G. speech to hear, and we are six miles from the scene of the action. Above all things, I recommend an elaborate toilette, for the sake of my friend the Mayor, who hoped I should bring a smart party."

Starting point is 03:57:31 "'An awful prospect! Will you tell my servant to call me the day after to-morrow?' said Ernest, turning to the groom of the chambers as he walked off to bed. Mr. Phillips was too well educated to smile, but he thought it an excellent joke, and cut it over again on his own account to the Stewards Room Boy, which made all the ladies' maids nearly die of laughing. End of Chapter 27. Chapter 28 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden.

Starting point is 03:58:07 This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The important morning came, and with it the four carriages and four, and Lady Portmore resplendent in feathers and silks, and much to be admired. till Helen came in, looking like a genuine angel, so soft and white and bright. It is difficult for the unlearned to explain the component parts of a becoming dress, but some of the party observed that the embroidery on her silk police must have been done at Lyon, to which Mrs. Douglas subjoined the oracular remark, that it was a pity that it was white upon white.

Starting point is 03:58:46 There was also a quantity of shining lace, ordinarily, I believe, termed blonde, floating about, and forming an admirable cloud for the angel to float on." "'Well, Helen, you have gone and done it,' said Ernest. "'Am not I bien mes?' she said, blushing. "'I have really taken a great deal of pains about my dress, that the people at N may approve of Lord Teviot's taste. You know it is my first appearance there.' "'And mine,' said Lady Portmore.

Starting point is 03:59:20 "'And mine,' added Mrs. Douglas, in a tone that made everybody laugh except Lady Portmore, and she went on, never-minding. "'But, my dear Helen, we must not expect to attract much notice to-day. There stands the real lion.' "'My importance as a lion will not come into play till I begin roaring,' said Mr. G. And my constituents will be glad to have something to look upon, even if they deign to listen to me.' "'Really, my dear Teviot,' he whispered as Helen moved on. "'I never saw such perfection. I cannot take my eyes from her.' Such a speech from any other man would have given Lord Teviot a jet-black fit of jealousy,

Starting point is 04:00:07 but it delighted him from Mr. G, who had established a right to make a little solemn political love to all the distinguished beauties of the day, and it was by no means a mere measure of custom and courtesy. He was as busy about his little flirtations, and as absorbed in his little sentiments, as if he had been a lord somebody something just gone into the guards, and doing his first London season, and nobody thought it odd. Half the women in London unblushingly paid court to him, and nobody said it was scandalous. If he got away from the House of Commons and came to a party, there was a sort of rustling sensation in the room, and two or three of his reigning loves immediately got up and made a circle

Starting point is 04:00:48 around him, and drew their chairs close to his, and hated each other, and were as eager in their rivalries as if he had been thirty years younger, and were not absorbed in politics eleven hours out of every twelve. Lady Teviot had taken his fancy prodigiously, and his unrivaled powers of pleasing were exerted for this young creature as if he were her own contemporary. Again Lady Portmore was puzzled. In another point she was baffled. She wished to be in the same carriage as the hero of the day, but a little bit of the day. Lord and Lady Middlesex had arrived the night before, solely for the sake of attending the ceremony. They were a remarkably dull couple. He, a quiet, magistratey sort of man, who

Starting point is 04:01:29 never went into society except on a great county occasion. She, a little crooked woman with an unpretending manner and a mistaken bonnet. But with all these drawbacks his peerage was a century older than Lord Portmores, and upon a state occasion like this, precedence must have its rights. So Lady Middlesexeckel's went with Lady Teviot in her carriage, which also contained Mr. G. and Lord Teviot, the lion and his keeper. Lady Portmore found herself actually doomed to the second carriage, with Mrs. Douglas at her side and Lord Middlesex opposite to her, and La Grange going to make a spring at the fourth place. But despair gave her energy, and she called to Ernest to take

Starting point is 04:02:12 his seat. "'Thank you,' he said. "'But I hate sitting backwards, and Miss D. Douglas, who does not mind it, has promised to change places with me if I go in her carriage." "'Indeed, I never did, Colonel Beaufort.' "'Well, but you will, I know. If not I shall look so frightfully pale that it will spoil the show and distress the mayor. Now let us get in.' "'Come, then, Stuart,' said Lady Portmore, "'I will have you here.'

Starting point is 04:02:41 Lord Beaufort and Colonel Stuart, who had each their reasons for wishing to avoid the carriage which contained Miss Forrester, both hastened forward, and at last Lady Portmore was gratified by Mrs. Douglas's declaration that she should like to go in the fourth carriage, which had the honour of conveying her husband. So Lady Portmore had the pride of being escorted by three gentlemen, and the pleasure of talking to them all the way. The delay occasioned by these arrangements gave the Teviot carriage some little advance, and the cheers with which it was received reached Lady Portmore's ears when she was in the midst of one of her confidential harangues. "'What a noise!' she said. "'All on G.'s account, of course. He is so extremely popular.

Starting point is 04:03:25 I often tell him his head will be turned. How they are cheering! It must be for him. What is it all about?' "'We shall be in the thick of it soon,' said Lord Beaufort. They are trying to take the horses off, and there is Teviate imploring and gesticulating like a madman, Helen standing up and curtsying, and now for such a hurrah." A fresh mob rushed by. "'Which is my lord's carriage? Where is the young lady?'

Starting point is 04:03:54 "'There, my good fellows, Lady Teviot is a lady in white.' "'Why, you don't suppose,' said Colonel Stuart, "'they will go and take that estimable little hobgoblin Lady Middlesex for a bride.' Another cheer, and as the carriage is moved slowly on, the murmur of comments on my lady's beauty and my lord's luck reached Lady Portmore's ears, and were encouraged by Lord Beaufort, who leaned out of the carriage and talked and laughed with the crowd, much to their mutual satisfaction. Lady Portmore waxed cross. Wished she had known it would be such a mob, she would not have come, thought they had better wait a little, that the dust might subside. But no on they went,

Starting point is 04:04:35 the cheers becoming louder and the dust more opaque, and no vanquished king of the Huns changed the car of a Roman dictator, could feel his degradation more sensibly than Lady Portmore, following unnoticed in Helen's wake. At last they arrived at the entrance of the bridge, and there stood the mayor and the magnates of the borough, with white staves in their hands and white ribbons in their buttonholes, and white scarves over their shoulders, and Mrs. Mayoress gorgeously arrayed, holding a bouquet to present to Lady Teviot, and the young mayors and mayor-ess is giggling at, the figure papa cut with a white shawl on, holding bouquets for the rest of the company. The bridge was decked with flags, arches of laurel were thrown over

Starting point is 04:05:19 it, and a barricade had been thrown across it to prevent any unhalowed foot from profaning the pavement till the proper moment. There was a dinner ready to be eaten at one end, and a balloon half-way ready to go up at the other. The carriages had all arrived, and the company were all assembled. Lord Teviot led up the mayor and mayoress in their goodly company, and introduced them to his bride, and Mr. G. accosted them with all the easy cordiality a well-practiced member knows how to assume—perhaps really feels—although that is doubtful. He had the knack of remembering their private histories and family connections, and was strong in his recollection of Christian names.

Starting point is 04:05:58 "'Ah, Dobigin, glad to see you. I expected you would have been off after the grouse. Charles Lloyd, you have been beat about the stone-coping of the bridge, I am glad to see.' Taylor is your father here? What is that Nathaniel Curry? You've been living on the fat of the land since last I saw you. William, here's the sovereign I owe you. Our bet about the steamer. Mrs. Dobiggin, this is my godson, I am certain.

Starting point is 04:06:22 I am expressly proud of George Dobigin, Lady Teviot. I must beg you to admire these curls. And now, for our bridge, it is a very handsome structure upon my word. Lady Teviot, you are to be the first to put your foot on our bridge. Now for it. The procession was put in motion. The mayor gave a signal with his wand, the flags were hoisted, the guns went off, and the band at the other end began playing that original and unhackneyed air, see the conquering hero comes. But the barricade at the entrance had been made so particularly

Starting point is 04:06:54 firm and good that none of the committee of management could move it, and it seemed probable that there would be a regular siege before the hero could either come, or with any propriety be called a conqueror. The agitated mayor waved his wand wildly, and, and called for the clerk of the works. But he had gone to assist at the inflation of the balloon, and was in his turn storming at the gas-man for the inefficient supply of gas. Still the band went on playing. Still the barricade stood firm, and still the balloon remained flaccid. The mayor tore his white scarf and his attacks on the posts, the mayoress' face grew scarlet, but she periodically made little pokes at the powerful railing with the white ivory

Starting point is 04:07:33 handle of her parasol—well meant but ineffective. La Grange proposed calling for boats, and attacking the bridge from the other side. "'Impossible, quite impossible, my dear sir,' said the mayor. "'The boats are stationed here to convey the company to the launch, and the programme, sir, the programme specifies the south side of the bridge.' Happily, before the scene became perfectly ludicrous, the real carpenter arrived, the obstacles were removed, and the company advanced. It was really a pretty sight.

Starting point is 04:08:05 The river was covered with boats, the keys, and the ekees, and the... adjoining buildings with people. The bridge was a very handsome structure, and no pains had been spared to make the temporary decorations accord with the occasion. As the procession turned to walk back again, the balloon rose at just the proper moment, carrying into the clouds for the hundred and twenty-seventh time the adventurous Mr. Brown, who assumed his most picturesque balloon attitude in bidding farewell to the old world and the new bridge. The supply of gas had been purposely stinted to save the credit of young Mr. Theodore Dobigan, who had announced his intention to become an intrepid aeronaut, but had thought better of it as the time drew near.

Starting point is 04:08:44 His intrepidity, of course, remained, that being a quality, like Dogberry's reading, that came by nature. But his aeronautsy was postponed. The well-paid Brown declared there was only gas enough for one, and the well-instructed engineer announced the impossibility of supplying another spoonful. loudly claimed to go up alone. Brown stuck to his balloon, and at last, as the papers announced, the high-spirited young man was borne away from the spot by actual force, and the balloon rose majestically, bearing north-northwest, and was lost in the clouds. Not really lost. There is no occasion for

Starting point is 04:09:23 alarm. It was found again two hours afterwards, hopping about on Framing-lim downs. Brown going through all the usual maneuvers of throwing out ballast, cutting cords, dragging anchors, etc., and extricating himself from all sorts of perils, from which he was eventually rescued by the Reverend Mr. Wilcox, who was taking his quiet afternoon walk, and was greatly surprised to see a brob-dig-nag humming-top skipping about his path forty yards at a skip. Those who have the pleasure of knowing Mr. Wilcox will not doubt the readiness of the humanity with which he helped Brown—first to get out of his balloon and then to catch it—and nor the hospitality with which he offered him luncheon.

Starting point is 04:10:01 A chaise was immediately procured, and Brown and his balloon were carefully packed up in it and on it, and returned to N in time to claim the last shouts of this shouting day. Much had been done in the interim. A ship had been launched and christened the Helen by Lady Teviot, the docks had been surveyed, and the whole party were assembled at dinner. Lady Portmore had contrived to hook herself on Lord Teviot's arm for the walk, which gave her an opportunity of writing the next day to all her friends that she had been universally taken for the bride, and at the collation she very cleverly jockeyed Lady Middlesex, and took her place next to Mr. G. The dinner had been laid in an enormous tent, and as it was a morning fate, it had been arranged that the ladies should remain and hear the speeches. The toasts proceeded in the usual routine without any attempts at eloquence, till the mayor pronounced a magnificent oration on domestic, apiness in the eye of classes, and, and the nobility in general, and concluded with proposing Lady Teviot's health.

Starting point is 04:11:00 "'Air. Happy, happy, happy pair.' This was received with immense applause, which was increased by the sight of Lady Teviot's tears. She did not know exactly what to do, and so of course began to cry, but in a gentle, becoming manner, though her nervousness increased when Lord Teviot got up to return thanks. She had never heard any public speaking, and expected that he would be unable to get safely through two or three inaudible sentences. Therefore his gentleman-like, easy flow of thanks struck her as a wonderful display of talent, and she was sorry when his speech ended, though it was by proposing the health of his friend,

Starting point is 04:11:37 Mr. G. Air. Glorious Apollo. Immense cheering. And when that had subsided, glorious Apollo got up, and with a slight hesitation of voice and manner, as if he had not an idea what he was going to say, nor how to say it, and with an air of extreme surprise and gratitude at having his health drank at all, He started off in a brilliant speech that lasted three-quarters of an hour. As it was intended less for the edification of his present hearers than for an answer to the

Starting point is 04:12:05 attacks of the opposition papers, and a declaration of an important change in the commercial relations of the country, every word had been well weighed. It had been composed and revised and learnt by heart, and Fisherwick had copied it over five times with variations. But Mr. G. delivered it in an unstudied, off-handed manner, that gave it the air of a sudden burst of a sudden of confidence to the seven hundred particular friends by whom he was surrounded. And by an artful allusion to the balloon, and the impracticable barricade, and one or two trifling events of the morning, he convinced the worthy mayor and corporation, who were not up to interpolations, that it was the sudden inspiration of the moment.

Starting point is 04:12:46 Innocent creatures! Their hearts burned with indignation when, on the following week, bitter leading articles dissected and misinterpreted and condemned every word of the speech, and they said it was most unfair that Mr. G. should be tried by words that were evidently spoken on the spur of the moment, and quite in confidence to themselves. But in the meantime, it was a magnificent display of eloquence, and the ladies of the party who were unused to public oratory were much excited by it. Even Mrs. Douglas owned she was glad to have heard him once. She had no doubt that she should soon get used to the sort of thing, and to see the fallacy and absurdity of long speeches. But for this once she had really rather

Starting point is 04:13:25 have heard it than not, even though she had had the most uncomfortable bench to sit on that she had ever met with in her life, and though she was half-starved in consequence of the waiter having whisked away her soup before she had touched it. Lady Portmore took joy on the occasion, in consequence of her having always prophesied that G would make a capital speaker, and she could also venture to assert that his notions about trade were safe and to be depended on, and she approved highly of what he had said. Mr. G, who liked a joke, contrived by an allusion to foreign politics, to bring up La Grange, who was longing to astonish the natives by the purity of his English, and made a speech which in some respect was satisfactory, though

Starting point is 04:14:05 he told them that the opening of the bridge was the finest imposition he had ever seen, that he should always consider that day the handsomest day of his life, that he was not to be regarded upon as a stranger, though he had never seen them before, for that he was as perfectly their compatriot in heart as in language, that it was his pride to be taken in as an Englishmen wherever he went, and that from the bottom of his heart he drank their excellent healths. The day concluded as satisfactorily as it had begun. Fisherwick came home slightly elevated, and so elated with the dinner and the speech, that after asking each of the company individually whether they had ever heard anything so fine in their lives, he found himself strong enough

Starting point is 04:14:45 to read half a paragraph of an opposition journal, which contained a violent attack on his idle, and to rub his hands friskly while he hummed, Sa me Egal." End of Chapter 28. Chapter 29 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The day after this fate, Helen received a letter from her mother that alarmed her much. Lady Eskdale thought Sophia's recovery far from satisfactory.

Starting point is 04:15:20 She was weak and low, with a tendency to a cough, and was anxious to be moved to Eskdale Castle, which she thought agreed with her better than any other place, and, above all things, she wished to see Helen." "'I must go to her,' thought Lady Teviot. "'There can be no difficulty about it. Mr. G. goes to-morrow, and the Douglas is the next day, and I am sure Lady Portmore has been here long enough, and if she goes there will be only some gentlemen left, and Lord Teviot may do very well without me, at all events for a few days.

Starting point is 04:15:54 If it could go if to Eskdale with me." She did not like to investigate how much or how little she wished that some of their party should insist on remaining at St. Mary's, so as to keep Lord Teviate at home. But she went the length of thinking that he would be bored in a house where there was illness, and that she would be more useful to Sophia if she went without him. She was pursuing this train of thought when he entered the room so suddenly as to startle her. She threw her handkerchief over the letter she was writing to her mother, hardly knowing why,

Starting point is 04:16:24 But she always had in Lord Teviot's presence the painful consciousness that her feelings toward her family would be misunderstood or condemned. Perhaps she was wrong in dwelling on this idea. Perhaps he was wrong in the manner that gave rise to it. But so it was. And this difference of feeling, with which their married life had commenced, was every day creating and increasing fresh misunderstandings. Lord Teviot was so distractedly in love with his wife that the greatest devotion on her

Starting point is 04:16:54 would hardly have satisfied him. He had never had brothers or sisters of his own, and had no clue in his own life or feelings that could lead him to judge of the strength of early family affection. Helen was all in all to him, and he expected to be the same to her. She was too young and guileless to affect what she did not feel, and too inexperience to trace their right source the variations of Lord Teviot's temper. She had, as we have already seen, begun to fear him before her marriage, and this fear of her had been increased rather than diminished by his subsequent conduct. She saw that he was courteous and attentive to other women. Therefore the taunts and reproaches

Starting point is 04:17:34 which he occasionally vented on her she imputed to dislike, and his want of sympathy in her affection for her family she ascribed to a desire to make her unhappy. She was totally unable to imagine that he could be jealous of sentiments so natural and right in themselves, for Helen was still almost a child, and the obliquities and injustices of strong passions were incomprehensible to her. She would have been surprised if she had known the trifles, the absolute nothings by which, in the course of every day, she roused or irritated his jealousy, how he brooded over a careless word or negligent look, how he tortured a kindness to another into an insult to himself, and an enjoyment into which she entered

Starting point is 04:18:16 without him, into a misery purposely inflicted on him. And numerous, as were the little reproachful scenes that passed between them, she would have blessed her good fortune if she had known how many more she had escaped, if she had guessed the long array of her crimes and his wrongs that he drew up against her, and which were not poured out, because some gentle, careless word of hers changed the current of his thoughts, and turned his rage to love. He had now come to her with a proposition which, whatever interest it might have in itself, was important to him principally as a trial of his wife's feelings. It was one of those measures by which statesmen say they will stand or fall.

Starting point is 04:18:55 Helen, I've been all the morning with G, transacting business, as the newspapers would call it. Do you remember both its prophecy about me? What? That Mr. G. would bring you into office? Is that really settled? I am so glad. And what are you to be? Nothing can be absolutely settled till Parliament meets, when I am probably to succeed Leal, who takes the privy seal. But in the meanwhile, G. has another employment for me, one that I was at first unwilling to undertake. I hardly know what you will say to it." I know so little on those subjects that I am afraid you cannot consult a less good adviser,

Starting point is 04:19:34 but tell me what it is. He wishes to send me off on a special mission to Lisbon. He looked earnestly at her as he spoke, and his heart swelled as he waited for her answer. He was divided between his wish to hear the degree of concern she would express for his departure, his latent hope that she would insist on accompanying him. To Lisbon! Oh, Tevey, it what an odious plan! What can make him think of sending you to that hot, dusty place? I do not like it at all. But a special mission entails only a short stay, does it? It is merely going out with a message and coming back again?"

Starting point is 04:20:13 Something like that. The business may be concluded in a fortnight, or I may be detained there a month, and then the passage to and fro will take perhaps a week each time." "'The passage? Yes, and that dreadful bay of Biscay to cross, too. Well, I think it much the worst arrangement that could have been made. And have you actually consented to it?' Very nearly. I said I would first consult you, but I do not see how I can well refuse." "'And when are you to go?' "'Immediately. I must be often less than a week, if I am to be of any use.

Starting point is 04:20:48 that does not leave much time for preparation he looked wistfully at her for her words had been so vague he was still in doubt as to her intentions no time at all in every respect it is a bad scheme except to be sure in one point and she brightened as she spoke if it is to take place so soon our company must all leave us directly of course well then i should be very dull here without you and i should naturally pass the six weeks of your absence with my own people mamma writes me word that sophia is very unwell and wants to see me and indeed when you came in i was just on the point of sending for you to ask when we could go to her go now this afternoon if you like please yourself helen looked at him and saw that one of his blackest clouds had come over his countenance she went on in a hurried voice no not now if you are to go so soon i should like to be with you to the last moment and she took his hand as she spoke i can go before the end of the week if it will be any convenience to you and he coldly withdrew his hand i have half a mind to go up to town's lady portmore and miss forrester the day after to-morrow mary is going with me to askdale at least mamma asks her to come well then i shall go with lady portmore she will be the more glad of my company He got up and walked moodily up and down the room. "'You must have had a wonderful foreknowledge of my prospects, for you seem to have arranged

Starting point is 04:22:21 all your plans with the certainty that I should not be here to interfere with them.' "'Indeed, I have arranged nothing. I have not even asked Mary if she will go with me, and I could never have guessed or believe that you would go off to Lisbon in this sudden way.' "'I have surpassed your fondest expectations, evidently, and given you a most agreeable surprise. another time it will have a longer notice of my departure, that you may be able to get up a little show of feeling on the occasion. You know it as usual. It is considered to be really almost indispensable to effect, only to affect, nobody would be so unreasonable as to expect you to feel, but you should affect some slight regret that your husband is going to leave

Starting point is 04:23:00 you." "'I need not affect it,' she said in a low, broken voice. "'I am very sorry you will go.' How flattering. It is a pity. you did not think of mentioning it sooner. I did say so, she whispered through her tears. I told you from the first I disliked your going. I had not the good fortune to hear you.

Starting point is 04:23:24 You hardly think it worth while to raise your voice upon such an immaterial point as my coming or going. And, moreover, I might have thought that you did not approve of the expedition on your own account. Not that I did not think so for a moment. I am cured of that, but many husbands would have expected their wives would insist on accompanying them. Do you wish me to go with you?'

Starting point is 04:23:44 And Helen felt that she ought to have offered to do so. "'If you do, I can be ready in time.' "'No, no, it is too late. I do not wish you, Lady Tevi, to give yourself any trouble on my account. I am the last person in the world to be gratified by a sacrifice. I have known all along that you did not care for me, that you have never cared for me. And if I had wanted any further proof of the fact, I have been amply furnished with it in this conversation.' No protestations, I beg, but leave me the pleasant conviction that in going abroad without you, I am for once doing what you like. You are unjust, Teviot. You know you are. I do not know it. I appeal to yourself. Are you not in your inmost soul delighted that I am going? How should it be otherwise? Is there one of the name of Beaufort, whom you do not love a thousand times better than me? I might ask, have you ever loved me at all? Why, did I not see you in this very room almost go down in your own?

Starting point is 04:24:41 knees to your brother to persuade him to stay a few more days. And when I tell you I am going away for six weeks, your countenance absolutely brightens. You almost said you were glad of it. Not glad that you were going. Indeed I am not, but glad that I might go to Sophia without inconvenience to you. Indeed, Teviot, my sister is very ill. If you will read Mama's letter, you will see that I had good reason to be absorbed in that when you came in. It is no business of mine. Why should I read it? "'That you may see how ill, poor Sophia is.' "'I do not want to know anything about it,' said Lord Teviot,

Starting point is 04:25:18 who had worked himself up into such a rage that he hardly knew what he said. "'I scarcely know, Lady Sophia. Why should I care whether she is ill or well?' Helen's tears stopped instantly, and she gave him a look of indignation which startled him. It was the first he had ever seen. "'Why, indeed? No.

Starting point is 04:25:38 It was foolish of me to expect you would.' She tore up her mother's letter as she spoke, and then, bending down over her own, employed herself with apparent eagerness in the attempt to finish it. But her hand trembled, and though her face was concealed, her round, graceful throat was burning red, and the beatings of her full heart might almost be heard as she leaned against the table. Lord Teviot had done more towards losing his wife's affection by these few words than by all the taunting speeches he had ever addressed to her. Her natural gentleness and sweetness of temper enabled her to bear, with grief indeed, but without resentment, his starts of violence toward herself, but causeless unkindness

Starting point is 04:26:20 to her sick sister she could not endure. The utmost she could do was to keep silence, but perhaps she wished he might repeat his question. Have you ever loved me? That she might answer, If I ever did, I do not now. But he saw he had gone too far, and alongside silence ensued. She finished her letter, folded and directed it. Still he walked up and down the room. She wished he would go. She wished somebody would come in. She should not have objected to hear that the house was on fire. A slight earthquake would not have been unacceptable, so that this scene might come to an end. At last the bright thought occurred to her of ringing for a lighted taper, and desiring

Starting point is 04:27:02 the servant to wait while she sealed her letters. And Lord Teviot, who was by this time as eager for a finale as she was, took that opportunity to withdraw, merely saying, Well, I shall tell G I accept, and shall name Tuesday as my day. As you please, she answered, without looking at him, and he departed. The servant followed with the letters, and Helen threw herself back on the sofa, and gave herself up to melancholy and a bad headache. At dressing-time she was obliged to account for her wan appearance to Mrs. Tompkinson, who was afraid her ladyship was not well, she looked so bad.

Starting point is 04:27:41 I am very uneasy about Lady Sophia, who was ill. Dear me, I am so sorry. I hope a ladyship is not dangerous. Not dangerously ill, you mean. No, I trust not, but I am very anxious to see her, and I shall go and meet her at Askdale on Tuesday, so you must have everything ready for that morning. Yes, my lady. Does, my lord go with us? This was asked in a stiff, affronted tone. Mr. Phillips was speaking of the tea at my lord's being going to London and Tuesday,

Starting point is 04:28:12 but I suppose he meant Askdale Castle? No, my lord has business in London. Give me my gloves and some odic cologne, my headache so much. I wish your ladyship would let me bring you some dinner up here, and keep quiet against the evening. Them lights and all that clatter will be so bad for your head. Just lie down for an hour, my lady. Well, perhaps it will be the best thing that I can do.

Starting point is 04:28:37 There's my lord's room, door just gone too. Shall I call his lordship, and you tell him, my lady, that you don't feel well? No, no, don't call him. There is no use in making a fuss about a headache. My handkerchiefs, Tomkinson, I will go down. And she went. Well, if my lord is not turned out a brute at last, I'm much mistaken, and that is what I never was yet.

Starting point is 04:29:01 I wish we'd never seen him. and to think of him indeed lording it over my lady, who is too good by a-for him. See if I don't tell them all at Eskdale what he is. And yet it won't neither. The Lady Walden's maid is always cast an up to me to see how happier Lord and Lady is. And as for letting her have a triumph, I am not so mean as that, neither. As for Lady Sophia's illness, I don't think much of that. She was always a one for making much of a little,

Starting point is 04:29:28 and I think my lady's headache is all my Lord's monstrous crossness. However, I shall put up my lady's very best gowns, just to make em think we are very happy. My lord is rich, that nobody can deny." And with this consolation Mrs. Tomkinson descended to the housekeeper's room. End of Chapter 29. Chapter 30 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. When the party were assembled for dinner, Lord

Starting point is 04:30:07 Lord Teviot's appointment and consequent departure for Lisbon seemed to be generally known, indeed so generally that even Fisherwick ventured to make some dark allusions to it. Mr. G. asked Lady Teviot to thank him for sending her lord on such an interesting little expedition, and by not finding out her headache, nor appearing to think she could be out of spirits, did more for her recovery than Lady Portmore with all her condolences. She was in her greatest and unusually overpowering. She had been fully occupied during dinner by admiration of her own propriety in not allowing Tebea to place in her carriage for the journey to London, which was, she said, a very different thing from going out with him in the fate at St. Mary's, and also

Starting point is 04:30:52 by giving him instructions for his conduct at Lisbon, and her opinion of the state of parties there. Her advice was excellent after she had been rescued from a general confusion of Spain and Portugal, and from a particular predilection for the anti-English party at Lisbon, which she said was a mistake she had been led into by having lately talked over the subject with an opposition member. But otherwise, she added, she knew more of Lisbon than anybody, and she had really half a mind to make Portmore run over there in his yacht, that she might assist Lord Teviot in doing the honours. "'Yes, pray do,' he said, in hopes that Helen might hear.

Starting point is 04:31:30 "'You cannot have a pleasant a trip, and it will give you. me a brilliant start in my diplomatic career. Why, then, let us make a party. Ernest will you go to Lisbon while Teviot is there? Portmore and I are going over in our yacht, and we will take you if you like to go." Not I. What? Go tossing about the Bay of Biscay in October in that cockle-shell.

Starting point is 04:31:54 I think I see myself. No, thank you. Besides, my noble soul scorns the thought of being merely one of Teviot's sweet. "'They're good,' said Lagrange, "'but more bitter than sweet. "'There, I have made one pawn. "'I say, Lady Portmore, "'the colonel is more bitter than sweet.

Starting point is 04:32:14 "'That is two ponds.' "'I doubt, Monsieur Legrange, "'whether you understand the Colonel better "'than I understand puns. "'I think that man much too detestable,' "'said Lady Portmore to Lord Teviot, "'and I clearly see I am in a sad scrape with earnest. The truth is I have neglected him rather shamefully, considering that he came

Starting point is 04:32:38 here purposely to meet me, but he will soon come into a good humour again. "'Bofit, will you join our party?' "'I object to that,' said Helen, looking up with sudden animation. "'Bofit is going home with me.' That one word was enough to explain to the refined ears of most of her hearers how matter stood between the husband and wife. It was discord to Lord Teviot, grief to Lord Beaufort and Mary, but music to Colonel Stuart, who was seated by Helen, and at that moment thought, My time is come."

Starting point is 04:33:13 I fear Lady Sophia's health must make it necessarily only a family party at Eskdale, he said in his softest tones, or I would accept an invitation your father was so good as to give me. I've been almost afraid to ask which your account was this afternoon. Not good, certainly, but perhaps I see things en noir to-day. At all events the less we talk about it the better. But you would do wisely, Colonel Stuart, to put off your visit to Westdale, till it would be a less dull one. It never could be dull, but whether it ever would be a wise measure is more than I can say. His looks were intended to explain his oracular words, but Helen was too innocent to understand them. She had yet to learn. that the first moment in which a woman lets it appear that she and her husband are at variance is the last in which she is safe from the impertinent admiration of others, and Colonel Stuart's looks and words were alike thrown away. Her mind was full of her own unparalleled griefs and wrongs. She was not sure she had been right in saying what she knew would vex

Starting point is 04:34:20 Lord Teviot, but she felt rather the better for it, too, and she was enabled to get through the remaining time at dinner without bursting into tears. The conversation was a little of In conversation, in defiance of Mr. G.'s attempt to give it another turn, would revert to Lisbon. Fischerwick shrugged and signalled and whispered to LaGrange. "'I wish they would be a little more prudent before the servants. I see he is quite distressed. The opposition papers will get out of Lord Teviot's appointment before we gazette

Starting point is 04:34:48 will be the deuce to pay with them.' "'Are the journal so much dear to pay?' said La Grange, who hoped he had opened a new vein of information. "'Do you pay them yourself?' pay them repeated fisherwick my dear sir do you really suppose we should deign to buy off any of those vile libelous publications what do we care for them the papers that have any circulation are not to be bought and as for the opposition trash it is not worth buying I admire your papers beyond all that I see in England. We think much in our country of your liberty of the press, but it far past my hopes. It is the greatest of benefits to a stranger. It let them at once do secrets of society. You can tell to me, Fisherwick, if it be true what they do say, that Mr. G. have made these changes in your trade laws because his brother, who do own many vessels, will find it for his good. "'Is it possible, my dear sir?' gasped Fischerwick, "'that you can read and believe such detestable lies as are published in that infamous paper.

Starting point is 04:35:53 Not that I ever look at it, but he told me of that paragraph. He is magnanimous on those points to a degree of which I can give you no idea. But if anybody can really believe such liables, I must have these fellows pulled up.' "'Ah, ah, you are angry, my dear Fisherwick. What? Mr. G. do then have a brother with sheepard. I, angry," said Fisherwick, puffing like an irate, Grampus. If we official men were put out by such palpable calumnies as these, a blessed time

Starting point is 04:36:22 we should have of it. But he have a brother which treads, pursued La Grange, shouting with delight as he felt he was driving Fisherwick to earth. He has three brothers, men of very distinguished ability, and large fortune. This was enunciated with much majesty. And one in trade, ha, I have found you out, my paper did tell the truth." Fisherwick turned from him in disgust, and had in consequence to endure a slap on the shoulder, and another triumphant laugh, as Lagrange continued to repeat,

Starting point is 04:36:57 Found the out. After the ladies went to the drawing-room, Helen had Lady Portmore's high spirits and oppressive pity to bear, but much to her surprise was defended and protected by Mrs. Douglas, who sympathized with headache, promoted her quiet, and snubbed Lady Portmore with great success. Eliza was unfaignedly low at her own prospects. She thought she had only one more day of perfect happiness to come, and then there would be an end of refinement and Colonel Beaufort, and the reign of the Burkets and Thompsons would recommend, and she owned to herself that her tastes were sadly altered, and that she should like to live always in such society as she had met during

Starting point is 04:37:38 the last few weeks. When the gentlemen came in, the gaiety of the evening did not increase. Lady Portmore tried to get up a reconciliation with earnest, who strenuously denied the existence of any quarrel. She begged his pardon for what she had said at dinner, and he declared that he did not recollect what it was, and she ended by assuring him he was a strange creature, but that she saw he was peaked, and felt sure that one day or other he would do her greater justice. Mr. G. and Fisherwick, who were to start at break of day, took leave overnight, Fischerwick, hoping it might not be very cold in the morning, and Mr. G. with some suspicion that he had disturbed the peace of the Teviot menage, but still he felt in his ambitious soul. They would,

Starting point is 04:38:21 at all events, have been tired of each other in six months, and perhaps then I could not have given Teviot such a good appointment. The Grange made his farewell speech, and announced that he was desolated to go, but that their excellent neighbour, Mrs. Dobigin, That charming woman had done him the honour to invite him for a few days to N, where he meant to initiate himself into all the details of trade and commerce. Lord and Lady Middlesex and various minor members of the society departed, and under these afflicting circumstances, the melancholy of the hostess and the forced gaiety of the host did them the highest credit. It gave them the amiable appearance of being actually sorry to lose

Starting point is 04:38:59 their friends, and several of the party went away declaring, in the innocence of their hearts, that they should never forget the genuine grief with which their departure had affected those amiable teviates. End of Chapter thirty. Chapter 31 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. But Mrs. Douglas could not be so deceived. She could not allow such a promising bud of unhappiness to wither without, as Athello says, smelling it on the tree.

Starting point is 04:39:36 She was willing to prevent Lady Portmore from persecuting Helen, but she could not consent to deprive herself of the pleasure of pointing out the shadows of the Teviate picture. "'Well, Mr. Douglas,' she said as soon as they were alone. "'Well?' "'Well, my dear, what now?' "'Why, what do you think of at all?' "'All what, my dear.' "'You know very well what I mean, love, only you don't choose to speak.' I am quite ready to speak, Anne, but what is it to be about?

Starting point is 04:40:11 About this evening, to be sure, what did you think of it? Between ourselves I thought it not quite so pleasant as most of the evenings we have passed here. It was rather dull, was it not? Now Mr. Douglas, don't be so tiresome. You are only affecting ignorance. Pray what do you think of the Teviats now? Very much what I always did, that they are charming pearsome. people, and keep a very pleasant house, and I am sorry to leave them."

Starting point is 04:40:39 "'And you think they are a happy couple?' "'Berry. Not a day, by the by, for he is going away for a few weeks which annoys her. I do not know whether you heard him say at dinner that he was to be sent on a special mission to Lisbon, and it strikes me that Lady Tevey it was perhaps a little low it is going without her, which would account for the evening being dull. I have not an idea how those Portuguese and Spanish affairs are to end.' Now, my dear Mr. Douglas, don't go off on those tiresome foreign affairs.

Starting point is 04:41:09 What can it signify which conquers which, or who dethrones who, at that distance? Let them fight it out quietly. Besides, you need not pretend to understand national feuds if you have not found out what is passing under your eyes. But I cannot believe it. You must see what an unhappy couple those poor Teviets are. Unhappy, Anne, the Teviates? Yes, by far the most unhaired.

Starting point is 04:41:34 unhappy young couple I know. In fact, I have been trying to recollect, but I cannot call any instance of two young people separating so early in their married life. But, my dear Anne, you surely cannot twist this into a separation. An official trip, which is to last six weeks at the outside. As if the merest child could be taken in by that. I said from the first, Mr. Douglas, that that Lord Teviot had a horrid temper, and that Helen did not care a straw for him. But Lady Eskdale was, I suppose, determined to catch a great party, and now see what it has come to. There he is, going off with a married woman, one of the most unprincipled people I ever encountered,

Starting point is 04:42:17 and excessively old-looking. And there is Helen going back to her friends quite broken-hearted. I declare I think it is very shocking, and that Lady Eskdale has a great deal to answer for. Then there is Sophia dying, by all accounts. I fancy they have wretched constitutions, though they look well for a time, but I will answer for it that all those both-fits, before they are thirty, will have outlived their looks completely, and Helen is just the sort of person to fret herself into a decline. My dear, how you do run on, conjuring up one chance of unhappiness after another, and I cannot believe there is any foundation for any of them.

Starting point is 04:42:55 No, because you do not choose to believe, Mr. Dunders, Douglas, but I thought that even you must have observed Lord Tevey its guilty look when Helen said she was going home. You must have remarked that. And then that wicked Lady Portmore proposing, actually proposing to follow him in her yacht. I was quite annoyed that a lie that she has such improper conversation. However, my belief is that she and Lord Tevey will go no further than London, and that the Lisbon journey will be given up, now that under pretence of it he has got rid of his wife. I cannot think all this can be so, Anne. It is too bad to be true.

Starting point is 04:43:31 Nothing is too bad to be true, Mr. Douglas, and nothing is true that is not bad. Those are two axioms I never can persuade you to remember, and I am certain that we do not give that fine set credit for half the vices they practice. We may good-naturedly try to gloss over this Teviot story." Mr. Douglas looked up and shook his head. But just consider what you would have said of the same. circumstances had occurred in a lower rank of life. Why, when James Wheeler went off to America, and Sally Wheeler came home to her mother, what a fuss you in the churchwardens and the vestry made! And James only forsook his own wife! He did not carry off another persons.

Starting point is 04:44:11 Neither will Lord Teviot. I must say, Anne, you have no right to put together such histories, still lest to spread such reports. It is most ungrateful," he added, in an accent of deep displeasure. After the kindness the Teviets have shown us, and if there be any foundation for your suppositions, it would certainly be becoming, and I should hope natural, that you would act by that young creature as you would wish her mother to act by one of your daughters in similar circumstances. You might have helped her with advice, if the circumstances you state are true. Lady Eskdale would have acted a kinder part by you, Anne. Mr. Douglas was so seldom roused to anger that a lecture from him had a startling effect on his wife,

Starting point is 04:44:54 and her conscience, moreover, rather reproached her on Helen's account. So she assured Mr. Douglas that her observations had been confided solely to him, and should go no further, and that if she ever saw any chance of being of use to Helen the next day, she would do what she could. But as for not thinking ill of Lord Teviot and Lady Portmore and Colonel Stuart, and indeed of most people, she really could not oblige him by going so far as that. It was a concession he did not appear to expect, so they ended very amicably. end of chapter thirty one chapter thirty two of the semi-attached couple by emily eden this librivox recording is in the public domain

Starting point is 04:45:41 not a word passed during the monday between the teviates except on the most ordinary subjects helen hoped they were not to part on such bad terms and wondered whether they were to write to each other she would have been glad to forgive and forget his unkindness about her sister if he had wished it and altogether was decidedly in favour of gliding back to peace and amity without explanation But he did not take by any means this commonplace view of the subject. Sometimes he had a glimmering idea that he might have been the aggressor in their quarrels, but that was only a momentary delusion. In general he saw clearly that he was the most unfortunate being on earth, that his wife hated him, that her family were his bitterest enemies, that he was driven from home by the unparalleled unhappiness of his daily life, and that this was the more provoking, because he had he

Starting point is 04:46:36 happened to be a model husband, and certainly had loved Helen, though her marked preference of every living creature, from her father to her lap-dog, made it justifiable, indeed incumbent on him to give up caring about her. So much for his domestic life. As for his future prospects, they were of the gloomiest description. He knew many people thought his position enviable, and indeed there might be an appearance of prosperity in his lot. And he happened to have natural the most marked and decided dispositions for enjoyment. He claimed no merit on that score. They were born with him. But Helen had blasted all this. It was entirely her doing. If she had shown one's spark of affection for him, he should have stayed at home the happiest of men. As it was, he was

Starting point is 04:47:26 absolutely driven into exile. It was all very well to call it a mission. He called it banishment. As for coming back in six weeks, it was much more like to be. that he should not come back at all. He should certainly go on to Greece or Egypt. Timbuck, too, seemed to be an interesting place. He should rather like to go there, just to see if Helen would think it worth while to be surprised. As for their ever being reconciled, that was out of the question. In fact there was no quarrel. They were merely two people who did not suit each other, and so would be happier apart. And this being settled, he did the most unwise thing he could do. He sought out Lady Portmore, and made her the confidant of his fancied griefs.

Starting point is 04:48:11 This was an attention that charmed her. She pitied him, told him that she had always dreaded his discovering what she had seen from the first, and had been kindly hinting to him ever since, that Helen did not care for him, and was not suited to him. "'She is your wife, my dear Teviot, so I have no right to speak. But from my heart I pity you! You require a wife who can understand your great qualities. You know I never flatter you, but there is really hardly a man of your standing who can be compared to you in talent, agreeableness, in everything that promises distinction.

Starting point is 04:48:48 And then, to see Helen so blind to all this, it is provoking, and I am foolishly warm when my friends are concerned? My advice to you was to go. Absence may do much. She will miss you, miss the importance. the importance of her present position, for she prizes that, and perhaps she will grow wiser as she grows older. And in the meantime, my dear Teviot, trust to me for entering thoroughly into your interests.

Starting point is 04:49:19 I ought not to say it, above all to you, but I know what it is to be linked to being utterly incapable of entering into one's feelings. To no one but you could I trust myself on this point. But you know what Lord Portmore is." And thereupon Lady Portmore launched into a sea of all poor Lord Portmore's little stupidities, with which each one of her male friends were indulged in their turn, and which at this moment interested Teviot, as he wanted to find out that all the world were as unhappy as himself. Lady Portmore succeeded in hardening his heart against Helen, and the day, their last day,

Starting point is 04:50:00 due to a close without a word of kindness, regret, or reconciliation. Late in the evening, Helen, driven into action by desperation, went up to her husband and Lady Portmore, who were seated in earnest conversation, and sitting down by them, asked Lady Portmore if she meant to go early the next morning. And then, turning to Lord Teviot, asked him the same question. On his reply on the affirmative she said kindly, Then can I speak to you for five minutes now, as you may not have time in the morning to give me your last orders?"

Starting point is 04:50:35 I shall leave written directions about my letters, and Griffiths knows all that is to be done here. "'There is nothing like written directions to prevent mistakes,' said Lady Portmore. "'I always leave a positive book with my porter. But to return to this courier I want you to take.' And they resumed their conversation. Helen looked disappointed, but retained her seat. Mary Forrester had watched her from the work-table at which she was sitting, and saw she was in need of assistance. She glanced round, but had not the heart to disturb Ernest and Eliza, who were also taking their last talk.

Starting point is 04:51:16 These finalities to a large party are full of sentiment and deep pathos. Mary had only one resource, as she did not choose to take Colonel Stuart into her counsels on this or any other party. subject. So she walked boldly up to Lord Beaufort, who was writing letters at the end of the room, and said, "'Can not you show Lady Portmore now the print you mentioned?' She directed his eyes to the group in the distance, and added, "'She is very much in your sister's way.' Lord Beaufort wanted no further explanation. He was as anxious as Miss Forrester could be that Lord and Levy Taviot should come to some explanation before they parted, for their estrangement

Starting point is 04:51:57 was palpable to all eyes, so he immediately went to Lady Portmore, and offering her his arm said, "'Come, I am going to carry you off forcibly. You must not leave St. Mary's without seeing this picture, which I think has a great look of you.' She could not resist this piece of flattery, and went with him. Lord Tevey it rose to follow them, but Helen laid her hand on his arm, and said, "'No, you cannot refuse me a few minutes on this our last evening.' "'I am at your orders,' he said, coldly.

Starting point is 04:52:28 "'Taviot, we surely are not to pardon these terms. Do not go without a kind word or look. I cannot bear it.' "'I beg your pardon. I do not think I quite understand your grievance. There was no necessity of our parting at all. But you decided that we should, and I can imagine no two people less called upon to affect any grief on that score.

Starting point is 04:52:53 Can I do anything for you in London?' She turned very pale, and said, "'Let me go with you that far, even if you will not let me go to Lisbon.' "'Thank you know. I shall be very much hurried. And you, you know, are going home.' I was wrong when I said that. I knew it at the time.

Starting point is 04:53:13 But I was hurt by what you and Lady Portmore said, and I spoke in anger. Tevi, it my home is with you.' "'I fear it has not been a happy one, but all that is over now. Discussions can do no good. I have no doubt that you will be very happy when you were with those you love, and as for me, allow me to take care of myself. Any life that I make out for myself will be better than I have led lately. Have you anything more to say?'

Starting point is 04:53:40 There was no answer. She attempted to rise, but sank back, and faintly murmuring. Nothing. He looked at her for the first time, and was shocked at her ghastly appearance and fixed look of suffering. "'Are you ill, Helen?' he said. "'Do not speak to me. I cannot bear any more cruel words. I must go to my own room. I cannot stay here with all these people looking on. Let me go.'

Starting point is 04:54:09 And again she tried to rise. "'But you must let me assist you. Take my arm, Helen.' "'No, no, I must be alone.' "'You shall be alone, but you cannot go by yourself, Helen. I will leave you and I have seen you safe to your room?" She had not energy to dispute the point. All she felt was a strong desire to be alone, and a certainty that she could not reach her room without assistance.

Starting point is 04:54:35 He led her to it, supporting her trembling steps in silence. She disengaged her arm, and waving her hand to him to leave her, rushed towards the Ottoman, and flinging herself on it, burst into a flood of tears. She sobbed like a child, and with the young, passionate resentment of a child, whose attempt to make it up and be friends had been misrepresented and repulsed. And as no resentment in her own heart was sufficiently powerful to give her any insight into the latent motives of Lord Teviot's violence, terror and helplessness were the chief consequences produced by his inexplicable language,

Starting point is 04:55:12 accompanied by a sense of suffering under extreme injustice. The relief of tears she had never before in her short, sunny life experienced to this extreme degree. She absolutely reveled in them, ignorant that her husband was a witness to her grief, till the sight of her sorrow overpowered him. And as he flung himself down by her side, she heard him beseeching her to be calm and to forgive him, and to forget what he had said. "'Say you forgive me, my poor Helen! I cannot bear to see you cry, and to feel that I have made you so unhappy. I am a violent, unfeeling wretch, and I know that I say a thousand things that I do not mean when I am angry.' and then followed all those inarticulate soothings and caresses which are so efficacious and healing after a quarrel. Then he persuaded her to look at him, and to see how sorry he was, and he brought a glass of water, and supported her while she drank it. And though they both abstained from any allusion to the original cause of their disagreement, perhaps neither of them knew exactly what it was, there was so much concession on his part,

Starting point is 04:56:18 and she had the comfort of thinking that they would now part on friendly terms. he advised her not to return to the drawing-room that evening and tried in every way to quiet her shaken nerves he told her st mary's would be always kept in readiness for her and that teviot house should be prepared for her in case she wished to be in london and that he hoped she would at all events meet him there on his return he gave the most minute directions with respect to her letters and begged her to write constantly and you'll be sure to give me a particular account of sophia he added in a tone of deep human "'Thank you,' she said dejectedly. "'You are very good.' She thought he was speaking only with the view of quieting her, and not from his heart. The tears still strayed slowly down her cheeks, and she looked so pale that at last Lord Teviot bethought himself of ringing for Tomkinson, and of putting the case into her

Starting point is 04:57:15 hands. It was a charming spectacle for her, and quite overthrew her system of—' "'Me, lords good for nothingness!' "'You never saw such a frustration as my lord was in,' she afterwards told Mrs. Nelson, "'Just because a ladyship took on so, and got a little nervous in account of his lordship being obliged to go on that portigy business, and he called to me quite sharp for the salve-volatile, and my keys were misled somehow. That always is the way with keys when they are wanted, and there was my lord holding my lady's hands and kissing them, which was distressing for me, but he did not look that way much.

Starting point is 04:57:52 Indeed, I was rummaging for those keys, and when I brought the salvole a tale, My Lord gave it to her herself, and my Lord and me agreed that the best thing for me to do was to get her ladyship to bed. And the Lord said, You had better stay by her, Mrs. Tomkins. To be sure it is very strange you cannot learn my name.

Starting point is 04:58:11 But anyhow, I am satisfied about him and my lady, and I suppose he will find out I am called Tompkinson at last, and then everything will be as it sure. Which was a cheerful prospect to end with. End of Chapter 32. Chapter 33 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. There was a succession of hurried breakfast the next morning, and of partings more or less

Starting point is 04:58:45 painful. Lady Portmore went off first, comforting the friend she left by assurances that her visit had been very pleasant, and delicately affirming to the Douglas family that they would not find her one of those odious fine ladies who would cut them if ever they came to town, which last touch of grandeur made Mrs. Douglas remarkably angry. Colonel Beaufort, after ordering horses to take him the first stage to his own house in Lincolnshire, suddenly decided it would be less trouble to go to town with Lord Teviot. Miss Forrester had hesitated about accepting Lady Eskdale's invitation, as she thought she ought to

Starting point is 04:59:22 be in the way till the family were more at ease about Lady Sophia, and to her great surprise, found herself pressed by Mrs. Douglas to come and stay at Thornbank, till she should like to remove to the castle." "'I really was obliged to ask her,' Mrs. Douglas said. "'Though what she will do with herself I have not a guess. It is all a liza's doing. She has taken care of those enumont for Miss Forrester which my girls set up all of a sudden. I cannot think where they learnt it. Not from me. I never took a fancy to anybody in my life. If people have any striking qualities, they are generally bad ones. However, Miss Forrester is

Starting point is 05:00:02 less disagreeable than most of her set, and the instant I saw that Lady Portmore making difficulties about taking her home again, I determined to be as civil to her as possible. Besides, poor thing, I should pity her if she had to go through all the fuss about Lady Eskdale will make about Lady Sophia. We shall hear enough of it at Thornbank, though I shall keep out of the way, and Miss Forrester is welcome to take shelter there, to the great storm blows over." Mary hoped that Lord Beaufort's stay at home would not be long, as in her own mind she had decided on postponing her visit to Asgdale till his was concluded, and in the meantime she was glad to be in Helen's neighbourhood. So she and the Douglases took their departure together.

Starting point is 05:00:44 Eliza was desperately low, and looked back at St. Mary's as at a lost heaven, and after the tall column on the top of the hill had disappeared, the remainder of the journey seemed to her to be through a dreary flat, and she could not understand what Miss Forrester meant by thinking the country pretty. However, she found some consolation in the idea of the endless talk she could have with Sarah, and in the unacknowledged expectation that Colonel Beaufort must come at last to see his relations. At all events, there were others of his name in the neighbourhood. She might hear them mention him. In short, black, as were her prospects, there were still gleams of light, and, to end where she began, she could tell

Starting point is 05:01:26 Sarah all about it. Poor girl! Little did she think that while she sat quietly in the carriage, pondering over Colonel Beaufort's tritest remarks, hoarding up as most important recollections that he liked reading the newspaper and did not care about poetry, that he thought London in the best place to live in, and that his watch cost ninety guineas, little did she know that the ungrateful creature had dismissed from his mind all the conversations that had ever passed between them, and was given up to discussions on foreign politics with Lord Teviot, and have disposed to go abroad himself for a few years, and that she was merely to him a good-humoured little Miss Something whom he had met at St. Mary's. Shocking discrepancy. But so it will be

Starting point is 05:02:12 when young, ignorant girls fall in love. As I grieve to say, they often do with Blase men of the world. However, give them time and opportunity, and there is no saying whether the warm heart will not soften and conquer the hard one at last. Lord and Lady Teviot parted in the most edifying manner. He handed her into the carriage, arranged her cloak round her, and insisted in the hearing of Mrs. Tomkinson and the servants, on her writing to him by the first post, and then walked round the Britska to see that the apron was properly buttoned, and that Helen had shawls enough. This was all for the public. Their private farewells had been perfectly amicable, though his misgivings had revived as her hysterics had subsided. But Helen was satisfied. She had her brother by her side, and Eskdale in prospect,

Starting point is 05:03:01 the knowledge that she and her husband were on good terms now, and that he would have no opportunity for being angry with her again. So she was happy, and it was fortunate he did not know it. End of Chapter 33 Chapter 34 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox's recording is in the public domain. The respectable Douglas coach drove to the door at Thornbank. Mr. Douglas threw a paternal look at his sheep, who were tinkling their tiresome little bells, and eating their rich grass in front of the house, and began to think,

Starting point is 05:03:42 that Mary's was not such a very fine place after all, and that Thornbank had its attractions. Mrs. Douglas watched Miss Forrester to see whether she turned contemptuous at the sight of a commonplace, moderate-sized house, and Eliza was eager for the first sight of Sarah. She was at the door, looking eager and happy in an unusual degree, and the next minute the important fact of Mr. Wentworth's proposal was made known to all the family, and in half an hour Eliza and Sarah were established in their own little room, perched on two hard cane-chairs, with their shawls on to at tone for the want of a fire, both talking at once, both listening, and both happy. But Sarah was the happiest, for though Eliza's gaieties had been the most brilliant, they

Starting point is 05:04:27 were evanescent and fruitless, whereas Sarah was convinced that she had secured for life a comfortable little allotment of perfect bliss. "'Tell me more, Sarah! Tell me exactly what he said!' "'No, I can't indeed, Eliza. It seems so foolish to repeat those sort of things. Oh, not to me, your own sister. You really must, for I never have heard a real live proposal, and I am so curious to know what they say.

Starting point is 05:04:56 Just begin where you left off in your last letter, after he went over to my aunt's. I suppose you were very anxious to know if he would call again. Of course I was. I thought of nothing else, and yet I was sure he would, because he had said it. I do think, Eliza, he is the best man I ever heard of. Well, and so we went to church in the morning, and Mr. Briggs preached about taking no thought for the morrow. I am sure it was lucky he said nothing against taking thought for the day, for I could not help wondering if Mr. Wentworth would call, and while we were at lunch and there was a ring at the bell, and I felt myself colouring up,

Starting point is 05:05:33 and who should come in but that horrid ape brown? No, really, did he? By the by-the-bye, Sarah, he is not the least like Colonel Beaufort." "'No, I know,' said Sarah, laughing. "'I thought that likeness would soon wear off. Well, I began to give it up, when there was another ring, and this time it was all right. I saw my aunt give my uncle a look, and my uncle was so civil to Mr. Wentworth, and after luncheon we went out walking, and that dreadful ape-brown came and offered me his arm.

Starting point is 05:06:08 "'His poor, you mean?' "'Well, his poor, but my aunt called him off, "'and Mr. Wentworth instantly came and said, "'I thought Mr. Brown was going to use up my place, "'which was so nice of him. "'And then, as I tell you, he proposed to me, "'and it was all settled.' "'Oh, but Sarah, that is not what he said.

Starting point is 05:06:30 "'You must tell me.' "'No, no, not now. "'Besides, it is so cold sitting here is not it.' "'No, not very, though I always had a fire in my room at St. Mary's. "'When you were Mrs. Wentworth, Sarah, you will have a fire in your dressing-room. "'And I think two arm-chairs would be a great improvement, don't you, on these uncomfortable articles?' "'So they would. "'You must come and see me constantly, Eliza.

Starting point is 05:07:00 "'Mr. Wentworth says broomhouse is very ugly, "'but I dare say I shall think it pretty. "'I like a flat place.' So do I. Colonel Boatford said his place in Lincolnshire is about as cheerful as the Millbank Penitentiary, only without the river, and not so well built, but I am sure I should not dislike any place that belonged to a person I liked. How droll it will be when I have a house of my own, and ordered dinner, and keep accounts like Mama? Mr. Wentworth is very particular about his dinner, and I have found out another of his tastes, Eliza, one which will make you angry. "'What is it, Sarah, that he does not like people in the army?' "'No, not so bad as that.

Starting point is 05:07:44 But he dislikes pink, so I shall not have any pink gowns in my trousseau. He will be here to-morrow. Eliza, I rather wish that Miss Forrester had not come just now, don't you?' "'I am not sure. I think you will like her. And then she will walk with me when you and Mr. Wentworth go out together, and she can give you the best advice about your trousseau. Colonel Beaufort says nobody dresses so well as she does. Oh, Eliza, I wish you were as happy as I am.

Starting point is 05:08:15 But you will be soon. I feel sure Colonel Beaufort will come to Eskdale and ride over here to luncheon, just as Mr. Wentworth did. And now I must go to Mama. To be sure it is very lucky Mr. Wentworth happens to be perfect, because if he had any faults, Mama is so clever I think she would have found them out.

Starting point is 05:08:34 Sarah happily did not perceive that Mr. Wentworth's security was in his position, not in his perfectability. Mrs. Douglas was too much charmed with the simple fact of a son-in-law to think of being censorious. But had he rashly engaged himself to a young lady who was not her daughter, she would have pointed out with the nicest discrimination, that he was a very commonplace, Mr. Wentworth indeed, fond of his dinner, inclining to fat and sleep, and drab-coloured in look, coat, and ideas. There was what artists would call a good deal of neutral tint in his composition, but he was well-principled, good-natured, reasonably wealthy, and attached to Sarah. So as times go she had reason to be thankful. It is well to lay hold of the exception, when the

Starting point is 05:09:22 rule generally is that the men who may marry our daughters are neither good, rich, nor attached to anything by themselves. Miss Forrester was vexed that her first visit, should have taken place at such an inopportune time. But the interest she expressed in Sarah's happiness, and the kindness with which she entered into all the little arrangements of the family, made her of importance to them all. And at the end of the second day she found herself quite at home, and consulted by Mr. Wentworth about jewellery, by Sarah about dress, and by Mrs. Douglas on the difficult dilemma of the young couple being allowed to walk about without a chaperon.

Starting point is 05:09:59 She had seen so many weddings that her opinion about the breakfast, the bridesmaid's, etc., was considered valuable. And altogether Mrs. Douglas was, in reality, pleased with her guest, though it would have made a sad break in her habits to acknowledge it. Lady Sophia's illness had proved to be measles, and though she was nearly well again, it had not hitherto been considered prudent to call at the castle. But at last Mrs. Douglas thought the visit must be paid. "'I suppose, Miss Forrester, you would like to drive over to Eskdale Castle to-day?' Mrs. Burkett tells me all fear of infection is over, but that Lady Sophia looks very ill, so I should like to see her."

Starting point is 05:10:38 "'Because she looks ill?' asked Mr. Douglas. His wife did not deign to answer this, and went on as if she had not heard it. She is always full of fancies about her health, so a real tangible illness must have delighted her. But we ought to make our due inquiries, and I suppose I ought to announce Sarah's marriage in form. Not that Lady Eskdale will care about it. However, it must be done, so he may as well get it over with to-day." "'The wardens are there, too, I believe,' said Miss Forrester. "'That is rather against us.

Starting point is 05:11:13 The whole family in full force, and the organ of Eskdaleism is by no means strongly developed in me. But if there is one of them I should find it more impossible to like than another, it is Lady Sophia.' "'Now, Mr. Douglas, you are always saying I am censorious. But I appeal to you, if Lady Sophia is not the most disagreeable young woman you ever met with?' "'Not quite that, Anne, but she is not so charming as the other two, a little spoiled and fanciful, and she snubs Waldgrave. But then he likes it, and she will grow wiser as she grows older.' "'It is some time since Lady Sophia has done growing,' said Mrs. Douglas.

Starting point is 05:11:55 "'We will go at three, my dear, if you please.' "'And will you try and find it. out if they are expecting any company at Eskdale," whispered Eliza to Miss Forrester as they set off. They found some of the family at home, Lady Eskdale sitting with Lady Walden, who had added a baby to the family, thereby giving Mrs. Douglas a third generation on which to vent her spleen, but like most hard women she had a weakness for babies, and was softened by the sight of it, though she did not see why it was necessary to make such a fuss about a long roll of cambric, a white bottle, with a little red head for a stopper."

Starting point is 05:12:33 But the intelligence of Sarah's marriage was received with all the good-natured interest that Lady Eskdale took in the happiness of others. Besides, it was a piece of county news, and that is always welcome in the country. And Mrs. Douglas had the pride of hearing it retailed three several times, to Lord Eskdale, Lady Teviot, and the Waldgraves, who all dropped in in the course of her visit. I am so tired, said Lady Sophia, throwing herself on the sofa. It is most oppressive weather for the time of yew, or else one of my bad attacks in the head is coming on. Do you suffer much from headache now, Lady Sophia?

Starting point is 05:13:12 More than ever, that is, not from absolute headache, but from very peculiar feelings in my head. The measles may have made me worse just now, but that I have a tendency to apoplexy I am quite convinced, And if you look at me, Miss Forrester, you will see I have no strength for remedies.' "'You do not look thin, Lady Sophia.' "'That is fullness, not fat.' "'And you have plenty of colour.' "'That is determination of blood to the head. I have felt it the last two days.' "'Dear William, pleased to put that ivory knife down, you twist it about till you will certainly bring on one of my fits of giddiness.'

Starting point is 05:13:55 "'I beg your pardon, my love. I dare say it is a tiresome trick of mine. Had you not better come out into the open air a little dearest?' "'No, I thank you,' she said in a resigned tone. "'It is kind of you to suggest it, dear Willie, but unless I would give you any pleasure, I'd rather not catch a bad cold in addition to my other ailments. Do you find the air of the country agree with you, Miss Forrester?' "'Any air agrees with me,' said Mary. I am never ill." "'I wish you could persuade Sophia not to think herself ill,' said Sir William. "'Indeed nobody but herself does think so.'

Starting point is 05:14:35 Lady Sophia gave a smile of resignation, as if forgiving him for insulting her dying agonies, but added in the most caressing tone. "'Poor, dear, Willie, I wish I had better health for your sake. Do open the window, dear. I feel faint.' "'We're not you wrong, "'Har the surprised, Lady Eskdale,' said Mrs. Douglas, "'to find Lady Teviot returning to you so soon. It must seem as if she had never left you. It is really a consolation to know that we mothers are not to lose our children by

Starting point is 05:15:08 their marrying. Not that I expect my Sarah will ever come to Thornbank without Mr. Wentworth.' "'No, I would advise you to keep him out of political life. It is a complete knock-up to all comfort. I had set my heart on having dear Teviate here for a comfortable long visit it, as we had been hurried away from St. Mary's, but it was very nice of him to let Helen come. I saw in the papers that Lord Teviot was detained in town, and had been dining at Lord Portmore's. Yes, but we have had letters from him at Lisbon, and it was fortunate for Teviot, in the meantime, that the Portmores were detained in town, as theirs is almost the only house open just now.

Starting point is 05:15:49 I own I should not think it good fortune to be thrown at Lady Portmore's society anywhere or anyhow," said Mrs. Douglas sharply. I dislike her extremely." "'Oh, poor thing! Some people do not take to her. But she is rather a favourite with most of my family. My son and my nephew both like her.' So she gave me to understand," said Mrs. Douglas, so dryly that there was a pause.

Starting point is 05:16:16 "'Are you counting your features, love?' said Lady Sophia, as Sir William passed his hand over his face. I hope they are all safe." And to the astonishment of Mrs. Douglas, who had hoped to see a little domestic quarrel, he burst into a genuine laugh, and seemed flattered by his wife's flippancy, and assured her that he was happy to say they were all right. Soon after this Mrs. Douglas concluded her visit, and no sooner was the door closed, then Lady Sophia jumped up from her sofa with a laugh, and said,

Starting point is 05:16:48 "'There, I have done it handsomely. I hear Mrs. Douglas says I am full of fancies, and worry Willie's heart out. And so I have done my little possible to save her from the sin of spreading force reports. Mind, Willie, I do not give up the fact of my bad health, but I do not worry your heart out, do I? No, my dear. On the contrary, you amuse me to the greatest degree by your good spirits, which I look upon as a proof of your excellent health, and by all your little fancied ailments. And upon the whole I should be sorry if you could. gave up this delusion. It makes you very diverting. So come and take a walk."

Starting point is 05:17:27 "'It is very bad for me to go out in the East Wind,' she said, but smiled and put on her bonnet, Sir William wrapping her shawl carefully around her." End of Chapter 34. Chapter 35 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Yes, Helen had returned again to her home. Again she was with those dear ones who had never looked at her but with admiration, and never spoken to her but with tenderness, again with those who had encircled her youthful days with blessings and love, and whom she had yearned to see with the deep longing of young affection. But she was not so happy when restored to them, at least not quite so happy as she had expected to be. There was a doubt whether she had done what was right, There was a slight feeling of mortification when she compared her sisters with herself, and saw their husbands treated as sons of the house, while she had returned unaccompanied by hers. She felt discontented with her own loneliness, as she saw their fullness of companionship.

Starting point is 05:18:40 The harsh words that used to terrify her were softened down by time and absence. They faded away as all offences will fade when the heart is tender, and the mind well regulated. And the glowing words of love, the deep tones of passionate adoration, came back, apparelled in more precious habit, more moving, delicate, and full of life, than when she heard them from the lips of her husband. Sometimes the recollection of them stirred her very soul, and she pondered over them till she wondered at her own coldness, till she hated herself for not having prized them more, and began to pine for that from which she had voluntarily fled.

Starting point is 05:19:20 For so it falls out, that what we have we prize not to the worth while we enjoy it, but being lacked and lost, why then we reach its value, then we find the virtue that possession did not show us while it was ours. So did it fare with Claudio. And so it was beginning to fare with Helen. Moreover, she had not the same timidity in writing to her husband that she had felt in speaking to him, and the natural playfulness of her disposition sometimes broke out. in her letters, with far less restraint than she had felt in his actual presence.

Starting point is 05:19:55 He too wrote to her openly, and she seemed to herself to grow better acquainted with him by writing than she had by words. Then she became curious to know what her own family thought of her position, how much Beaufort had observed at St. Mary's, and how much of the result of his observations he might have imparted to his mother. But in this respect she was soon reassured. Lady Eskdale had been Dorlotte through a prosperous life into a quiet belief that everything was for the best, and well might she think so, for she had had the best of everything, and

Starting point is 05:20:28 she could not imagine for a moment that her daughters were not to be as happy as she had been in their married lives, or happier, inasmuch as she thought them more perfect than herself. Therefore she merely lamented over dear Teviot's absence as a misfortune rendered endurable because it must be short, and she admired Helen more than ever for submitting with apparent fortitude to such a heavy trial. Lord Eskdale had the real manly political feeling about it. He would have thought at the height of absurdity if Helen had undergone a voyage at that season, and with the prospect of such a short stay, and his cares turned solely on the success of Lord Teviot's negotiation, and the effect it might have on parties at home and abroad.

Starting point is 05:21:10 And as he was in the habit every session of speaking, his enemies called it prosing, on the subject of foreign politics, he was delighted with the prospect of the information he should obtain from his son-in-law, and the certainty of good facts to go upon, a point in which his speeches had hitherto been rather deficient. Amelia was the only one whose scrutiny Helen had to dread, if dread were the feeling it inspired, for in fact she would have been glad to talk over her griefs with her sister, had she not been restrained by the strong rules of discretion which Lady Eskdale laid down for the guidance of her daughters.

Starting point is 05:21:46 Still she hoped that, without infringing her duty, she might consult her sister on some of her troubles. But Amelia was absorbed in her baby, and had hardly recovered from her confinement, and at all times there would have been insuperable difficulties in making her comprehend that there could be differences between husband and wife. So for the present Helen was left to her own cogitations and Lord Tevin's. its letters, and to the sense of her own inferiority as a wife and a happy woman, when compared with her sisters.

Starting point is 05:22:17 Three or four days passed away. The invalids were all well again. The usual habits of the house were resumed. Various guests arrived, and Helen drove over to Thornbank to claim Mary Forrester's promised visit. Eliza listened eagerly to the names of the company at Askdale, and her disappointment at not being one of them was much mitigated when she found that her hero was not not there. And on mature deliberation, she came to the conclusion that, as only a certain

Starting point is 05:22:45 number of the days of her life could be passed at Askdale, it would be a bad speculation to waste any of them on such a very incomplete party. So she was prepared with arguments against Mrs. Douglas' view of the case, which differed materially from hers. "'Well, that visit is over. I rather thought I liked Miss Forrester while she was here, but somehow I am not angry she is gone. I always think that having people to stay in one's house gives more trouble than pleasure. But Mary did not give much trouble, Mama. I do not know what you call trouble, my dear,

Starting point is 05:23:23 but there was a fire in her room all day, and we always had game per second course, and she drinks cocoa at breakfast which is quite ridiculous. That is one of the pretensions which young people set up in these days, They care about their diet. That was never allowed in my time. I should like to have seen my aunt's space if I had asked for cocoa for breakfast when I was a girl. She has a lively, pleasant manner, said Mr. Douglas. And likes a joke, added Mr. Wentworth, how she laughed at my story about Hammond. I don't wonder, said Sarah. There are no story so amusing as yours.

Starting point is 05:24:08 You have not heard the fiftieth part of them yet. Why, when I was at Christchurch, Thompson, Hammond and I used sometimes to sit up till two in the morning telling good stories, and I suppose you never heard anything more amusing. Lady Teviot laughed at my pun about rain, did not she, Sarah? That she did. She was quite delighted with it. The Beauforts all laugh, as if they thought they had good teeth, said Mrs. Douglas. And so they have, Anne. My dear, I am not disputing the fact. I merely observe that they are convinced of it themselves.

Starting point is 05:24:45 Eliza, did Lady Teviot say anything to you about going there? No, Mama. She said Lady Eskdale sent her love. What wonderful munificence! And Lady Teviot brought it all quite safe from the castle. How very kind! I suppose when Lady Eskdale is left alone again you will be sent for?'

Starting point is 05:25:06 "'I shall like it just as well, Mama, when there is only a family party as when the house is full.' "'I hope you'll be invited then, my child, but I would not advise you to trust in any of these fine people, the Eskdale's above all.' "'They ought not to give themselves airs,' said Mr. Wentworth. "'I consider them quite a new family. I do not believe they were ever heard of before Henry the seventh's time. My family dates back to the conquest, and they have a little right to look down on Douglas's, as on Wentworth's, if I am not mistaken."

Starting point is 05:25:39 "'No, right upon earth,' said Mrs. Douglas, "'but that they choose to set up for great people.' "'I am not sorry, they have not asked Eliza, though I shall always say it is very odd they have not. But nobody can live much with them without being more or less spoiled. Miss Forrester was civil enough while she was here, but she'll be just like all the rest of that set when she has been with them a week. I beg to observe that Lady Sophia has not called here at all, and it would not the least surprise me if Lady Walden were not to send over a card of thanks, though I sent to inquire after her at immense inconvenience to myself." End of Chapter 35 Chapter 36 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. nearly five weeks, which had passed smoothly and pleasantly away at Eskdale Castle, when a sudden

Starting point is 05:26:46 change of affairs took place, not only there, but all over England, to say nothing of Scotland and Ireland. The hapless individual who filled the office of Prime Minister, under the gracious king of the above-named countries, having borne the fatigues of the situation for five years, long enough to have become unpopular with the people, wearisome to the king, and odious to all his own private friends, took one decided step to regain all he had lost with others, and to obtain a little rest for himself. He took to his bed, and died. His cabinet was broken up. It had been, after the usage of all cabinets, divided into two factions, opposed on all important points to each other, but forming what is by courtesy called a united cabinet, under the gentle sway of the worn-out

Starting point is 05:27:37 non-entity at their head. He was gone. On. Six or seven newspapers with broad black borders announced the death of one of the greatest men of the age, recommended Westminster Abbey, a subscription for a monument, and one of his colleagues for a successor. An equal number of papers, after professing with becoming candor and humanity, that they warred not with the dead, raked up all the old scandal that they could collect against the deceased, denied him any talent whatever, and explained away all his virtues. They probably prophesied the utter annihilation of the ministerial party, and announced that in twenty-four hours they should be able to give a correct list of the new cabinet about to be formed by the powerful leader of the opposition. All the idle men in London rushed to their clubs, and such high betting had not been known since the last Epsom races. After three days of wonderment, the king decided the bets by sending for Mr. G. The clubs were more thronged and more agitated than ever. One half of St. James,

Starting point is 05:28:40 James's street said that England was lost, that the real crisis had come at last. There is generally a false crisis every Easter, in which England is all but lost, but she is found again towards Witsonide. And that church and state, king and kingdom, lords and commons were all to be knocked on the head at once. The club on the opposition side of the street was in ecstasies. Its members shook each other by the hand till their arms ached. They declared the king to be the wisest monarch that had ever reigned, and and that the country was saved, and revolution arrested. They met but to rejoice over the public good,

Starting point is 05:29:16 and parted but to make private offers of their services to Mr. G. And Fisherwick, how felt he? Never was there so happy a man. The world itself was not large enough to contain him. Nothing was but the great room in Downing Street, which to him was greater than the world itself. He wrote faster than ever, and his adoration of his chief was yet more,

Starting point is 05:29:40 more fervent, and when the list of the new ministry was drawn up by his own hand for the favorite evening paper, and when he had added there to a paragraph announcing that Samuel Obadiah Fisherwick Esquire had been appointed private secretary to the new premier, he felt that life had nothing greater to give. He had reached the summit of his Montblanc. Mr. G's first measure was a dissolution of Parliament. The roads swarmed with carriages, and the papers with the dresses, the dying hatreds of foreign. former conquests were roused into fresh life, and country-houses became merely election-committee-rooms. Lord Teviot's name had been one of the first on Mr. G.'s list of his cabinet, and a messenger

Starting point is 05:30:22 had been dispatched to recall him from Portugal. This appointment of his son-in-law gave additional energy to Lord Eskdale's ministerial politics. His son had been member for the neighbouring town of Boroughford in the last Parliament, and if, by any degree of exertion or expense, a gentleman-like term for bribery, he could return his nephew for the second seat, it would be in many respects a clever stroke of policy. He should bring another vote in aid of the great G cause. He should have the honour and glory of possessing, to all appearance, a burrow of his own, and he should inflict a mortal blow on the Duke of Broughton, the Lord Lieutenant of the County, with whose family he had invariably been on terms of polite rivalry and civil hatred, and to it the last

Starting point is 05:31:05 election had contrived to insinuate one of his own nephews, Captain Luttridge, into the borough. The only great difficulty Lord Eskdale anticipated was with Colonel Beaufort himself, whose habits of indolence would be much opposed to the work of canvassing. But in this he was mistaken. There is no stage of inertness and don't-carishness from which an Englishman may not be roused by the stimulus of politics, and a contested election is perhaps one of the finest remedies that me applied to confirmed languor, either of mind or body. Ernest caught eagerly at his uncle's proposal, travelled all night from town, and started on his canvas with his cousin an hour after his arrival, passed eleven hours on visits to the electors, and ended the day by making

Starting point is 05:31:51 a speech at the Eskdale Arms to two hundred and fifty dirty-looking men, all smoking bad tobacco, and drinking were beer, and most of whom were sufficiently drunk to insist on shaking hands with him four or five times in the course of the evening. And yet, when he and Lord Beaufort returned home that night, thirsty, tired, and smoke-dried, they declared they had had a glorious day, and never saw a finer set of fellows than the electors of Burrford. "'We shall beat the Duke out of the field,' said Lord Beaufort to his father. Lottridge was going sneaking about the town with only half the number of supporters he had last time, and I cannot hear of a second candidate on their side. Besides, we have gained a valuable

Starting point is 05:32:36 friend. Tom Rodgerson is heart and soul with us.' "'That is indeed a great coup,' said Lord Eskdale. "'He has cut the pinks dead, and is on our committee.' "'What a clever speech he made at the magpie and stump,' said Ernest. "'Hey, Beaufort, did it not strike you as something out of the common way?' "'Yes, excellent. But an election matters, Tom Rogerston has not his equal on earth." "'Who is he, my dear?' said Lady Askdale. "'Where does he live?' "'Don't you know him?' said Ernest.

Starting point is 05:33:09 "'Well, I am astonished. I should have thought you must have known Mr. Rogerson, a neighbour, a man of talent and a voter.' "'No, my dear, I never heard of him till this moment, but I will ask him to dinner forthwith.' "'Oh, pray do, there's a dear. He'll be delighted to come. Perhaps your hours are later than he is used to, but for once he might put up with that. Or we might dine earlier. I should not mind dining at seven to oblige a friend of yours. But where is he to be found? I can give him your card when I see him to-morrow. He is very little at home now, but his ordinary abode is the front attic of No. 4, Hopscotch Alley, near the old market.

Starting point is 05:33:49 I am not quite sure of the number, though I know Hopscotch-alley is the place. Now, my dear Beaufort, what does he mean? Do not mind what he says, dear, he is only trying to mystify you. The real truth being that Tom Rogerson is a valuable ally, solely from his intimacy with all the rogues and knaves in the borough. He once kept an alehouse, and is now a very idle cobbler. But he is one of those odd, shrewd characters who in all times of popular excitement make the fortunes of the party to which they attach themselves. We expect Rogerson will bring us in at least forty votes. "'Oh, here is his name in my polling-book,' said Helen, who was turning over the leaves of a small pamphlet.

Starting point is 05:34:31 "'My dear Helen!' cried Ernest. "'What is that, you say? Your polling-book?' "'Yes, we have each got a polling-book, a list of voters, or whatever you call it, and have been studying them all day to see if there are any of our tradespeople or old friends in the village, whom we could persuade to vote for you.' "'No, have you really?' What treasures you all are? If I were not so tired and smoky,

Starting point is 05:34:57 I should be tempted to make a complete tour of the room just to kiss all your little hands. And there are several cases in which you may be of use to us. We want you to order a bonnet, which you need not wear, at Mrs. Veers. Veer pretends to have opinions about church reform. Yes, and Giles the Ironmonger, would not give us any promise to-day.

Starting point is 05:35:20 Impossible, my dear Beaufort, said Lady Eskdale. He has just finished all the ornamental wirework for my new garden. He ought to be devoted to us. He ought, but he is not, for the Duke has been speaking to him about iron flus for his hot-houses. That is actual bribery, said Lady Eskdale, rising into real election energy. But if it comes to that, your father is going to have iron hurdles all round the pleasure garden, and I may as well speak to Giles about them to-morrow.

Starting point is 05:35:51 So? Then could you not call on Mrs. Burkett and say something a little civil to her to-morrow?" "'Why, you do not mean to say,' said Lady Wilden, laughing, "'that Mr. Burkett presumes to have any political opinions of his own, after having attended me so lately, and with the hope of vaccinating baby still before his eyes?' "'I do not exactly make him out. He said he should not like to disoblige the family, but that he would rather not pledge himself, that the Duchess had asked Mrs. Burkett to her last ball, and that this was a great political

Starting point is 05:36:25 crisis and so on. I do not know what plot is hatching, but I fully expect the Duke's agent will start a second candidate, and that people are hanging back till they say who he is. Mr. Douglas was rather stiff, I thought, today. Impossible Beaufort! The Douglas's must be with us, said Lady Walden. Mrs. Douglas hates the Duchess. Yes, but that is no great distinction likely to tell in our favour. Mrs. Douglas hates so many people." And Mr. Douglas was on your committee last time, and he is such an excellent man.

Starting point is 05:37:01 Very true, so far as his excellence goes, but he is declined being on our committee now. Yes, there is a screw loose with the clan of Douglas evidently," said Ernest, and if I had but time I should like to ride over and pay a few delicate attentions to my little Miss Douglas. "'We will all drive over there to-morrow,' said Lady Eskdale, "'and take Mrs. Burkett in our way. Indeed, I believe Mary Forrester was at Thornbank yesterday. We're not to you, my dear.' "'Yes, I was, but I think with Colonel Beaufort,

Starting point is 05:37:33 though not exactly in his words, that there is a screw loose. Mrs. Douglas was very cold about the election, and Eliza seemed out of spirits. We must try what we can do to-morrow and bring Eliza back with us, So now to bed?" It is time to go to bed," said Lord Beaufort, lighting his candle, for we must be in Barreford by nine. Are you equal to that exertion, earnest?" By nine, my dear fellow, that is full late! I should have said eight! But then I hate anything like indolence."

Starting point is 05:38:05 End of Chapter 36. Chapter 37 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. The mysterious coldness of the Douglas's was unpleasantly explained the next day. The Duke of Broughton found it necessary to propose a second candidate, and he thought it advisable to choose a gentleman connected with the borough, rather than one of his own adherents. A requisition was got up in a few hours, and a deputation appointed to convey it to Mr. Douglas, and he was also assured by the Duke's agent that he should be returned free of all expense, if he would consent to be put in nomination.

Starting point is 05:38:51 Mr. Douglas would rather have declined the honour. He was no politician. He did not fancy the trouble of canvassing, and, above all, he did not like the idea of opposing the Eskdale's. But this last contingency naturally delighted Mrs. Douglas, and her weight was forthwith thrown to the Broughton scale. The Chateau-Hourgé��tes are not more certain to capitulate than is the English gentleman who ponders over the requisition of a body of electors. After walking at least five

Starting point is 05:39:21 miles up and down his library, contradicting in a sort of snappish agony every suggestion made by his wife, by Mr. Wentworth, and by Scrimshaw, the Duke's agent, and after having declared fourteen several times that nothing should induce him to undertake the task of an election, he was sufficiently composed to sit down and write, under the dictation of Scrimshaw, his address to the electors, soliciting their votes. And at the moment in which Lady Eskdale drove to the door to solicit his support, he was making his entry into the town, preceded by two pink banners, and followed by Scrimshaw and ten shabby-looking men on horseback, riders and steeds covered with pink ribbons. The pinks said it was a very fine procession.

Starting point is 05:40:05 The blues pitied, poor old Douglas, from the bottom of their souls for being mixed up with a paltry set of scamps, and for looking so long as well. like a guy himself. And now war was declared in good earnest. The Duke's nominees, as the opposite party of course, termed Mr. Douglas and Captain Luthridge, were backed by many of the richer tradespeople, but they were unpopular with the mob, and therefore, whatever might be the real results of the strife, its pleasures while it lasted were for the Beauforts. Ever while you live choose the popular side in an election—that is, if you have no particular political prejudices of your own, for there is no comparison between a reception

Starting point is 05:40:45 of cheers, applause, and good-will, and one of cabbage-stalks, groans, and bad eggs. Besides, there is something exhilarating in the real genuine affection, while it lasts, of a mob for their favourite of a day. Lady Eskdale and her daughters had the full enjoyment of this position. They drove into the town constantly, and seemed suddenly to have discovered that they were without any of the necessities or luxuries of life, for the extent of their dealings with well-thinking tradespeople was prodigious, and it might have been supposed that they were not covertly sullying the purity of election. But as they justly alleged, shopping was what every woman was born for, and could not, under any circumstances, be considered illegal. And every day they were

Starting point is 05:41:30 received with cheers and applause by all the little dirty boys of the place, screaming like so many animated hurdy-gurdy-gurdy's, "'Beau-Foeuvre! Forever! The Colonel forever!" Sometimes they met Mr. Douglas emerging from a careful canvas of Five Courts Lane, or Stitcher's Row, and at first they thought it magnanimous to stop and shake hands with him. This greeting soon dwindled into a bow and a forced smile, with the remark that, after all, he had not behaved well to Beaufort, and at last they turned away their heads when they

Starting point is 05:42:01 saw the pinks coming, and Lady Sophia asked her mother if she did not rather hate the sight of old Douglas. The day of election arrived. Lord Beaufort and his cousin rode into the town, accompanied by a long train of Lord Eskdale's tenetry, and shortly after, Lady Eskdale, with the walled graves and Amelia, followed in her carriage, while Lady Teviot drove Miss Forrester and her pony Fayton. They were all deposited in the second floor of the house of Mrs. Harris, the milliner, which looked on the hustings. An election was a new sight to them, and they were in their various

Starting point is 05:42:35 ways worked up to a high pitch of excitement. Mrs. Harris was overflowing with politeness, proud to receive the Countess, prouder that she should be consulted on the probable results of the election, and proudest that she had made Harris vote against his conscience and inclination for my lord and the colonel. Mrs. Douglas and her daughters were at the Broughton Arms, at the opposite corner of the marketplace, and well was it for Eliza that pink was the badge of her party. It was her only chance of a tinge of color, for she was as pale as ashes at the shocking contest between her father and her lover, as in her inmost heart she designated Colonel Beaufort. She looked upon her position as one of

Starting point is 05:43:14 unprecedented difficulty, only to be paralleled perhaps by that of the daughter of Horatius, who figures in that interesting old romance which we obligingly call the Roman history. She had not seen Colonel Beaufort since his arrival, and now she was to appear to him decked out in this inimicable color. Moreover, he and his cousin, he and his cousin, and were never named now by Mrs. Douglas, but as those horrid Beauforts." The polling began, and for three hours was nearly equal on both sides. But at two o'clock Captain Luttridge was at the head of the pole, and Mr. Douglas was five ahead of Lord Beaufort, and eight of his cousin. Mrs. Douglas was delighted, threw open the window, and looked out with

Starting point is 05:43:56 many smiles and much affectation. Lady Eskdale was low, and sent off a groom with a bulletin to Lord Deskdale, and tried to eat half a sandwich and drink a quarter of a glass of goose-bree wine, assuring Mrs. Harris that her bread and butter were superior to any at the castle, and that she should have taken the goose-bree wine for champagne if she had not been forewarned. Helen felt sure that the next hour would do wonders, and Lady Sophia complained of her headache, and begged Sir William to stay quietly in the room, and not go and get crushed in the crowd. The Pinks marched by the window with their band playing and their banners streaming, and the mob groaned.

Starting point is 05:44:34 Mr. Mullins and Mr. Dixon, and Mr. Wyvel and Mr. Winthrop, of the Beaufort committee, all great men in that their day, rushed up the stairs at intervals to beg Lady Eskdale would not be alarmed. Everything was going on well. They were sure to win. Lord Beaufort himself put his head in and said, Don't be afraid, it's all right. And Ernest, who was strutting about the town with Tom Rodgerson, who had a very red face

Starting point is 05:44:59 and a great hole in his coat-sleeve, looked up and nodded a nod of encouragement. 3 o'clock came. The state of the pole, still worse, Lord Beaufort twelve in arre, and Colonel Beaufort twenty-one. Mrs. Douglas could not control her delight, and added much to it by making signs of astonishment, and throwing looks of commiseration in the direction of Mrs. Harris's house. Lady Eskdale sent off another groom to Lord Eskdale, and tried to finish her sandwich, but thought the bread was dry and the butter strong, and again sipped her gooseberry wine, and avowed that she never quite liked homemade wines. Lady Sophia's headache was exchanged for a violent palpitation,

Starting point is 05:45:39 and she could not recover her astonishment that Sir William could remain quietly in the room and was not exerting himself in the town. The band of the pinks played louder than ever, and the groans of the mob became fiercer. Again Mullins, Dixon, Weevil, and Winthrop rushed from the various polling booths to assert that all was going on well. There was, of course, the most shameful bribery and intimidation on the other other side. But Mullins would shake his head, and Dixon would pledge his life, and all the rest of the committee would hazard stakes of equal value that all would end well. Lord Beaufort

Starting point is 05:46:13 had not time to come and see them, but they had a distant view of earnest shaking hands with two pink butchers who were giving up their colours. Tom Roderson standing by, his arms folded coriolanus fashion, and his torn sleeve nearly detached from his coat by the force of his previous gesticulations. At four the first day's pole close. closed, and the number were. Lutridge, 317, Douglas, 300, Lord Beaufort, 287, Colonel Beaufort, 278. Deep and silent consternation in Mrs. Harris's parlour, and riotous congratulations in the Broughton arms. The mob thickened round the hustings, ostensibly to hear the speeches of the candidates,

Starting point is 05:46:56 but in fact, to prevent a word that they said from being heard, the unpopular gentleman had to speak first, but, except by the movements of their lips and arms, it was difficult to guess whether they made any attempt to address their friends. The groans and hootings of the crowd below never ceased, and were intermingled with those odd accusations generally made by a mob against the object of their spleen. "'Now, for it, Lutridge, who flogs the niggers?' "'What was your grandfather's name?' "'Who killed the young donkey?' "'Take a little donkey-broth, it is good for the poor.' And then came a shower of thick black mud.

Starting point is 05:47:34 "'Want a black slave! Is one!' And a wretched little black kitten was thrown in Captain Lutridge's face. But a joke is a joke to the candidates who were at the head of the pole, and they seemed as much amused as their assailants. When Lord Beaufort appeared there was an attempt made at silence, with such success that several words and half of one sentence were distinctly heard, and Lady Eskdale had tears in her eyes when she thought that such eloquence would perhaps be lost to the House of Commons. Then Ernest appeared, and made a narration

Starting point is 05:48:05 so violent in words, and so languid and dawdling in manner, that it tickled the fancy of his hearers, and made even Captain Lutridge laugh. And then the fun ceased for that day, so far as the election was concerned. But a little additional excitement was provided by the energy of the mob. Lady Eskdale's Baruch strove safely off, and was soon out of sight. Helen and Miss Forrester waited five minutes longer, talked to the moment. over the events of the day. And then, as a few drops of rain began to fall, Lord Beaufort hurried them into their little open carriage, and advised Helen to make the best of her way home. Either she had in her haste given the ponies their head too soon, or they were unused

Starting point is 05:48:45 to be cheered on their way, which was their fate this day, but so it was, that they began with a little kicking and snorting, and then fairly ran away, which of course made several little boys call out, "'Boford forever!' more ecstatically than before. Lord Beaufort and Ernest followed at full gallop, and about halfway to the castle they found the Faiton with one wheel in a ditch, Helen still seated in it, Miss Forrester standing at the pony's heads, and the rain falling in torrents. "'I am so glad you were come,' said Mary, looking at Colonel Beaufort. "'We are in a most melancholy plight.'

Starting point is 05:49:20 "'Are you hurt? Tell me, Helen, for mercy's sake,' said Lord Beaufort, springing off his horse and rushing up to her. No, not the least, but very much frightened," said Lady Teviot, half laughing, half crying. I thought at first we were overturned! There was a crash, such a horrid crash! Yes, the pole is broken, Colonel Beaufort. If you will have the kindness to take my place, I can go to Helen. She is still frightened. And then Mary went to her, and taking off her own cloak wrapped it round Lady Teviot, so as to defend her from the rain, and soothed her and talked so naturally and calmly, that Helen began to recover her nerves.

Starting point is 05:49:59 "'But how did you escape being thrown out?' said Lord Beaufort, who was still pale with alarm. "'What a shock you must have had!' "'She had indeed,' said Mary. "'But it is all over now, is it not, Helen, dear? I sent the groom on to Westdale Castle to fetch the carriage, and now if you would try to walk on and meet it, it would be much better for you than sitting here in the rain. Are you able to walk, love?' "'Perfectly.

Starting point is 05:50:25 I am wiser now.' said Lady Tevi at springing out. "'But what nerves you have, Mary! I wanted to jump out at one moment, but she would not let me, and she stretched her arms out before me to prevent my being thrown out, and when the wheel went into the ditch and I did nothing but scream, she jumped out and ran to those dreadful ponies' heads, and talked to them and quieted them, though they were kicking dreadfully. And when the groom came up she sent him off for a carriage, and warned him not to tell mamma what it happened. In short she thought of everything, and I could not think of any

Starting point is 05:50:56 anything but how frightened I was." She did indeed behave gallantly," said Lord Beaufort. And now let us walk on, for you were both getting wet. Luckily there is the carriage in sight." So, leaving Colonel Beaufort's servant with the recousant ponies, they hurried on. The ladies were hurried into the carriage, and the gentlemen rode on with them. Lord Beaufort was much struck by Mary's presence of mind and cheerfulness in a situation that was trying to say the least of it, and when the carriage stopped at the lodge-gate,

Starting point is 05:51:26 He rode up to the side on which she was seated, and said, in a tone of great interest, "'May I ask how you feel? I fear you must be both cold and exhausted.' "'Your sister is on the other side,' she said. "'Helen, Lord Beaufort, has come to ask you how you are.' "'She really believes,' he thought with vexation, "'that I have not the common feelings of humanity where she is concerned, that I cannot ask her a civil question. How provoking it is!

Starting point is 05:51:54 And she looked so handsome, too.' And, by dint of assiduous thought on this subject, he arrived too late to hand her out, and saw her and her sister run quickly upstairs to change their wet clothes, and to break their disaster to Lady Eskdale. As no real harm had occurred, their adventures served as a relief to the gloomy cogitations of the evening over the state of the Pole. Several gentlemen of the committee had been asked to dinner, and of course the conversation turned exclusively on the events of the morning, and at any other time the family would have

Starting point is 05:52:25 been the first to laugh at their own volubility and prejudices. When the ladies returned to the drawing-room, Lady Eskdale threw herself on the sofa with a deep sigh, which was echoed by her daughters as they ranged themselves round her. "'I feel quite desponding about the election to-night,' she said. "'And it is so mortifying to lose it? And I never heard anything so atrocious as the accounts of the bribery and intimidation on the other side. Mr. Mullins has been telling me all about it. He says it is quite unprecedented. And so Mr. Winthrop says," added Lady Sophia. "'And Mr. Dixon,' said Lady Teviot.

Starting point is 05:53:03 "'And Mr. Weivel,' said Lady Walden. "'I cannot think such horrible wickedness can succeed,' continued Lady Eskdale. There will be a judgment upon it, and I really believe the Duke of Broughton is capable of anything atrocious. However, there is still a chance left, and if our friends are to be believed, and I quite put my faith in that nice Mr. Mullins, Beaufort and Ernest ought to succeed. There are two hundred and thirty votes still unpoled, and Mr. Mullins assures me that of those we are sure of a hundred and twenty or a hundred and thirty—I forget which. And so you see, my loves, we must subtract one hundred and thirty from two hundred and fifty,

Starting point is 05:53:42 and two hundred eighty-seven from one hundred thirty, and then add—' No, that is not right. Sums are so difficult. But that the result would give us a majority I know, because Mullen says so. Mr. Winthrop says he is sure of it," added Lady Sophia. "'Mr. Dixon says we stand much higher than he had expected the first day,' said Lady Teviot. "'So Mr. Weivel says,' added Lady Walden. "'I think I feel sure we shall win all the time,' said Lady Eskdale."

Starting point is 05:54:14 "'And so do I,' said Mary, after a pause. And yet I cannot help thinking, though of course these gentlemen know best, that we should feel more sure if he were at the head of the pole instead of being in a minority of thirty." "'Well, I think so, too, Mary,' said Lady Teviot, and then they were all silent again. "'Mama,' said Lady Sophia, "'did it not strike you to-day that Mr. Douglas has a remarkably bad countenance? It never occurred to me before.' "'Well, I thought so, too, Sophia,' said Lady Teviot. He used to have such an open, good-humoured look, but after studying his face to-day when

Starting point is 05:54:51 he was speaking, I thought it had a false, forbidding sort of expression." "'Perhaps so, my dear,' said Lady Eskdale resignedly. He never at the best of times had a distinguished look, and I dare say, poor man, he must have moments of painful remorse for his treachery to Beaufort, and that tells on his countenance. However, if we have lost one friend we have gained several others. I never saw anything like the devotion of all those good, dear creatures in the next room. Mr. Mullins tells me he is quite as anxious for our success as if he was standing himself. He says he has hardly been in bed more than five hours this week, and he is quite hoarse with speaking. I like Mr. Mullins."

Starting point is 05:55:31 And I date upon Mr. Winthrop, he is not a bit less eager than your Mullins, Mama," said Lady Sophia. "'And my Mr. Dixon has not had a wink more sleep,' said Lady Taviot. And I am proud to say Mr. Weival has completely lost his voice,' said Lady Walden. Well, you may laugh, my dear children, but they are really very delightful people, and I mean to see a great deal of them in future, and to ask them here constantly. And now, let us rest till the gentlemen come, for I am half dead with the election, and that horrid accident with your fate in dearest Nell.

Starting point is 05:56:04 I feel quite ill, and I think we have all agreed not to go into the town to-morrow, so now let us keep quiet." To this they all consented heartily, and then after a silence that lasted at least two minutes, They all recommend their surmises and remarks. The gentlemen joined them, and till one in the morning they continued discussing the chances of each remaining vote without ever wearying of the subject. They parted with the avowed determination to get up very late the next day. At eight the following morning every bell was ringing, and each lady had decided that though

Starting point is 05:56:36 it was advisable that the others should stay at home, she herself should be anxious and miserable, at a distance from the scene of the action. So at nine they were all on their way once more to the first faithful Mrs. Harris and full of renovated hopes." End of Chapter 37. Chapter 38 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox's recording is in the public domain. The town was more crowded and more disorderly than ever, the mob more eager and considerably

Starting point is 05:57:12 more drunk. The horses could hardly make their way through the crowd, and innumerable were the hands that were thrust into the carriage, and dirty as they were, Lady The Eskdale shook them all heartily, though she afterwards assured her son that it was the greatest stretch of maternal affection she had ever made for him. Contrary to the general expectation, the Beauforts gained ground from the first hour, and at twelve o'clock Lord Beaufort was within one of Mr. Douglas, and Ernest within five. The agitation that had prevailed in Mrs. Harris's parlour began to evince itself at the Broughton arms, and Mrs. Douglas was frantic with anger and spite, and added ten years at once to the ages of all

Starting point is 05:57:51 opposite party. Eliza, who had all along asserted that her father and Colonel Beaufort would and must win, adhered to that opinion, which no announcement of numbers, no force of calculation could possibly shake. Another hour passed away. Lord Beaufort was at the head of the pole, and Colonel Beaufort within four of Captain Lutridge. Mullins and company were in a state of unexampled activity and triumph. Lady Eskdale and her daughters were speechless, for now that we were If one Beaufort seemed secure, their eagerness for earnest success was redoubled. A shout was heard, and a chaise whirled up.

Starting point is 05:58:29 "'Oh,' said Lady Walden, "'there is my dear Weival waving his hat to us—such a treasure of a man. But why is he powdered his face like a clown at Astley's?' This was explained by his handing out of the chaise two very white millers, whom he had torn from their innocent, farinacious privacy into the pink and blue crowd. They polled for the Beauforts. Weival gave his own vote at the same time, and immediately after Tom Rodgerson was seen hauling along a very small, pale-faced cripple, an ironmonger by trade, whom he had, by hint

Starting point is 05:59:01 of threats and brandy forced to the hustings, and who, with faltering voice and eyes fixed on Tom, voted for Colonel Beaufort and Mr. Douglas. "'I allow the little wretch one vote,' said Tom with an air of condescension, "'because he is his grace's private tinker, and it does us no harm. But in a general way I don't like to see such Hattamese go for the thing for themselves. The numbers now were four. Lord Beaufort, 360, Captain Beaufort, 351, Captain Luttridge, 351, Mr. Douglas 330. There was a pause for ten minutes, not another vote apparently to be had for love or money.

Starting point is 05:59:42 The mayor had wisely abstained from giving any opinion, and neither party dared press him to vote. The delay became more aggravating every moment. At last there was a stir amongst the crowd, as if some interesting event were in preparation at the end of the street. The ladies stretched their heads out of the windows quite as far as was safe. But their hearts misgave them, for there were no hurrahs to herald the approach of another Beaufortite. But yet the mob looked joyful, though so quiet.

Starting point is 06:00:10 And at last there appeared in Grand's procession, eight men bearing a bed, on which was laid an unfortunate master chimney-sweeper, who had broken his leg the day before, and who now was born along, stretched at full length, with his wife's red cloak over his shoulders, and her flannel petticoat turbaned round his head, his face partially streaked with white, thanks to his forced seclusion from soot, and a blue flag thrown over his bed to conceal the patchwork quilt. Tom Rogerson was walking before him, with a bottle of spirits, to be used in the case of faintness, in one hand, and with the other making most imperative signs to the people.

Starting point is 06:00:46 not to agitate the sick man with their applause. It was a most impressive scene, particularly when the black lips opened in answer to the interrogation of the polling-clerk, and announced a plumber for Colonel Beaufort. There was a low murmur of delight, followed by a stern, hush, from Tom Rodgerson, who was so much affected that he was obliged to have recourse to the spirits which he had brought for the sick-man. The procession moved on, and no sooner was the gallant chimney-sweeper out of hearing, then the numbers were again announced, and the shouts of the crowd burst forth. The election was decided. The five or six voters who had hung back all came into the winning side, and in half an hour Lord Beaufort and his cousin were declared, duly elected.

Starting point is 06:01:28 Mrs. Douglas was in hysterics, and Lady Sophia, Lady Walden, and Lady Teviot were dancing a reel at the back of Mrs. Harris's parlour out of sight of the street, and merely as a necessary relief to their over-excited spirits. Mrs. Harris was urging Lady Eve, and shewerexed, and, Eskdale to drink the health of the new members in her gooseberry wine, to which request Lady Eskdale acceded, though it tasted to-day much better than champagne, and begged for the recipe. Altogether it was a glorious day for Eskdale Castle. Every being in the house, from its owner down to the Stewards Room boy, was in a state of triumph, and the evening was passed in such hilarity that it was much to the credit of the establishment that there were

Starting point is 06:02:06 enough sober servants to carry to bed those who were drunk. Chapter 39 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. Poor Eliza. She was the chief victim to the great Burrifford contest. Mrs. Douglas said, Not at home! When Lady Eskdale, who could not keep up a quarrel for a week, called on her, and professed her intention of not returning such a hypocritical visit.

Starting point is 06:02:42 The castle was filled with company. But Mrs. Douglas sternly refused an invitation to dine there. Worse than all, Colonel Beaufort did not call at Thornbank. He thought of it, but one day the sun was out, and he should have a glaring, dusty ride. The next day the sun went in, but he had no idea of catching cold for a mere morning visit, and he really had not courage, to face the irate Douglas' pair a mare, though he should rather have liked to see his little friend. He could not recollect her Christian name, but the little fairer. girl who had such a rigorous horror of Lady Portmore. And for this man, Eliza was undergoing all

Starting point is 06:03:20 the pains and processes of a disappointment. She ate no breakfast and very little dinner, alternated from fits of absence in solitude to fits of impatience in society. She thought all the neighbors tiresome, and thorn-bank dull, and finally set up an extract book, that last infirmity of blighted hopes. It opened, of course, with— She never told her love. Though there was not an action in Eliza's life that did not tell it plainly, if anybody had thought it worth while to interpret them. The worm in the bud was making a nice little feast in a quiet way. This quotation was followed by harrowing lines to the bleeding heart and the false heart,

Starting point is 06:04:01 and the breaking heart, and the cold heart, and hearts in every variety of distress and wrong, and by short pithy scraps conveying the most cutting censures on man's inconstancy, or describing the withering lives and touching deaths of the lone one, or the early lost, or words to that effect. And there was Colonel Beaufort, cold, perjured but adored, page 49, extract book, actually oblivious of her Christian name, and thinking of Parliament and Newmarket and pheasant-shooting, and of anything but falling in love and marrying. I say, Helen, he muttered one morning after Lord Eskdale had mentioned that there would be no Batu that week. Is there any chance of Tevi at coming home soon? It'll be monstrous if

Starting point is 06:04:47 we are cut out of the pheasants, he promised us, by some trivial question of peace or war between two great powers, as they are pleased to call themselves. Do you know when he is coming back?" He seemed, said Helen, in his last letter to think that his business at Lisbon might now be easily finished by others on the spot, and that he should come back to take possession of his new office. "'This is pleasing news for all of us,' said Colonel Stuart, who was staying at the castle. "'And especially for you, Lady Teviot. Lady Portmore seemed sure of his return, for she asked me to meet him at Portsdown on the tenth. But, with every respect for our dear busy friend, I found metal more attractive here than one of her fussy crowds.'

Starting point is 06:05:30 "'Lady Portmore must be in ecstasies,' said Lady Walden, at the triumph of what she calls her party. "'Well, I am not so sure,' said Colonel Stuart. "'Mr. G. has failed to find out Portmore's merits, and my lady is rather wrathful at not having the offer of even a household place, and I hear she is beginning to make out that Mr. Sheffield as a distant cousin of hers, and that he leads the opposition with great talent.' "'So like her,' said Lady Walden. "'I wish she would take up the Sheffield side and give up appropriating Mr. G. and his friends

Starting point is 06:06:04 to herself. "'I am sure so do I,' said Helen in an absent tone. "'And yet,' pursued Colonel Stuart. She is of use, too. She has great power over her friends. How or why it is difficult to say. But in some instances,' he added in his hesitating tone. It is marvellous."

Starting point is 06:06:28 Helen was silent. She hardly seemed to hear what was passing. took up the argument against Lady Portmore, her charms and her agreeableness, and Colonel Stewart, with a manifest affectation of keeping back the fact that would tell best for him, ended by saying that somehow or other her influence over some people had been exerted with great success. Amelia left the room, and Helen, rousing herself from her fit of abstraction, asked Colonel Stewart, whether there was to be a large party at Portsdown.

Starting point is 06:06:58 Lady Portmore did not name her guests, but said, as you probably know that Lord Teviot would land at Southampton on the ninth, and that she expected him on the tenth." He put on a look of distress, and added, "'I own this surprises me, and what is more it provokes me. I cannot endure for your sake,' he added in a low earnest tone. The infatuation which can keep Teviot for an hour from a home such as his." Helen looked surprised, but said coldly, "'we have only Lady Portmore's word for the invitation

Starting point is 06:07:32 that has been given. I very much doubt whether it will be accepted. I am thinking of meeting, Lord Teviot at Southampton." "'Are you, indeed?' And then he paused, and drawing his chair nearer to her, and looking at her with an air of deep compassion, said, "'Perhaps you were right. If anything should occur to distress, Teviot, I mean—to annoy him. He must feel the comfort of having you near him. I cannot imagine he should not. And yet—' But I cannot speak on this subject. Whatsoever befalls him, Teviot will always be to me an object of envy."

Starting point is 06:08:06 "'What do you mean?' said Helen quietly. There can have been no letters later than mine from him. He said he should be glad to get away from Lisbon, that it did not agree with him. He did not feel well. Colonel Stuart, you have not heard that he is really ill.' "'No, nothing of the sort. It was not to himself, I was alluding. I was thinking of you.

Starting point is 06:08:29 I cannot be calm and prudent were your happiness is concerned, and yet it was only a vague report." "'Oh, then do not tell it to me,' she said, relapsing into her previous coldness. "'If you had known anything connected with his health you would have done well to tell me, any other reports I would rather hear from himself.' She rose as she spoke, and without even a look at him left the room. She went straight to Lady Walden, who was, for a wonder, not in the nursery. amelia she said i cannot bear that colonel stuart i do not know what he means i cannot understand his looks and his manner he has been trying to frighten me with some report which he says concerns my happiness what business is it of his whether i am happy or not amelia what does he mean Lady Walden had seen looks of Colonel Stewart that had aroused her suspicions, and she was sufficiently aware of his character and habits to have a distinct perception of his meaning, but she had no intention of enlightening Helen's innocent mind, and said with an air of indifference, "'Oh, nothing at all, probably. He delights in petty mysteries, and an interference in the affairs of other people, and he fancies himself a good adviser, though it generally appears to me that his advice is wrong.' "'Rong or right,' said Helen.

Starting point is 06:09:49 I do not wish for it, and I am very glad Mary did not marry him. But I wish, dearest, you would ascertain without seeming to care about it, whether he does know anything about Teviot. I dare say it is only some nonsense about that silly Lady Portmore, but still he has made me feel uncomfortable." "'And that is just what he intended,' said Amelia. But I will have a talk with him this evening. Till then do not let us think of him.

Starting point is 06:10:14 And in the meanwhile may I ask Nellie, if you ever in your life saw anything half so pretty is baby's hand." She put aside the curtain of the little white cradle that was on her sofa, and the sisters solaced themselves for the disturbance occasioned by Colonel Stuart's dark hints by a regular course of baby twaddle, kissing its waxy little hands, trying to roll the short down on its head into curls—an attempt in which they signally failed, and poking little holes in the corner of its mouth and the dimple on its chin, fancying they made it laugh. To impartial observers, the face made by baby under this manipulation was what

Starting point is 06:10:49 one of unutterable disgust and annoyance." In the course of the evening Amelia fulfilled her promise to Helen, by engaging Colonel Stewart in conversation, and his vanity was gratified by her alluding to the hints he had given to her sister, and the impression they had made on her. "'You may imagine, Lady Walden,' he said rather solemnly, "'that the last thing I should wish would be to give your sister a moment of uneasiness. I could not do it, such a bright, buoyant being as she is. How she can be undervalued or misunderstood. But this is not what I have to say. It had better be said to you than to her,

Starting point is 06:11:25 and you can then impart the tidings to her, or not, as you think best. But what tidings? said Amelia impatiently. What is it that requires all this preparation? merely a report, I trust it is nothing more, but a report that materially affects Lord Teviot's position, should it prove true. Have you ever seen or heard of a certain Henry Lorimer, Who lives not in the best society, but occasionally hangs about it?" "'You mean a tall, dark, Mr. Lorimer, who is a connection of Lord Teviets after a fashion, a natural son of Lord Roberts, Teviot's great-uncle?' "'I believe that old Lord Robert was a shocking old man. Luckily for Teviot he never married.'

Starting point is 06:12:08 "'Ah,' said Colonel Stuart, "'but this leads, unfortunately, to my mysterious report.' And then he went on to explain to Lady Walden that this Henry Lorimer, after having consented to pass for some years as an illegitimate scion of the Teviate House, had suddenly asserted a private marriage of his father's, which he was prepared to prove, and consequently to lay claim to the Teviate title and estates. This intelligence came to me through an odd, inexplicable channel. It is not yet generally known, but soon it must be, and I leave it to you to judge whether your sister had better hear it now, or on Teviot's return.

Starting point is 06:12:45 It may be kept a secret a few days longer. Colonel Stewart's intelligence always did come to him in strange, mysterious ways, but yet it generally proved to be correct, and Amelia felt that he was only asserting what he actually knew. She questioned him as to the grounds on which Mr. Larimer had raised his claim, but on that point Colonel Stewart could or would say nothing. He confined himself to sighs and shakings of the head, after the fashion of Lord Burley, and an occasional word of pity for Lady Teviot. She had watched this colloquy with great interest, and eagerly followed her sister out of the room, when Amelia professed fatigue as an excuse for retiring early. "'Well, Amelia, what is it? Tell me at once. Is it anything about Lady Portmore, or about Teviot's health?'

Starting point is 06:13:31 "'Neither the one nor the other, darling, and the story may turn out false, but it is certainly very annoying.' And then she repeated to her sister the fact stated to her by Colonel Stuart. "'Oh, is that all?' said Helen with a son. of relief. In the first place I do not believe it. I do not know why it is. But I feel as if I should distrust anything and everything asserted by Colonel Stuart. And then, supposing it to be true, worse misfortunes might have happened. I doubt whether very great riches and grandeur really do give all the happiness we suppose. But Teviot—poor Teviot!—she added, in an unusual tone of tenderness.

Starting point is 06:14:09 I am afraid he will feel all this deeply, even if it ends well. He will hate the and all the publicity given to his family history, and if it ends ill. Oh, Amelia, does he know it yet?" No. Colonel Stuart says that except the scamp, as he calls Mr. Lorimer, and his advisers, it is known to no one but himself. "'I am glad,' said Helen in a tone of deep feeling, "'for then I shall be with Teviot when he hears it, and I think I shall be the comfort to him.' There is a silence between the sisters for a few minutes, and then Helen

Starting point is 06:14:44 throwing her arms round Amelia's neck, said in a faltering voice, "'Dearest, I've been wrong, very wrong, in the whole course of my married life. So unlike what you would have been. I cannot talk even to you about it, but the worst of all is that I did not go with my husband to Lisbon.' Amelia I am very unhappy, but to-morrow I shall hear from him, and I mean to be at Southampton before he lands. So whatever bad news may come, we may hear it together." "'You are right, darling,' said Amelia, who was too honest and too-hearted to say that Helen condemned herself unjustly. It is better not to discuss the past, if it may fret, my Helen.

Starting point is 06:15:29 But she'll be happy good little wife for the future, and so good-night." End of Chapter thirty-nine. Chapter 40 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. The next morning at an early hour Lady Eskdale was roused from that most pleasing of all the phases of sleep—the slide extra dose that follows the opening of the shutters—by Helen, who was looking pale and agitated, and had a letter in her hand. "'Mama, dear, I am so vex to disturb you, but I am going to set off for Southampton directly. "'Poor Tevi it has been ill. He has had a bad fever. He cannot write himself, but I have heard from his secretary, who says they were going to move him from that dreadful Lisbon directly,

Starting point is 06:16:21 and that the doctors hoped the voyage would be of use. He is at sea now. I shall hardly arrive at Southampton before him.' "'Oh, dearest Mama, is it not sad?' And Helen burst into tears. "'My darling child!' said Lady Eskdale, who was so little accustomed to be awakened by any misfortune that she could not collect her scattered senses, nor untie her nightcap." "'You must not cry. Of course you must go to dear Teviot directly, but you must have some breakfast first, Helen?' "'A fever did you say, dear?

Starting point is 06:16:55 Do untie this not for me? I am quite awake now, so let me see the letter. You have got frightened, my pet. I dare say it is only a slight attack.' But when she read the letter she saw that Helen's alarm was well founded, and her tears fell on her child's head, which had sunk on her pillow. Lord Teviot had been suddenly seized with a bad fever, which was then raging at Lisbon. And guarded, as was the account sent by his secretary, it was evidently written under great

Starting point is 06:17:23 alarm and anxiety. Eight days of illness had been sufficient to frustrate mind and body. Friends were judging and acting for him, whose will had been so absolute and actions so decided, and the strong man whom no fatigue had seemed to weary, was to be born in a litter, and helpless, to the ship which was to bring him home, or to be his grave. Lady Eskdale was completely overcome. Her first thought was to accompany her daughter, but that Helen declined with the peremptoriness that admitted of no resistance. She said that it would be a great fatigue for her mother, that her own preparations were made, and that she should

Starting point is 06:18:00 be off in half an hour, that Amelia had offered to go with her, but that she had rather go alone, and would write from Southampton the moment she arrived there. "'But my dear child,' said poor Lady Eskdale, who was gradually relapsing into bewilderment under the suddenness of this trouble. "'You cannot possibly go alone to a great noisy hotel at a seaport town. It is not proper, though to be sure you are married, I forgot that. But still you were so young, and then all that anxiety about your dear husband, and how are you to get on board the packet?

Starting point is 06:18:33 And the beds won't be aired. I must get up directly and ask Lord Eskdale about it. How tiresome it is that Nelson never will put my dressing slippers ready! Oh dear, how little we may know what the day may bring forth! I wish now you had gone with dear Teviot, though perhaps you might have caught this dreadful fever yourself." "'You cannot wish it more than I do,' said Helen fervently. "'I ought to have been with him. But I shall not be alone at the Hotel, Mama.

Starting point is 06:19:00 Mary Forrester was, you know, going back this week to her aunt, who lives in that neighbourhood, and she will stay with me till Teviot arrives.' "'Oh, but you two will be very helpless in that sort of place. Beaufort must go with you if you will not let Papa and me go.' "'No,' said Helen. "'No, I had rather go alone.' "'Dear Nelly,' said Lady Eskdale, looking with fond pity at the young, fragile creature who was resting on the bed by her, looking miserable and pale.

Starting point is 06:19:29 "'You were not able to get through all this alone? Why should not Beaufort go with you?' "'Because, Mama,' she said. said, throwing her arms round her mother's neck. "'I do not think Teviot would like it. I did not like to tell you when I first came here. But at St. Mary's I was not quite happy. It was all my fault.

Starting point is 06:19:49 But somehow poor Teviate was convinced that I thought too much of my own family, that I cared more for them than I did for him. And so—I cannot explain it—but I think he would be better pleased if I came by myself to meet him. And, oh, if he is still very ill, I should like to nurse him and to wait a on him, and to make him happier than I did before. It would please him to have all my care to himself." "'You are right, darling. Whatever will please your husband best it is your duty to do.

Starting point is 06:20:19 So go, my child. I trust you will not want us, but if you do we can come at any moment. God bless you, my dearest, and may all this trial end happily.' "'Yes, yes,' said Helen, "'it must, it will. Amelia has another grievance to tell you that will vex, poor Teviot, but that does not signify if he gets well. And now I must go. Everything is ready. Good-bye, my own dear mother. And before the company at the castle met at breakfast, Helen and Mary were gone. Lord and Lady Eskdale had heard from Amelia the intelligence she had gathered from Colonel Stuart, and he, with all the guests were preparing for their departure, feeling that the family, under their present circumstances, would be glad to be left to themselves.

Starting point is 06:21:05 Colonel Stuart was in a high state of annoyance at Lady Teviot's sudden disappearances, and his own ignorance of the impression which his news had made on her, and suddenly determined to go to Portsdown, and hear Lady Portmore's views on the subject. End of Chapter 40. Chapter 41 of the semi-attached couple, by Emily Eden. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Lord Eskdale thought perhaps less of Lord Teviot's illness. and more of the threatened attack on his name and property than Lady Eskdale did. He settled, as most men do, that a bad illness is only a decided step to a speedy recovery, and that whoever is very ill one day is sure to be much better than next. But a lawsuit he viewed in its truest and blackest colours, and where so much was at stake he was eager to take some measures of defence,

Starting point is 06:22:04 even before Lord Teviot's return. But the affair was still a mystery. and he could do nothing but wish and wonder. One measure for Helen's comfort he insisted upon, notwithstanding Lady Eskdale's assurances that Helen did not wish for it. He sent Lord Beaufort to join his sister a few hours after her departure, and even Helen felt it to be a relief when she saw her brother's carriage dash up to the door of the noisy, crowded hotel, where she and Mary had, after much difficulty, found rooms.

Starting point is 06:22:36 There is something pleasant and cheerful in a large country inn, with a choice of clean, airy rooms, a warm welcome from a fat landlady, and the undivided attention of the waiter. But at an hotel at a busy seaport town, where large parties land, eager to make a quick transit to London, where whole families arrive, equally eager to obtain accommodation till they enter the floating prisons which are already producing nausea by the view from the windows of their constant undulations, where the hall and landing places are filled with packing cases, and the entrance is blocked up by trunks, where all the bells are constantly ringing, and it seems to be nobody's business to answer them. All this is very dispiriting.

Starting point is 06:23:20 Helen sank down in despair on the horse-hair sofa, which seemed to be constantly slipping from under her, while Mary attempted short voyages of discovery on the stairs, which were cut short by fresh shoals of arrivals and departures. The footman made a failure of his inquiries about packets, and Tomkinson utterly repudiated the bedrooms which were vouchsafed to her as a favor, and declined as an insult. This is one of the situations in which women acquire a wholesome sense of their helplessness, and a conviction that dependence on firmer minds and stronger frames than their own is their natural position in a world of petty difficulties, and Helen hailed her brother's arrival with pleasure. Lord Beaufort set to work with authority, awed a dingy-looking waiter into attention,

Starting point is 06:24:04 "'mastically intimated that Lady Teviot's room was not fitted for her, "'and obtained one less noisy and better furnished, "'and finally went himself to the packet office, "'sent in his card, and attained without difficulty the information he wanted. "'Helen, dearest,' he said on his return, "'there is a steamer to start from hence to-morrow, "'but it seemed so certain by La Gates' letter "'that Teveot would leave Lisbon by the first conveyance,

Starting point is 06:24:29 "'that, in my opinion, you would better stay here another day or two. "'Indeed, I am sure of it. You must be tired, and so must Miss Forrester. I advise you to follow her example and go to bed." "'I am tired, but Mary is not gone to bed. You know her aunt lives about two miles off, and finding you were here to take care of me she sent for a fly, and went to Mrs. Forrester's. She will come back early to-morrow,' she added, seeing a look of surprise and disappointment on her brother's face. "'Yes, she must come back,' he said moodily, and he rose and lent

Starting point is 06:25:04 against the chimney-piece with an air of painful abstraction." "'Dear Beaufort,' said Helen, half-smiling, "'you do not imagine that Mary is thinking of your old quarrels, and has gone home to avoid you? I assure you that is not the case.' "'Is not it?' he said, trying to return her smile. But he relapsed into his absent fit, and then suddenly kissing his sister said, "'Good-night, you look very tired, and so am I. I hope Miss Forrester will come to breakfast.' "'I suppose so,' said Helen sleepily. "'Good-night, dear. You are going to bed, too?'

Starting point is 06:25:39 "'Of course.' But when she had left the room, he drew the arm-chair to the fire, and, resting his feet on the fender, sank into deep and melancholy thought. He had met one or two people whom he knew slightly, who had either arrived by the last steamer themselves, or had seen friends who had. They spoke of Lord Teviot's as a hopeless case. The agent at the office had mentioned that a packet might come in on the following day. It was waiting at Lisbon for a young Lord who was very ill, but it was generally understood that he would not live to go on board. Lord Beaufort shuddered as he thought what the next morning might bring to Helen.

Starting point is 06:26:17 He felt unequal to cope with her probable grief by himself, and ended by writing a note to Miss Forrester, telling her what he had heard, and imploring her to return as early as possible. He left this note with the servant, to be sent the first thing in the first thing in the morning, and went to bed anxious, unhappy, and almost desponding. The next morning Helen came down, looking more cheerful, though she suggested to her brother that she did not think the hotel would do for an invalid, that she had had a very noisy family lodged in the room next to hers, and Teviot will perhaps be so weak that he may have to stay at Southampton for two or three days.

Starting point is 06:26:52 She looked anxiously at her brother, who had hardly spoken all the time breakfast lasted, and intercepted a look of his at Mary that made her heart beat. She dared not ask the question that was on her lips." "'Very true,' said Mary, seeing that Lord Beaufort was unable to answer his sister's mute appeal. "'You must expect, dearest, that Lord Teviot will indeed be weak and want quiet. I think we might find some lodging just as near as this is to the pier. Indeed, I saw a house to be let some way back from the street and standing by itself. It was, to be sure, very small.'

Starting point is 06:27:26 "'Oh, that would not signify if it is quiet. What do you think, Beaufort?" "'That it would be very desirable to get you out of this horrid hole,' he said, starting up. "'Miss Forrester, perhaps you will show me where this house is, and I will go and see if we can have it. Make some excuse to come with me,' he whispered as she leant out of the window to point out the direction he was to take.

Starting point is 06:27:48 I must see you alone." "'Helen,' said Mary, "'as I have got my bonnet on, perhaps I had better go with Lord Beaufort and see the house. I shall know directly if it will suit you, and in the meanwhile you might be preparing for our moving." "'Very well,' said Helen listlessly. "'I will speak to Tomkinson. Any house will do, so that there is not this constant racket.'

Starting point is 06:28:12 She saw them leave the room with a dreamy feeling of wonder that they should go together, and tried to smile as they went out. But when the door was closed she hid her face in her hands in a state of utter depression. She felt without owning it to herself that they knew more of her husband than they had told her. There was almost an angry feeling in her heart against the secrecy which she fancied they observed, and yet a shrinking dread of its being broken. Above all there was a miserable presentiment of coming evil, that expectation of evil which quickens the hearing, blinds the sight, and seems to clench the heart with a grasp that tightens at every strange sound,

Starting point is 06:28:46 at every sudden silence. She was still seated in the same place and position, when Mary returned to say that the house was quiet and clean, that Lord Beaufort had hired it, and thought his sister had better go into it without delay. He was gone to make other arrangements for her comfort in the way of servants, provisions, etc., and would not return for another hour. "'He has gone to the pier, Mary.' "'Very likely,' said Mary. "'You know the packet may be in to-day?' "'Yes. And you and Boffut know more than that?' said Helen, raising her heavy eyes and fixing them on Mary. "'You have heard something you do not choose to tell me. I do not want

Starting point is 06:29:24 to hear it," she added almost fiercely. It can only be a vague report. I should not believe it." "'Perhaps you were right,' said Mary, trying to speak calmly, though her voice was low and shaking. But, darling, Lord Beaufort thought it better that I should tell you the accounts of your dear husband brought by some passengers by the last Seema, were very alarming. We knew that," said Helen impatiently. There is always exaggeration in reports of illness.

Starting point is 06:29:54 They cannot know so much as we do. Mary, Mary, why do you try to frighten me?" Your brother thought you ought to know all, and I know my own dear friend," she said, fondly caressing her, "'will exert herself for the sake of all who love her, for the sake of the husband who may want all her care, all her strength of mind and energy.' "'He must, he shall want them, and have them,' said Helen. "'He will be with me to-day.' suddenly her forced coldness gave way and throwing her arms round her friend she said oh mary if i am not to see him alive what a life of remorse and misery is before me her tears flowed convulsively for a time and then she said softly

Starting point is 06:30:38 god's will be done but i hope this suspense will not last long and now let us have everything in readiness she rose as she spoke and began with shaking hands to collect the few things that were scattered on the table She sent Mary to give the necessary orders to the servants, and in a few minutes they had left the hotel, which for years after Helen could not think of without a shudder. End of Chapter 41 Chapter 42 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librovoc's recording is in the public domain. The house they had taken was quiet, and sequestered from the noise of the streets, and had a small garden attached to it. It had evidently been new furnished, and Helen set about

Starting point is 06:31:30 arranging the largest room in it for Lord Teviot, with better hopes than she had felt at the hotel. She dwelt again and again to marry on the necessity of moving this sofa or that arm-chair to particular places, because Teviot might like to lie down near the fire, or to sit up near the window. The cook, who had been sent in by Lord Beaufort, was ordered to prepare a dinner that would suit a man in the strongest health, and with the same breath she ordered gruel, and arrowroot, and barley-water, and all the wretched slops that count for food when all wish for it is over. Tomkinson was so glad to get away from the uncomfortable attic into which she had been put at the hotel that she was quite condescending to Laurel Cottage, and, with

Starting point is 06:32:17 the help of Lord Beaufort's servant and Lord Teviot's footman, collected a quantity of things from various tradesmen that could not possibly be of any use, further than the pleasure they gave her of passing herself off to herself as an excellent housekeeper. And as she was really good-hearted, she had great ideas of saving my lady trouble, now she was in such grief, and she magnanimously forgave Lord Teviot for calling her Tomkins, and indeed would have answered to Tom, under present circumstances, without a murmur. Mary had ascertained from her aunt the name of the best medical man in the town, and now everything was prepared, and they sat down to another hour of painful thought and miserable expectation.

Starting point is 06:33:02 At last Lord Beaufort appeared. Helen, the packet is in sight, and they have signalled for a litter. Then he is alive. I shall see him again. O Beaufort, let us go. I am ready. She shook from head to foot, but with a strong effort suddenly composed herself, and taking her brother's arm, walked rapidly on. Neither of them spoke, and yet this miserable demand for a litter, had given them hopes they had not felt before. It is a hard method of testing our degree of hope when we find that what should have brought terror now brings relief.

Starting point is 06:33:40 The packet was now lying close to the pier. Lord Beaufort persuaded his sister, to remain with Mary for a few minutes, while he went on board to ascertain more precisely the state in which Lord Teviot was. They saw him speaking to a grave-looking man, evidently the ship's surgeon, and he was soon joined by Mr. Legate, the secretary, and the captain. Helen watched their looks in breathless suspense, and at last, seeing Dr. Gray shake his head as he eagerly addressed Lord Beaufort, she rushed from the pier, and the next moment was standing at her brother's side. my sister lady teviot said lord beaufort looking meaningly at dr grey i am glad her ladyship is here said dr grey looking painfully embarrassed but speaking in a calm monotonous voice

Starting point is 06:34:31 as i was observing to your lordship lord teviot has had a very severe attack of fever very severe indeed and of course we must expect you know we always expect after that sort of seizure he is better said helen well yes of course otherwise is he better she again repeated do not look at my brother but look at me sir and tell me the truth the whole truth i can bear it better than this suspense dr grey did look at her and saw that she was indeed wound up to know and to bear all and at once he told her that the fever which it attacked lord teviot was one of a very violent kind and which had proved fatal in many instances and that he told her that the fever which had attacked lord teviot was one of a very violent kind and which had proved fatal in many instances and at Lisbon, that when first Lord Teviot came on board there was little hope, but that the fever itself had subsided, and that the danger that now existed was from the frightful state of weakness to which he was reduced. But his age, and naturally strong constitution gave us hopes. Suddenly we have hopes. "'Thank you. And now that I know all, let me go to him.'

Starting point is 06:35:40 I should recommend your ladyship to defer seeing him. There is the difficulty of the removal still to be encountered, and—I mean to be with him when he is moved," said Helen firmly. "'And,' continued Dr. Gray, in the quietest tone, "'I must apprise your ladyship that, though it is most unlikely that Lord Teviot should recognize you, yet if he does, and your ladyship should show any great degree of emotion, I cannot answer for the consequences.' "'I shall not show any emotion, and I must see him,' said Helen. who felt as if Dr. Gray were a personal enemy, and hated him as a man totally without feeling.

Starting point is 06:36:21 She was quite wrong. He was kind-hearted, and felt the greatest interest in Lord Teviot's case, but for thirty years he had been floating about the world, or cooped up in barracks with rough and hardy seamen, and he vaught the battle between life and death daily waged by the men of his profession, with none of the amenities which he would have acquired in more polished society. "'Had you not better wait, dearest,' said Lord Beaufort. "'Tilt heavy it has been moved home. I will stay and assist, Dr. Gray.' "'No, no,' she said with tears in her eyes. "'Boford I should naturally have been with him if I had done my duty, and had gone out to Lisbon.

Starting point is 06:37:02 I feel I can be quite composed. And now Dr. Gray show me to his cabin.' They saw that further opposition was useless, and Dr. Gray led her immediately down the ladder that led to Lord Teviot's cabin. It was nearly dark. Light was oppressive to that weary brain and those sunken eyes, and at first Helen could only dimly discern a figure lying motionless in a cot watched by a servant, who withdrew on seeing Dr. Gray.

Starting point is 06:37:32 "'We have been obliged to exclude the light very much,' Dr. Gray said. produced too much excitement, but now it might be as well to accustom him to it gradually before we move him." He withdrew one of the shutters as he spoke, and then Helen saw her husband. But how fearfully changed! She could hardly bear to look on the livid face, the closed eyes, the thin dilated nostrils, and the painful expression of powerlessness that met her sight. One bitter, fixed glance she gave, and then sinking on her knees she seized the amazement

Starting point is 06:38:06 hand that rested on the bed, and covered it with kisses. But quickly rising, she turned to Dr. Gray and whispered, "'You see, I can restrain myself, and now tell me what is next to be done, and how you can make use of me.' He saw that she had power over herself, and said kindly, "'I see will make a good nurse. The first step is to get him moved in some very quiet room.' "'That is already.' I should like further advice. I have other duties to attend to, and this is a case that requires unceasing care. Dr. Morant is already warned, and will meet you at any moment. Then, now, let me ask you to return to your brother, and the bearers who are in waiting

Starting point is 06:38:51 will take up Lord Teviot in his cot, and you shall direct us to your house. He opened the cabin door as he spoke, and a flood of light streamed in, and fell on Helen as she stood by her husband's bedside. The light seemed to pain him, for his brow contracted into rigid furrows, and then the dim, filmy eyes opened and turned upon her. For one moment there was a ray of intelligence in them, but as Helen stooped to kiss the pale lips which she fancied had almost smiled on her, the feeble gaze turned away, and with a slight moan, Lord Teviot relapsed into unconsciousness. "'Now, my good lady,' said Dr.

Starting point is 06:39:32 Grey. The less we have of this sort of thing the better. Come away." He led her to the foot of the stairs, where she turned and said in a beseeching voice, "'He knew me, Dr. Gray. Say that you think he did.' "'Well, perhaps so,' said the doctor, who was moved by her youth and loveliness. But don't try experiments. We have not strength for them. "'Here she is, my lord,' he added, addressing Lord Beaufort. Take her on deck, and we shall get underway directly." Lord Beaufort looked at his sister with painful astonishment. She was quite colourless.

Starting point is 06:40:11 Years seemed to have passed over her head in those few minutes that had been passed in that cabin. The girl whose short life had been spent in gay and young frivolity had now looked one of the sternest and hardest realities of life in the face, and that one look had changed her to the anxious, doubting woman. The golden exhalations of the dawn had been. passed away, and by the light of the open day she saw the battle of life lying before her, and she roused herself for the encounter. Dr. Gray soon reappeared with his charge. A curtain was thrown over the cot, by the side

Starting point is 06:40:46 of which Helen walked, heedless, indeed unaware of the compassionate looks of the bystanders, and they reached their home. And Lord Teviot was conveyed to his bed, showing no sign of consciousness of the change made in his position. And now began for Helen the life of a nurse. Oh, who is there fortunate enough not to know the routine of those painful days and nights of anxiety, which seem never to have had a beginning, and never to know an end, so long, if measured by the intensity of the feelings, so short if reckoned by the progress that has been made.

Starting point is 06:41:21 Valacious hopes followed by groundless despair, the promise of recovery that had shown itself in the morning, succeeded by the sudden relapse in the evening. the medical visits bringing with them hope and leaving behind them a sensation of blank disappointment, letters of inquiry which seem cold or importunate, and full of advice that only perplexes the anxious watcher, and requesting answers for which there is neither time nor inclination. These are the minor troubles of the day, but who can describe the faint sickening of the heart of the young wife, who had hitherto seen but little illness, and who now saw it in its most fearful form. The removal from the ship brought on a return of fever, and the voice which Helen

Starting point is 06:42:03 had feared she would hear no more now rang in her ears with all the harshness of delirium. But it was harshness of tone only. She heard her own name repeated again and again with words of the fondest endearment, and when the silence of weakness followed, she almost regretted the terrors of the active paroxysm. During that night, and several that followed it, she never quitted his room. There were hired nurses in attendance, medical men always at hand, and her brother ready and anxious to take her place, but she steadfastly refused to leave her husband. She slept on a mattress placed on the floor at the side of his bed. Sometimes the short sleep ended with a start, and with a vague

Starting point is 06:42:44 feeling that something dreadful was taking place. Sometimes, with the sound sleep of youth, but there she was, able to rouse herself and be of use on the slightest notice. Lord Beaufort watched her, the tenderest care. He could not bear the sights and sounds of the sick-room with the quiet fortitude which she evinced. Lord Teviot's wanderings, and the death-like weakness that followed completely overcame him. And after one particularly bad night, when the nurse had called him up to assist his sister, he came down to the breakfast-room quite worn out, and laying his head on the table, burst into a passion of tears. Mary, who was writing letters to the various members of the family, looked at him with

Starting point is 06:43:28 the warmest pity. The last few days had given her a new view of his character. She had once thought him cold and worldly. But his tenderness to his sister, his thoughtfulness and consideration for all about him, the confidence he showed to herself, and the deep interest they both took in Lord Teviot's illness, had brought them to a new understanding, and had entirely done away with the reserve of that had once subsisted between them." "'What is it?

Starting point is 06:43:55 Dear Lord Beaufort,' she said, going to him and taking his hand as if he had been her brother. "'Is he worse?' "'Yes, I fear he is. It has been a dreadful night. I cannot bear to see that fine fellow so utterly prostrated. And Helen! My darling Helen! It kills me to look at that angel.

Starting point is 06:44:16 She will wear herself out, and she looks so miserable, and yet is so calm and self-possessed. She soothes him when no one else can. Sometimes I fancy he knows her, and yet he talks of her is always absent. Miss Forrester is hard upon you to be brought into all our distress. It would be far harder if I were kept away from it, she said, and she too had tears in her eyes. But I am more sanguine than you. The doctor seemed more hopeful yesterday evening, and they told us we might expect to return of fever.

Starting point is 06:44:50 I think I had better say nothing about the night to dear Lady Eskdale. Do not you. Perhaps in the afternoon I shall be able to write word he is better. And now I will make your breakfast." He kissed the hand that had held his, and said, "'I think you are right not to alarm my mother more than can be helped. But if he is not better to-morrow, my father and she will certainly come.' However the next day there was certainly some improvement, and in the evening there was less fever,

Starting point is 06:45:18 and a greater disposition to sleep. The doctors recommended that food should be given every two hours, and Helen rose from her mattress each time to administer it herself. Once he seemed to sink back as if he were fainting, and she was about to call the nurse, when she heard the longed-for whisper. "'Helen, my darling!' She saw that she was recognized, and stooping down fondly caressed him. "'Where am I?' were the next faint words. You are with me, dearest, at Southampton. You have been very ill, but you are spared to me. Now you must not speak another word."

Starting point is 06:45:57 She kissed his forehead, and, sinking on her knees, she poured forth in a low tone those eloquent words which gratitude rings from the full heart that had seemed dead and cold, when all that it had at stake was to be wrestled for. The prayers had been faint and doubting, but the praise was full and fervent. Lord Teviot was too weak even to understand. the thanksgiving offered by his wife, but the sound seemed to soothe him, and once more looking at her he murmured, "'Thank you, my own.' And again sank into a quiet sleep.

Starting point is 06:46:30 End of Chapter 42. Chapter 43 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librivox recording is in the public domain. When Lord Beaufort and Mary saw Helen in the morning the first look was sufficient to assure them of the favourable change that had taken place. Pale and wearied as she was, the whole expression of her countenance was altered. "'What would we have given a week ago for the chance of such a morning as this?' She said.

Starting point is 06:47:08 "'Even our sententious Dr. Gray is satisfied, and said, without moving a muscle, we are all right now.' But I know he is very glad. Just look at the marks my rings have made in my fingers, consequence of the warmth of his congratulatory squeeze, and Dr. Morant considers the danger quite over. "'Bofford, dear, don't you think you ought to go to Eskdale, and tell them all this? Mama will be so interested in all the details you can give her.' "'Well,' he said, looking at Mary, "'perhaps it would be a good plan. But if I write to-day, and then take a confirmed good account to-morrow, that would be still more satisfactory.'

Starting point is 06:47:53 But you would be with them to-night, and as I know by experience a night of anxiety is a long, weary intervention." "'Oh, Nellie, I see how it is,' he said laughingly. "'You want to have Tevi it all to yourself, and so turn me off now I can be of no further use.' "'No, no. What should I have done without you, Beaufort? You are always of use to me.' But as to Tevi it, it is quite true that when he is quite himself again, I had rather—I mean that he had rather I should tell him that we are quite alone. He must be kept quiet,

Starting point is 06:48:32 you know. Yes, I see plainly that you want to get rid of us. Perhaps it is better. And a week or ten days hence he might like to see me, and I could come back again." "'I am sure he would like it,' she said eagerly. "'And so should I. And now I must go back to him. and I will bring you a note for dear Mama. It is the first time I have had the heart to write to her. Dear Beaufort and Mary,

Starting point is 06:48:59 she added in a faltering voice, I never can thank you enough for all you have done. They were left alone. Beaufort walked straight up to Miss Forrester, and taking her hand said, Yes, you have been all and everything to us, Mary. Let me call you, Mary, if only for this once. I know that I must formerly have been hateful to you.

Starting point is 06:49:24 I know that I was most unjust, but all that is long gone by. You must have seen that it was. Have you seen, too, that you were now dearer to me than any other human being, that the wish of my heart is to gain your affection? Mary, speak to me, and tell me if I have any chance of success. Oh, take time, she said with much emotion. How ill you thought of me only ten days ago?" "'No, no,' he said.

Starting point is 06:49:57 "'These last ten days have only shown me how perfect you are, how unselfish, how full of kindness. But long before that, at the time of the election my love for you began. But you were so cold to me I dared not show it. Mary, I was misled by the foolish assertions of a very unworthy friend. at the time I hardly believed what he said. And now? Mary cannot you forget that I once thought you might have a fault? Willingly, if you will go on believing that I have a great many. One of them, as we are confessing, I too will confess. I resented very foolishly the opinion

Starting point is 06:50:40 you expressed of me, and was quite as unjust to you afterwards as you had formerly been to me. But, since we have been here, we have understood each other better. And I look upon you now, Lord Beaufort, as a very sincere friend. Oh, pray don't do that. That is the last thing I should wish. No, Mary, I again repeat, I love you devotedly. My only hope is that you will consent to be my wife. Why do you look so distressed? She coloured violently, and seemed to find a difficulty in speaking,

Starting point is 06:51:12 and could not even raise her eyes to his. But, with a strong effort, the cloud seemed to pass away, and she said firmly, "'Such frankness as yours deserves a frank answer. "'I will tell you the whole truth, Lord Beaufort. You know that I have loved before, and I had not a moment's happiness while that love lasted, for I had no trust.' "'I feel,' she added timidly, "'that towards you this distrust could not exist.

Starting point is 06:51:44 On my side there would be perfect confidence. But you—you would remember my first choice—and you would perhaps always doubt one who had chosen so unworthily. Never for an instant. It was your discernment with regard to Stuart that first made me admire you. And when I found that your conduct with regard to him had been so true, so unlike what he had led me to believe, my shame at my own conduct was all that prevented me from telling you long ago how strong my admiration was. Mary, let me go to my mother with more than one piece

Starting point is 06:52:21 of happy news. Let me tell her of my own happiness as well as Helens." What more was there to be said? Mary gave the yes so earnestly requested, and by the time Lord Beaufort's carriage came to the door, they had talked themselves into the belief that they had liked each other from the first, that Mary had never had any real affection for Colonel Stuart, and that Lord Beaufort was the only man whom she ever had or ever could have loved. How warmly he was received at home, or how welcome his intelligence was to Lord and Lady Eskdale may easily be guessed. End of Chapter 43

Starting point is 06:52:59 Chapter 44 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. Colonel Stewart's arrival at Portsdown was a great boon. to Lady Portmore, who was living in a sea of Trakasri and explanations, to all of which he graciously inclined his ear. He delighted in a promising bud of Trakasri, and nursed it into a full-blown flower with all the care that a horticulturalist bestows on a cankered yellow rose. He advised sharp letters in one direction, friendly appeals in another. Epigrams were suggested here, and bemoanings there. Wrongs dressed out, and rights suppressed.

Starting point is 06:53:47 till it seemed somehow as if everybody were to blame, and the original petty affront widened into a circle of heart-burnings and coolnesses. He and Lady Portmore were adepts at this game, except that she was all fire and talk, and he all suavity and reason, but between them they made a great deal of mischief. She was now in a state of political transition, which gave great promise of involvements. To Mr. G.'s original offence of neglecting Lord Portmore, he had now added the sin of refusing an appointment to a very disreputable nephew of Lady Portmore's, who had been turned out of both army and navy, and therefore, as she pointedly observed, "'Mr. G. must see that as the young

Starting point is 06:54:31 man was not fit for the church, there was nothing for it but to give him a good colonial appointment. He could not starve.' Mr. G. asked, "'Why not?' thought a slight course of starvation would perhaps be wholesome. But at all events he declined peremptorily giving a good office to a very mauvee suge. Lady Portmore was affronted. Mr. G. did not care. She wrote eight pages of upbraiding and serious entreaty, which he answered by four lines of jocose denial. And the result was a complete and entire change in Lady Portmore's opinion on free trade, parliamentary reform, foreign policy, etc.

Starting point is 06:55:11 She did not state the precise nature of her new views, but was simply sorry to say that she and Lord Portmore had quite lost all confidence in G, and thought him a most dangerous minister, and were very thankful that the country had a Mr. Sheffield to look to. When Colonel Stuart arrived, she had given warning to all her old government friends, and was organizing a large meeting of former enemies in which she wanted his assistance. Lord Teviot was, of course, included in the general proscription of Mr. G's friends, and therefore this history of the claims of Mr. Larimer were not altogether unpleasant to her. Some little time ago she would have waged war to the knife against anyone who could have spread or believed such a

Starting point is 06:55:52 report. But now, as it had been told to her in confidence, she began by writing it to fifteen intimate friends, and then took to dissecting it with her customed consistency. I really am quite grieved to the heart about this sad story of poor Teviot. Supposing it should turn out to be true—I am sure I hope it will not. What is to become of him? G's government cannot last a month after Parliament meets, so office will be no resource, even if G does not turn upon him at once, of which he is quite capable. Such a blow to the Eskdale's.

Starting point is 06:56:29 Do they know this story? I thought it advisable to mention it to Lady Walden, and I believe she told her sister. But a bad account of Lord Teviot hurried Lady Teviot away. I did not see her again. "'Alaity Teviot! Many people think are very pretty. I am not sure I do. And by the by, she will not be Lady Teviate if Mr. Lorimer gains his suit. How strange! What will she be?' Lady Helen Lorimer, unless there is some female title, Tevi it may claim through some grandmother or great-grandmother. Oh, no, I am sure there is not.

Starting point is 06:57:08 I know a great deal about that family. I fancy we are connected in some way. No, you may depend upon it she will only be Helen Lorimer, and they will be absolute paupers. This is really very sad." And Lady Portmore looked radiant with sorrow. "'I should be very sorry if that old title went to such an unmitigated scamp as Harry Lorimer,' said Colonel Stuart, to say nothing of the loss to our friends at St. Mary's, but nobody in these

Starting point is 06:57:37 days cares about their friends.' "'I do,' said Lady Portmore severely. "'Nobody is so constant to their friends as I am, and poor Teviot was quite devoted to me. But at the same time, if Harry Lorimer has a right to the title, of course he ought to have it, and he must be allowed to take his proper position in society. I think I have asked him before to some of my parties. Have I, Stuart? Is not he a man all over black hair with great whiskers?' "'Yes, a regular tiger, but he is a good actor, and was tolerated at the Westerbees, for the sake of their private theatricals.'

Starting point is 06:58:16 "'Dear me! How convenient it would be to have him here! We are in such want of a good Paul pry. But, with my regard for the Teviets, it would not do, I suppose, to ask him just now. Besides, I am quite wretched about Teviot's illness, and must write by this post to Lady Eskdale to ask how he is, and then we shall have just time for a rehearsal. I am very much disappointed in William Montague. He is a regular stick on the stage. Harry Lorimer would be such a treasure to us just now. But as I said, I suppose the Teviets might hear of it. "'What do you think, Stuart? Could I ask him?'

Starting point is 06:58:54 "'Sertainly not,' said Colonel Stuart, who was alarmed at such an instance of want of tact and feeling. Besides, he is a vulgar dog at best.' "'Oh, well, that settles the point. And besides, Tev's such a friend of mine. Only I wish we could detach him from the G politics. Mr. G is just the sort of man to give him a peerage if he loses his own. Such a job—' However, I will write and ask the Sheffields. His attack on G at that agricultural meeting was wonderfully clever."

Starting point is 06:59:26 And thus ended Lady Portmore's interest in one of her hundred dear friends. Even Mrs. Douglas felt more in her grumbling, unrefined way. Illness, independent of its merits as a destroyer of good looks, had always a certain charm for her. She was an excellent nurse, and now that the Teviets were in adversity she warmed heartily to them, sent every day to the castle for the latest accounts from Southampton, and though she continued to pity Lady Eskdale for having married her daughters so ill, she was unfaindly grieved for Helen, and would have gone to Southampton herself, if she could have been allowed to assist in attending on Lord Teviot. End of Chapter 44

Starting point is 07:00:07 Chapter 45 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Librevox recording is in the public domain. But Helen wanted no assistance. The tameless energy of eighteen bore her through all the fatigues of broken nights and watchful days, and every hour her husband became dearer to her as she became more necessary to him. His eyes followed her with the tenderest gaze as she moved noiselessly about his room. The hand that brought him refreshment or medicine was warmly pressed to his lips. The fondest words of endearment fell gently from his pallid lips.

Starting point is 07:00:50 If she left the room, he could have addressed her, in the touching words of one of the best English poetesses. Watch me, oh watch me still, through the long night's dreary hours, uphold by thy firm will, warn nature's sinking powers. While yet I see thee there, thy loose locks round thee flying, so young and fresh and fair, I feel I am not dying. Helen had expected, from former recollection, that the period of convalescence might be one of impatience and irritation,

Starting point is 07:01:23 All men are impatient when they are ill, she thought. But somehow I do not think I shall mind it now. I know I can make him follow all Dr. Gray's directions, and that is all that is of real importance. And if he is low and vexed at times, it is only natural, poor fellow. But he never was vexed or cross, which was the word that Helen had sedulously refrained from using, even in her thoughts.

Starting point is 07:01:49 Once he was almost peremptory in his orders that she should go to her own room and take one good night's rest, leaving him to the care of the nurse. But he was met by an equally peremptory refusal, and an assertion that a mattress on the floor was the most comfortable bed possible, and he was also told that he was on no account to interfere with the arrangements of the sick-room, but to do what he was told and get well as fast as he could. He only smiled, as he saw that all fear of him had passed away, and in the perfect ease of Helen's manner, amounting to playfulness, when he was well enough to be amused, He felt that the love which he had once doubted and almost driven away was again his own,

Starting point is 07:02:28 and a quiet rest came over the weary heart which had loved with all the irritation of believing it met with no return. She told him of her hurried journey, of her troubles at the hotel, and insisted on his thinking Laurel Cottage, which could hold only themselves and four servants, the most charming residence in the world. My poor Helen! What a quantity of trouble I have given you! But surely you ought not to have been alone at that horrible hotel."

Starting point is 07:02:56 "'I was not,' she said, quite frankly, for she felt that the days of jealousy were over. Mary Forrester lives in this neighbourhood, and she came with me, and both it joined us, and was so useful during that first dreadful week, sitting up half the night and writing accounts for you half the day, and making love to marry at all odd moments, and those two people who had hated each other fell in love on the strength of their mutual interest in your illness. You have made that marriage, dearest, simply by the fright you gave us." "'Dear old Beaufort,' said Lord Teviot, "'he is a thorough good fellow. I fancied I had a vision of him one night by my bedside.

Starting point is 07:03:39 Helen, I should so like to see him. Am not I well enough?' "'Not quite, dear. To-morrow Dr. Gray thinks you may be moved into the next room, and your servant has ambitious views of shaving you, and dressing you up in a splendid dressing-gown. After that I may perhaps allow you to see company on a limited scale, and Beaufort will come down to us whenever you like, but at present he is in London." She did not add that he was there engaged with lawyers on the subject of Harry Lorimer's claims. She was most anxious to keep that worrying

Starting point is 07:04:12 history from her husband as long as possible. "'And your mother?' he said. I do not suppose there is such another nurse in the world as my dear little wife, but still Lady Eskdale must have great qualifications for that office. I should like her to pet me in her soft way, and if she were here you would be satisfied to leave me with her, and go out for a little air and exercise." "'No, I should not. I take plenty of exercise, running about the house in your service, and Mama is so gentle she would let you commit all sorts of impudences.' She was silent for a few moments, and a deep flush spread itself over her drooping face.

Starting point is 07:04:53 Then suddenly raising her eyes, she said, My own darling, I do not wish that any one, not even Mama, should come between you and me just now. She threw her arms round him, and with a fond kiss, added, Teviot, you once thought I did not love you as you loved me. You do not think so now, do you? You will never think so again. I was afraid of you, I believe, perhaps at last a little jealous, but you were no sooner gone than I found out that I was very unhappy without you. Then came the news of your illness, and when I saw you in that wretched cabin dying as I thought, I cannot tell you, and she shuddered as she spoke. My utter misery, the remorse I felt at having ever consented to leave you. How wrong I was! "'No, no,' he interrupted her as he pressed her to his heart.

Starting point is 07:05:48 "'I do not wonder you were glad to get away from me. I behaved like an idiot and a brute, and frightened my poor child out of her senses, and expected her to love me all the more for it.' "'Well,' she said, smiling through her tears, "'you have frightened me into them again. The terrors of the last fortnight have been much worse than those of St. Mary's, but they have satisfied me on one point, that when I thought I did not love you more than any other human being, I was only deceiving myself and you.

Starting point is 07:06:19 O Teviot, in all your wanderings and sufferings you were so good, so kind. Sometimes I thought my heart would break when you spoke so lovingly of me, not knowing that I was by you. However, this is all over now. I cannot be thankful enough that you have been spared, and now only promise. I will promise at once, without being asked, never to distrust my own Helen again. How can I ever doubt your affection? He said with much emotion.

Starting point is 07:06:50 When I know that I owe my life under heaven to your devotion— Kiss me once more, my darling, and then I will rest. And the rest which succeeded this spontaneous avowal of his wife's true affection was the calmest and the most refreshing the invalid had yet known. Helen's mind was not so peaceful. She knew that there was yet a trial in store for him, and one that he would feel deeply. A number of letters were awaiting him, and at last the moment came in which he asked for them. Her hand shook as she gave them, and she said with a faltering voice, "'I hope there will be no bad news in them.'

Starting point is 07:07:28 "'No,' he said, "'I cannot anticipate any to-day. I feel so much better, and it is such a comfort to be by an open window and to breathe the fresh air again. It is so very mild for the time of year that I really wish, Nell, you would go out for a short walk. You ought to have had your carriage sent down, but we shall be moving soon to Teviate House. Will you take your maid and go out? You see, I have plenty of amusement." Pointing to the heaps of letters that were lying by him. "'Well, I think I will go out for half an hour, as you do not want me,' said Helen, who dreaded the effect that the first announcement of Mr. Larimer's pretensions might have on Lord

Starting point is 07:08:08 Teviot in his present week's state, and conjectured that he would dislike having any witness of his first emotions. "'I shall not be long away.' When she returned she found him still lying on his sofa, looking exhausted, and with two red, feverish spots on his cheeks. A quantity of opened letters were strewed on the carpet beside him. Others, unopened, were still on the table. She knelt down, and taking his thin hand in hers said, "'You've been overtiring yourself with those tiresome letters.' "'Perhaps so,' he said dejectedly.

Starting point is 07:08:42 "'Do not open any more. Let me look over the others for you.' "'No, no,' he said hastily. "'You should not see them. They are full of vexation.' "'That is all the more reason why I should, dear Teviot. Do not keep any vexations to yourself. We should bear them better together.' "'It was for your sake I did not want you to know what I have heard. My poor Helen, what will you feel? When you know that, and marrying me you may have married an unconscious impostor!—that name and fortune and all!

Starting point is 07:09:13 You mean?" she said, looking up at him with a smile, and kissing the hand she held. That Harry Lorimer is trying to take it all from us. He means to be Lord Teviot himself. Happily he cannot be my Teviot whatever happens, and who knows if he will not fail in all the rest?" Helen! said Lord Teviot. at starting up. Is it possible that you have heard this story before? How long have you known of it?" Before I left Eskdale?" "'And you have had all this anxiety on your mind while you've been working like a slave in your attendance on me, and seeming to have no care but for my health?'

Starting point is 07:09:50 "'Why, you foolish old darling! Don't you see that the great care swallowed up the little one?' I hardly know how to explain myself, because I can understand that as you have been attached all your life to St. Mary's and Teviot House, and your name and station, it would be a cruel trial to you to lose all this. So I did feel at times very unhappy when I thought you had to hear at all as soon as you were strong enough to bear it. But so far as I am concerned, dear Teviot, do not think me unfeeling. But this is not the sort of trial that affects me very deeply." He looked at her, and saw that she was speaking from her heart, and not merely with the intention of comforting him, and the suspicions he had once sent her to

Starting point is 07:10:30 that it was for his position and not for himself that she had married him, were remembered to be but repented of, and forgotten for ever. He bent his head on hers, and whispered, "'My treasure, above all other treasures, whatever happens I am not to be pitied. I have what I have longed for all my life, a real true love to depend on.' The subject of the lawsuit once begun, it was of course a constant theme of discussion, but Lord Teviot was too feeble to take any active part even on a point of such moment, and was quite satisfied to know that Lord Eskdale was acting for him, and that Lord Beaufort was staying in London solely that he might be in consultation with the lawyers.

Starting point is 07:11:14 The case, as Mr. Larimer's advisers stated it, was a very simple one. Henry Marcus of Teviot had two brothers, Robert, the father of this Henry Larimer, who was born, as has all had been supposed, before the marriage of his parents, and Alfred, father of the present, Lord Teviot. Lord Robert and Lord Alfred both died young, and on the death of Henry, Lord Teviot, the title and estates passed to the heir presumptive, Lord Alfred's son. Henry Lorimer now asserted that he had only recently discovered that his parents were married some months before his birth, and in proof of this he produced a certificate of the marriage of Lord Robert Lorimer to Emma Scott, in January 18 blank, and a registry of the birth of their son,

Starting point is 07:11:58 Henry Larmer in the following August. He could not undertake to explain why he had not once succeeded to the title on his uncle's death, but Lord Robert was on bad terms with his two brothers, owing to the disreputable connection he had made, and he had probably never informed them that it had ended in a marriage. Both parents had died nearly at the same time. He had been left when only three years old, to some of his mother's relations, and he affirmed that it was only on the recent death of the old aunt who had taken charge of him that he had found the certificate of his mother's marriage. All this sounded plausible enough, but Lord Beaufort wrote in good spirits, and said that

Starting point is 07:12:36 the lawyers were sanguine, and that there had already been two or three faint offers of a compromise, which confirmed them in the idea that Mr. Larimer had but a weak case, and that they were waiting impatiently for Lord Teviot's return to London, when he would probably be able to direct them in their search for family papers, and point out old servants or friends of the family, whose evidence would be important. So Helen sometimes took a very obstinate line of disbelief. At others she would try to make Lord Teviot laugh by the plan she proposed to execute, if they were reduced to poverty, which she, of course, represented as extreme.

Starting point is 07:13:10 Lord Teviot digging and ploughing for his life, and she cooking and ironing for hers, in a picturesque brown, stuffed gown with short sleeves and white cuffs, and a little pink silk half-handkerchief tied either round her throat or under her chin. She did not know exactly which, but all reduced heroines wore pink silk handkerchiefs. It was de rigour, after any loss of fortune. Lord Tevey it would not, of course, object to the accustomed suit of velveteen. No, he had an old shooting-jacket which would do well enough on ploughing days, but he did not think that at the worst they should be reduced to those extreme straits.

Starting point is 07:13:45 Perhaps Helen could sketch out a life for them for a few grades above that. Oh, yes, dear, with the greatest ease. you would not like to keep a shop?' "'Not at all, thank you.' "'Nor I. Could we afford to rent this dear little Laurel Cottage, Teviot?' He nodded. "'Oh, then nothing can be pleasanter than our prospects. I shall take care of you till you are strong, and walk with you,

Starting point is 07:14:09 and we can occasionally afford ourselves a drive in a gig. Phillips does already the work of butler, valet, and footman, and as for Tomkinson, no maid of all work could have worked harder than she has during your illness. Seriously, Teviot, it is very easy to find fault with servants, and to be always abusing them, as most of us do. But when illness or anxiety comes, how kind and thoughtful they are! Those two have been indefatigable in their care for you, keeping the house quiet, running for doctors at all hours, inventing extemporary meals, in short, acting like friends. "'Yes,' said Lord Teviot, "'I have observed them. Phillips has been my servant ever since I left

Starting point is 07:14:50 school, and I knew his merits. But your little fly-away maid, with her curls and graces, has quite astonished me. She is so staid and thoughtful, and the little woman actually cried when she attempted to make me a congratulatory speech the day I came into this room. Of course, we must make them some handsome present, and in the meanwhile there is a parcel of fine lace somewhere amongst my boxes when I collected for you. I dare say we could find something there that would please your Mrs. Tomkins." "'Tomkinson, dear! She is extremely distrable. that you do not know her name, and I believe thinks you might just as well call Mama Lady-esque."

Starting point is 07:15:26 The parcel was soon found, and when Lord Tevi had sent for Mrs. Tomkinson, and addressing her by her proper name, presented her with a beautiful lace shawl, adding his warm thanks for her excellent nursing. She was completely overcome. After rushing up to her room, and taking a long survey of herself, she burst into a flood of tears, and then went down to the kitchen and made up a cup of arrow-root, flayersersersers Flavoured with a double allowance of brandy, which she sent up with her duty to his lordship, and then returned to her looking-glass, which she visited at every spare moment during the rest of the day,

Starting point is 07:16:01 snatching one half-hour for a letter to Mrs. Nelson, in which my lord's convalescence and real we peer, and my lady's goodness and the becomingness of black lace, were much mixed up together. The threatened lawsuit had now got into the newspapers, and become general property. So Mrs. Tomkinson added a fierce post-script, expressing her belief that Mr. Lormer was, A vile imposter! And that her hopes was that she should see him hanged her forgery, and she should certainly not wear her black shawl as mourning for him, indeed. End of Chapter 45. Chapter 46 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden.

Starting point is 07:16:44 This Libervox recording is in the public domain. Owing either to the arrow-root made by the grateful Tomkinson, or the excitement of the lawsuit, or the excellence of Lord Teviot's constitution, his strength returned so rapidly that his removal to Teviot House admitted of no further difficulty. Helen quitted her dear Laurel cottage with some unwillingness, but was obliged to own, when she reached home, that there were advantages in a large, luxurious house which she should be unwilling to forego. Lord Teviot sent his secretary, Mr. Legate, down to St. Mary's, to examine the chests of

Starting point is 07:17:21 family papers that had accumulated there, and in the meanwhile the foreign affairs in which he had been engaged gave him the occupation to which he was equal. Mr. G. came to see him immediately, entered with sense and friendliness into the affair of the lawsuit, to which, however, he did not attach great importance. He said he had seen too much of life to believe in these sudden discoveries of marriage certificates. A certificate that was worth anything was never missing for five and twenty years, and the old aunt, if she were worth anything, would have produced it long before. He felt sorry for whatever might give that perfect angel Lady Teviot a moment's anxiety, but

Starting point is 07:17:59 was convinced it would be soon ended, and in the meanwhile Lord Teviot, must contrive to be well enough to take office before Parliament met. Other acquaintances called, some with the gloomiest faces and forebodings, some with an affectation of considering the point decided in favour of Mr. Larimer, and take taking a degree of modest credit to themselves for still adhering to their poor fallen friends, but many with real hearty interest in what they called the real Teviets, and these true friends never vexed Helen by retailing to her any of the ill-natured remarks made by false ones. Lady Portmore's strength of purpose had given way, on the defalcation of one of her

Starting point is 07:18:37 core dramatique, who had been summoned home suddenly, and Harry Lorimer was established as Paul Pry in S, and Lord Teviot in Puss, at Portsdown. She wished to make a great mystery of this, but Mr. Larimer took care to have the playbills of the private theatricals forwarded to the newspapers, and Helen would have been more than mortal if she had not delighted in the scornful smile with which Lord Tevi had read the name of H. Lorimer Esquire, in the list of the brilliant circle assembled at Portsdown. This was the last act of that series of trials which had had the effect of bringing the husband and wife into the closest bonds of confidence and affection.

Starting point is 07:19:14 The very next morning, Lord Beaufort, who had continued to act for his brother-in-law, rushed into the room with a bundle of papers, the result of Mr. Legate's researches, and docketed by the late Lord Teviot. Letters from my brother Lord Robert respecting his marriage. The last letter, written on his deathbed from an obscure village on the south coast, announced that his infant heir had followed its mother to the grave, where he himself must shortly join them, and he implored his brother to show some kindness to the unfortunate boy he left behind him. I gave him the Christian name which has always been given

Starting point is 07:19:49 to the males in our family, in conjunction with my own, and though he has no legal right to be so called, it is a Harry Lorimer to whom I commend your care. Harry, Alfred Lorimer, my second son and heir has been taken from me, and perhaps I have no right to complain that my death will be a loss to none but the unhappy boy, who will remain a living proof of my guilt and folly." Enclosed were certificates of his marriage, and of the birth and death of his infant legitimate son. Whether the late Lord Teviot, a selfish, careless man ever read this letter, was doubtful. Certainly he never acted on it, and Harry Larimer grew up ignorant of most of the details

Starting point is 07:20:28 of his father's history. Whether he really believed himself to be what he now asserted, or merely made use of the papers he had found on his aunt's death as a good speculation, wherewith to extract a sum of money from Lord Teviot, is a mystery that charity may leave unravelled. When his lawyer informed him that the papers which had been found did not leave him a leg to stand on, he observed that he was not surprised, that he had begun life on one leg only, and was only astonished that he had stood so well and so long on it. At all events, he added, I have had my fun for my money, and have met with more civility during the last month than during the thirty preceding years of my existence.

Starting point is 07:21:07 It is a shabby world to live in, but I do not mean to let the worshippers of the rising sun who took me up drop me again easily. So I shall go down to Portsdown. I suppose Teveed is not the sort of fellow to come down handsomely with a few thousands because I withdraw my claims. Is he?' The lawyer said he rather thought not, and there ended Harry Larimer's dreams of grandeur.

Starting point is 07:21:31 It had been short and vague, but as he said, rather good fun while it lasted, and he thought it would enable him. to act sly the tinker with considerable verve, if Lady Portmore felt inclined to get up the taming of the shrew." End of Chapter 46. Chapter 47 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. "'Helen,' said Lord Teviot,

Starting point is 07:22:05 "'now that this law business is settled, and that I have given G all my Lisbon information, I think it would be very desirable to get away from this foggy London. I shall never get strong, so long as we remain here." "'I am sure you will not,' she said. "'Your doctors are very anxious you should try change of air, indeed so much so that I have made Phillips right some days ago to St. Mary's, to have all your rooms thoroughly aired, and to say that we should probably be there in a few days.'

Starting point is 07:22:37 "'Then, my dear child, you said what is entirely untrue. Certainly you may go to St. Mary's if you have your heart set on it, but I cannot possibly have the honour of accompanying you.' "'Oteviate, what do you mean? Why not?' "'Because I have set my heart on going to Eskdale,' he said, smiling. "'I must see your mother and Amelia and all the rest of them again, and we shall have the diversion of watching dear old Beaufort making love.' "'I really wonder, Helen, you are not more eager to go and see all the rest of them again, and we shall have the diversion of watching dear old Beaufort making love. and see all our own belongings. I believe you are ashamed of showing your scarecrow of a husband. But I want to go while I am still looking interesting. I am sure your mother will enjoy petting

Starting point is 07:23:22 me and making much of me." Who would not? You darling! said Helen, in a transport of delight. Oh dear, what a happy invention life is! particularly when it has been a little chequered. Just think what a happy Christmas it will be! And how long! little we could have expected it six weeks ago." Teviot, I sometimes think I am not half-grateful enough for all the blessings I have." "'Well, they seem to agree with you,' he said, looking at her with the fondest admiration. "'I shall not be ashamed of showing my wife.

Starting point is 07:23:59 I flatter myself, Helen. They will think you even handsomer than you were when you left Eskdale on our wedding-day.' "'I should think so, indeed,' she said, laughing. I hope they will find me improved in all ways,' she added more gravely. "'I was a foolish, spoiled child, then. And now I am a happy woman.' Two days after this conversation a large family party were assembled at Eskdale, Waldgraves, Walden's, Teviot's, Ernest, and the reigning hero and heroine, Beaufort and Mary. Lord Teviot's appearance had at first caused considerable alarm in the circle. He looked so

Starting point is 07:24:40 thin and pale. But Helen assured them that he was robust now compared to what he had been, and that they would see improvement every day. So they all set about expediting his recovery, Lady Eskdale purring over him, and as he foretold, petting him from morning to night, his sisters-in-law ready to amuse him at all hours, and Helen looking on with undisguised satisfaction at the daily improvement in his health, and feeling in her heart the enjoyment he evidently felt in having become a favourite member of a large and affectionate family." "'Yes, this is all very well,' said Ernest one morning when he was sitting with the Teviets and Waldens.

Starting point is 07:25:18 "'You all seem very happy and settled, and, of course, had a perfect right to marry if you chose it. But now here is Beaufort going to set up his little altar to domestic felicity. I thought he would have stuck by me. And here am I the only one of the family left in solitary grandeur. The last rows of summer, left blooming and lone, all my lovely companions well-married and gone. I declare it as very affecting. "'But pleasant for you,' said Lord Teviot,

Starting point is 07:25:50 "'to have so many homes to go to. You know we all like to have you, and you will circulate amongst us without the slightest trouble to yourself.' "'Yes, but I think I am getting too old now to be the odd man of the family, the dining-out, Beaufort. And then, when I come home from one of your well-lit houses or from my club, it'll be very depressing to take out my latch-key and to find a little deplorable lamp in the hall, which makes the whole house smell greasy, and to have to go tumbling up the dark stas to a darker room. I really wish I were married, too."

Starting point is 07:26:25 And so saying he drew his arm-chair almost into the fire, and tried to give a deep sigh. "'But why don't you marry?' said Helen. My dear soul, how can I? You can't expect me to go rushing about after all those London girls, who care for nothing but balls, and expect to be danced with, and to be handed to carriages standing miles off, and, above all, to have their cloaks found for them. How I lo, the cloak-room, with number two hundred and ten to be looked for, and, of course, it is underneath all the other wraps, and there are two hundred and nine bundles to be moved before one gets at it. No, I mean to a shoe-balls now I've got into Parliament." But there are plenty of girls in the country—

Starting point is 07:27:09 Vulgar, I fear, and besides, how am I to make acquaintance with them? You can't expect me to go riding about the country, calling at all the neighbours' houses, and asking if the young ladies are at home. No, I do not see how I am to find a wife, but you must all of you set about arranging it. Le Grand-Paron-en always do, you know, in French novels. "'I very much doubt, Anist,' said Helen, hesitatingly, "'whether you would make a good husband. You will excuse me for mentioning it, but you were rather too selfish—I mean self-indulgent. "'Yes, that's just it. I have indulged myself to that degree,

Starting point is 07:27:49 that I am, as you mildly observe, Helen, infernally selfish. But then, you know, my wife would be a part of myself, and I should indulge her, and we could both be selfish together. So do find one for me, and now I must go and take my ride. Who will come?' "'I will,' said Lord Teviot. "'I must try and get back to my old habits. Don't you think I might try a ride, Helen?'

Starting point is 07:28:14 "'Decidedly not. You know, dearest, Dr. Gray said you are on no account to go out in an east wind, so I always look at the weather-cock the first thing in the morning. It is due east and bitterly cold.' "'But he said I was to take exercise.' Lord Teviot suggested very humbly. "'Well, then, come and play at billiards with me. As for going out in this weather I can't allow it, love, so don't say any more about it.'

Starting point is 07:28:42 "'There,' said Ernest, as Lord Teviot walked off to the billiard-room with his arm round his wife's waist. "'Now that is just what I want, somebody who knows which way the wind blows, and who will tell me what I may or may not do, and will make me stay at home when I want to go out, and vice versa. Just see how it has improved Teviot. He used to look as black as thunder on the slightest contradiction, and now he is the mildest of men, and looks radiant when Helen vouchsafes to snub him. It is strange." "'Not very,' said Amelia.

Starting point is 07:29:18 He sees that her whole heart has given up to him. Until he married he never really was cared for by anybody. He had neither mother nor sisters, and the rest of the world only flattered him. dear little nell loves him that makes all the difference as you will see when mrs ernest appears i suppose it does said ernest and this time he really sighed and went off to his solitary ride It almost seemed as if Lady Eskdale must have overheard the foregoing conversation, for when she returned from her drive, she brought Eliza Douglas with her. The great election feud had nearly died out. Mr. Douglas had never wished to prolong it, and was in his heart rather pleased with a defeat

Starting point is 07:30:00 which left him free to live with his cows and sheep and turnips. And, moreover, he liked the society of the Eskdale's, and had a general hatred of neighbourly quarrels. Lord Teviot's dangerous illness had, as was said before, roused Mrs. Douglas's latent tenderness for Helen, and softened her towards Lady Eskdale. She said, indeed, that it might eventually be a great advantage to Helen to get rid of such an ill-tempered man, who was not even what he had pretended to be—probably not Lord Teviot at all, and who if he lived would most likely be a pauper. But still there was something melancholy in Helen's story, and she thought it would be only neighborly to call. And the first step made, the others were not difficult.

Starting point is 07:30:44 The visit was returned. Lady Eskdale looked ill and harassed, which put Mrs. Douglas into an extreme good-humour. The failure of Mr. Larimer's pretensions to the title was rather a trial, but Lord Teviate was civil and subdued, and Helen was so radiant with happiness that she was affectionate even to Mrs. Douglas. And altogether the lady was in a better disposition towards the Eskdale's than she had been before the election. She had missed them as objects of observation, and had wanted somebody to find fault with. So when Lady Eskdale invited Eliza to return with her to the castle for a few days, no objection was made, and Eliza set off in a most hopeful state of mind. Her extract book, carefully padlocked,

Starting point is 07:31:28 accompanied her, and it seemed likely that its gloomy contents might be enlivened with a few sonnets to hope and peace of mind." "'Did you tell my aunt to Oscar?' whispered Ernest to Helen, as they sat down to dinner near the opposite to Eliza. "'Certainly not,' she said, laughing. "'She is a nice little thing, and I shall decidedly interfere if you begin that course of philandering you pursued at St. Mary's. My dear Helen, I do not know what is the feminine of the word philanderer, perhaps

Starting point is 07:32:01 philanderess, and I assure you she philanderist with me in the most innocent but decided manner, but I won't begin again till I feel sure of my own honourable intentions." He, however, occasionally addressed an observation to the opposite side of the table, and during second course observed to Helen that Miss Douglas had a very pretty hand and arm, and by the time that dessert was on the table, said he had made the discovery that she had a good perception of a joke, and smiled intelligently. I really think, Helen, I am falling in love. I do not mean in the usual, mad, bustling way in which both people set about it, but falling in love very creditably for me. What do you think?

Starting point is 07:32:45 That you have not the remotest idea even how to set about it. You are much too worldly and blasé to appreciate or to please such a good, simple-minded girl as that is. But as you are only in jest, It does not much signify." Ernest laughed, but he was very much piqued with Helen's views of the subject, and in the evening he took some pains to make himself agreeable to Eliza. But he did not find her so disposed to be amused and interested as she had been at St. Mary's. Mrs. Douglas, with her usual acuteness, had observed all that had passed there, which she thought fully accounted for her daughter's changed spirits since, and before Eliza went to Eskdale

Starting point is 07:33:24 her mother had spoken to her seriously on the subject of Colonel Beaufort's attentions, and without exactly saying that Eliza had invited, rather than encouraged them, had desired her upon no account to seek his society, and above all to recollect that he, was a regular London fine man without any heart, and thinking of nothing but his own amusement. In this opinion Eliza did not, of course, concur, but she most conscientiously acted upon it,

Starting point is 07:33:51 and was as reserved in her manner as if her mother had been sitting opposite, opposite to her, making cutting remarks at, and on, Ernest." He was rather surprised at first at this change in their relations. Then he became amused at seeing his attentions rebuffed, for sometimes he really took the trouble of being attentive after his languid fashion. And finally, the slight difficulties placed in his way gave a degree of zest to the pursuit, and Lady Eskdale and her daughters took great delight in watching the activity with which Ernest stepped forward to hand Eliza into dinner.

Starting point is 07:34:24 the patience with which he listened to her singing, openly evowing that he thought music a mere noise and a painful interruption to the quiet and comfort of the evening. Whereupon Eliza, with a strong sense of filial duty, sang and played with additional ardour, and would have considered herself a little martyr, and pitied herself to a great amount, had she not perceived, with the keenness common on such subjects, that Ernest was, in fact, far more really interested in her now than he had been at St. Mary's. page 28 of the extract book, dedicated to the sorrows of the neglected one, was torn out, and Young Hopes, a poem by T, rather trashy but extremely joyous, copied into the next leaf

Starting point is 07:35:07 at full length. End of Chapter 47 Chapter 48 of the semi-attached couple by Emily Eden. This Libervox recording is in the public domain. I want to talk with you, my dearly beloved aunt," said Ernest one morning, presenting himself at the door of Lady Eskdale's boudoir. I want your advice." "'What is the matter, my dear? Come in. Are you bilious, Ernest? I hope you have not got a touch

Starting point is 07:35:44 of poor Teviot's fever?' Oh no, it is nothing of that sort. But I am on the point of taking a desperate resolution, and I think your dear good, soft mind is just the thing for my strong one to to lean upon. You see, I make a joke of it to Amelia and Helen, they are so young and energetic. I never was either, but I am seriously thinking of marrying, and of asking Eliza Douglas if she will have me." "'My dear boy,' said Lady Eskdale, who could not picture to herself life without

Starting point is 07:36:18 husband and children, and had never brought herself to believe in the existence of an unhappy marriage. How delighted I am! I am excessively fond of that girl. She is what very few people are, perfectly artless, and so thoroughly affectionate." Lady Eskdale might well make that assertion, for Eliza felt for her that ardent love which girls in early youth often lavish on a woman far above them in age, position, and experience, whose kindness to themselves seems to be a distinction which raises them in their own estimation, and often influences the whole tenor of their afterlives. Lady Eskdale's loving nature gave her this power over many of the young

Starting point is 07:37:00 people by whom she was surrounded. They felt sure of her sympathy, that great tie in all the friendships of life, and more especially valued, when it is found in those who are beyond us and before us in the race of life. Her gentle and caressing manner had a peculiar charm for Eliza, who lived in a rather hard atmosphere at home. She was firmly convinced that Lady Eskdale's opinion was infallible, that she was more beautiful in her middle age than the rest of the world in their prime, that her gown was better made, and her cap more becoming, than other women's caps and gowns, and that the very happy individual whom Ernest might select as his wife ought to count the blessing of becoming Lady Eskdale's niece one of the brightest

Starting point is 07:37:42 ingredients in her lot. Young people may be foolish, perhaps are so generally, but there is something very attractive in the warmth of their grateful little hearts. "'I am very glad you like her, dear,' said Ernest. All Lady Eskdale's entourage called her, dear. She seems to me as good a little creature as ever breathed, pretty and ladylike, and so serviceable, never mind what trouble she takes for other people. I think she will suit me exactly.

Starting point is 07:38:11 We shall be very happy together.' Lady Eskdale laughed. "'My dear Ernest, you amuse me with your cool way of taking that for granted. Eliza is all and much more than you say, for she has great intelligence and tact. Oh, yes, of course, I forgot to mention that. And strong principles, which would lead her to be a good wife even to a bad husband. But she would be a very unhappy wife with a husband who did not care for her. Ernest, I never expect to see you very much in love,

Starting point is 07:38:46 though I believe you affect to be colder than you really are. But are you quite sure you can really care and you? enough for my dear little Liz." "'Quite sure,' he said, speaking with more energy and warmth than worse his custom. "'As you say I am not the sort of fellow who takes a romantic view of things, but the freshness and truth of Miss Douglas's mind have a great charm for me. I see how easily she may be made happy, and I am certain that I could never have for any of the Hackneyed conventional set, in which it has been my good fortune to dwell, the same attachment that I have for her.

Starting point is 07:39:19 "'You will see, dear, that we shall be a couple after your own heart.' "'You seem to have no doubt that she will accept you,' said Lady Eskdale, smiling. "'None whatever. I suppose I ought to say I have, but you and I have souls above that shallow sort of pretense. And as for Liz—I mean to call her Liz, it is such a nice, short name. She has not a pretense in her. Half the fun of my proposal be to see her look of delight. She is so easily pleased. That is one of her great merits." "'Well, my dear Ernest,' said Lady Eskdale, who could not help, laughing. "'You know best what will make you happy, and your choice pleases me particularly.

Starting point is 07:40:04 But there is one more circumstance to be considered—your future wife's family.' "'Ah, true,' he said. "'That is a consideration. But old Douglas is a thorough gentleman, and I like him. And, as for the mother, she won't require me to be extravagantly fond of her, and if she occasionally squeezes a few drops of lemon juice into my stagnant cup, it will be rather an advantage. I shall effervesce. I do not dislike ill-natured women. They are amusing at all events. Besides, a disagreeable mother-in-law is a very common crook in every man's lot, and I generally contrive to make my crooks sit very light. So thank you, dear, for having listened to me so

Starting point is 07:40:48 patiently. I will let you know the moment I am engaged." He did not give himself any great trouble to force an opportunity for his proposal, but was really more fidgety and nervous in manner than was usual with him. Lady Eskdale, with apparent carelessness, asked Eliza to fetch her some flowers from the conservatory, and there Ernest followed her, and a very few words on his part joined the destinies of two people as about unlike to each other, in habits, disposition and sentiments, as they could well be, but not the less likely on that account to be very happy in their married state." Ernest was sincerely charmed with the shy, but almost grateful assent given to his declaration

Starting point is 07:41:29 by the Lady of his love, and he was in an animated state of spirits when he led Eliza back to Lady Eskdale, and said, "'We have forgotten your flowers, dear, but I have brought to you a new niece, and you must make much of her and coax her, for she is rather nervous, poor little soul. Any deficiency in the art of coaxing could not possibly be attributed to Lady Eskdale, and she soon soothed the agitated girl into composure, and when Eliza had whispered, "'I am so happy, too happy, but I must go to papa and mamma, and you must go with me, my dear kind friend!'

Starting point is 07:42:03 The bell was rung, and the carriage ordered, and in a short time the lovers and the chaperone were on their way to Thornbank. That the consent of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas was heartily given, need to be not be doubted, and perhaps the most remarkable facts of this remarkable day were that Colonel Beaufort so little liked the idea of being separated from Liz, that he requested his aunt to send his servant and his things over to Thornbank, and settled himself there, to be fetid and worshipped without even ascertaining whether the cookery were good, or the spare rooms comfortably furnished. The second fact was that Mrs. Douglas was in a state of such

Starting point is 07:42:39 intense felicity that when Lady Eskdale drove off, she observed to Colonel Beaufort. How wonderfully handsome your aunt is looking to-day! Even Mr. Douglas, who thought her altered the last time he saw her, must own she looks very young for her age. Colonel Beaufort's insouciance seemed to have a particular fascination for Mrs. Douglas. It was a novelty in her experience of life. He was so smooth that she ceased to be rough. And to Eliza's intense delight, she saw her mother, who were seemed for two or three days rather puzzled by his careless way of announcing his intentions, and the deliberate calmness with which he seemed to expect that they would be carried out,

Starting point is 07:43:18 gradually yield to his gentlemanlike selfishness. At first, with a slight sneer at herself, or him, but by degrees she took interest in pleasing him, and felt a degree of pride in seeing a man of such fastidious habits and manners perfectly happy at Thornbank. There is nothing so catching as refinement, and Mrs. Douglas began to act up, as well as she could, to Colonel Beaufort's habit of keeping the surface smooth. His gentle way of ignoring the complaint she was given to make of her servants, neighbours, etc., had a much better effect in checking them than argument or contradiction, and with all

Starting point is 07:43:55 his indolence he was so naturally courteous, that she found herself treated with a degree of easy kindness which few people had ever ventured to show her. It tamed her, and she fell slightly, and with the most perfect propriety, but she had been slightly in love with her intended son-in-law and assured eliza that she was a very fortunate girl and once or twice went the length of reproaching her for not attending sufficiently to ernest's wishes and fancies this delighted him poor little liz who does nothing but try to please me from morning to night to be reproached with hard-heartedness never mind dear i do you perfect justice and think there never was such a good little angel before on this earth In his walks with Mr. Douglas, a new idea struck him. He had long felt that he ought to live more on his estate, but he had always alleged that he fell into a lethargy when he was there, from which he could only be roused by immediate change of scene. But Mr. Douglas's interest

Starting point is 07:44:55 in his farm and his crops and his labourers and his cattle led him to think that a little active occupation, added to the society of his wife, might make a few months, even in Lincolnshire, Endurable." "'Liz,' he said one day after a saunter through the home farm. "'Would you like to live in the country?' "'Why, Ernest, I have never lived anywhere else. Of course I should.' But you know we must be in London during the season.' "'Well, I should enjoy that still more. I have been so little in London.'

Starting point is 07:45:27 "'What a child you are for enjoying everything! I declare it is quite refreshing. But what I mean is, that I think we ought, instead of going loitering about during the recess at other people's houses, try to live in that dreary old barracks in the Fens, which calls itself my estate, and rejoices in the cockney name of Belleville, a name evidently derived from Blue Devils, a malady from which I have suffered considerably there. But I think there would be some amusement if I followed your father's example, and took part of the farm into my own hands. And I can help you to keep accounts. I keep all Papa's father's. books in order."

Starting point is 07:46:05 "'No, do you really?' he said, looking at her with extreme admiration. "'That takes away my only difficulty. I did not feel up to grappling with account-books. But if you will take those in hand we shall do very well.' "'And may I have a school in the village, Ernest?' "'Of course, my child. Two or three, if you like—one for boys, and one for girls, and one for adults, as great overgrown men and women choose to call themselves when they want learn to read. Only don't ask me to come Liz to hear them stammer and stumble over their chapters and their sums. Besides, I shall be busy with the farm. I must have some pig-styres like your

Starting point is 07:46:45 fathers. I never saw anything equal to the comfort of those Chinese pigs, all brushed and cleaned, with their eyes obliterated by fat, and lying on their clean beds of straw, quite unequal to the fatigued of standing. I quite envied them. I have tried various amusements without much success, but I am convinced now that my real vacation is for Parliament and pigs. Yes, we will go to our own country place, and get your father and mother to come to us. Mrs. Douglas will help you to set up your schools, and your father will superintend the erection of my pigs' eyes, and we shall all be as happy as the day is long." "'I have no doubt of that,' said Eliza.

Starting point is 07:47:25 "'And perhaps Lady Eskdale will come and see us. Only think of the pleasure of having her stay with us.' "'Of course she will come,' he said. "'And now we must give your mother a hint to hurry on that trousseau, and then we can all go to Eskdale, and our wedding will come off with Beauforts.' And so it was arranged. Mrs. Douglas immediately set to work to execute earnest directions, that she would exert her own excellent taste,

Starting point is 07:47:50 and make Liz the best-dressed woman in England with the greatest possible expedition. And, as Mr. Douglas made no objection towards furnishing the necessary means, she found no difficulty in her way. There is little more now to be said of the family whose voracious history has been here given. The cousins were married on the same day, in the chapel at the castle, and on the marriage of her own daughter, Mrs. Douglas made no complaints of the coldness of the pavement or the glare of the painted windows, and even preserved a total silence on the subject of Lord Eskdale's grey hair.

Starting point is 07:48:25 As the two couples drove off on their respective wedding-trial, "'Amelia turned to Helen and said, "'Well, there is no use in trying to calculate the amount of happiness "'married people will enjoy from their conduct when they are lovers. "'There were Walden and I, who both fell in love at first sight, "'we are happy. "'Boford and Mary began by hating each other. "'They are happy.

Starting point is 07:48:48 "'In Ernest's case, the love was all on the lady's side. "'And now, did anybody ever see a man in such a state of felicity as he is? And as to you and Teviot, dear Nell, the love was all on the gentleman's side. And yet— We are decidedly the happiest couple of the four, only that poor Teviot is a little hen-pecked. Are you not, darling? Not a little, he said, smiling. But I like it.

Starting point is 07:49:18 All men do. But the truth is, Amelia, that all you Beauforts have been brought up in a domestic atmosphere. Lord and Lady Eskdale are a model couple, and you have been so accustomed to happy homes, that when you are taken from one, you immediately set about making another. And I must own you succeed. End of Chapter 48. End of the semi-attached couple. By Emily Eden.

Classic Audiobook Collection - The Semi-Attached Couple by Emily Eden ~ Full Audiobook [romance]

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