Part 10 (1/2)
Roseline, having dismissed her loquacious attendant, endeavoured to acquire sufficient fort.i.tude to meet her father with composure, and to arm herself with resolution to withstand any attempts he might make to compel her into measures from which every feeling of her heart recoiled. She too well knew the warmth and obstinacy of her father's temper, when he met with opposition in a favourite plan, not to dread the contest. She now concluded, from many preceding circ.u.mstances, that the Baron was brought to the castle for the horrid purpose of becoming her husband, and unfortunately at this moment recollected with redoubled tenderness the very great difference between him and the man whom, by a chain of the most singular and interesting circ.u.mstances, she had been led to regard with a degree of affection she scarcely dared to investigate, and of which she knew not the full force. Her brother, her dear Edwin, too, had formed an attachment equally repugnant to the will and ambition of his father. The painful recollection awakened her warmest sympathy, and increased her own sorrows.
”Ah! (she exclaimed,) how darkly overclouded is the prospect which a few months back seemed so bright! Well, let the tempest come, let the thunder burst on my defenceless head, I will--”
Here she was interrupted by a summons to attend her father, which she instantly arose to obey; but her trembling limbs were scarcely able to support her, and she was obliged to rest several times before she could sufficiently recover herself to appear in his presence, without discovering the long and severe conflicts she had vainly endeavoured to conquer.
Sir Philip, on her entering the room, eagerly arose to meet her, and either did not, or, what is more probable, would not seem to notice her confusion. He tenderly took her hand, and led her to a chair; then, seating himself by her, observed with a smile, that he doubted not her curiosity had been excited, and told her he would have a kiss before he would disclose the secret; ”for the business (he continued) which I have to negotiate with my sweet girl demands secresy.”
Roseline, afraid of trusting her voice, bowed in silence, but her manner shewed she was all attention.
”My dear girl, (said Sir Philip,) why all this apparent tremor? I hope you are, and ever have been convinced that my first, my most anxious wishes are to see my children happy.”--
(Then, thought Roseline, you will not surely so much mistake the road to happiness as to propose your friend to me for a husband.)
”Baron Fitzosbourne has solicited me to intercede with you in his behalf. Notwithstanding the greatness of his pretensions, he has even condescended to entreat I would intercede with my dear Roseline, that she will in due time permit him to lead her to the altar.”
Roseline, extremely agitated, made an attempt to speak, which Sir Philip observing, said, ”Attend to me a few moments longer, my dear; I will then give you leave to express your joyful surprise at the good fortune which awaits you.--My n.o.ble friend, from the very first moment of seeing you, loved, and wished to make you his own: he, like a man of honour, inquired if your heart was disengaged; I a.s.sured him it was, for I knew you too well, my dear girl, to suppose you would ever dispose of it without a father's sanction. Eager to possess a treasure which had never strayed from its own spotless mansion, he then requested my permission to become a candidate for your favour.
I readily and freely gave it, and encouraged him to hope he would meet neither with caprice nor opposition; at the same time I candidly told him, that, though my fortune was upon the whole considerable, yet, as my family was large and still might increase, my daughter's portions could be but small,--so very small, that I feared it would prove an impediment to your union. He generously overlooked this objection, and wishes only to gain your heart and hand; while the share you would be ent.i.tled to have of your father's property he requests may be given among the rest of my family, and he will make an equal settlement upon you, as if you brought him a large fortune.
Indeed, so n.o.ble and disinterested were his proposals, that they both gratified and astonished me: they are such as no parent could receive with indifference,--no young woman refuse. The Baron has not only a princely fortune, but a princely spirit, and such unbounded interest, that my Roseline will not only secure rank and splendor to herself, but will prove the fortunate means of obtaining them for her brothers and sisters, and of making the last closing scenes of her parents'
days happier and freer from care than they have ever been.”
Ah! thought Roseline, and her own irretrievably wretched; for, among all the treasures to be purchased by this unnatural union, happiness is not included. She sighed deeply, and, without looking up, remained silent.
Sir Philip, rather alarmed at the alteration in her countenance, which changed from being extremely flushed to the most deadly paleness; and, observing a tear stealing down her cheeks, still appeared determined to think he should find no difficulty in over-ruling any little objection she might venture to make. He put one hand into her's, and the other round her waist, and again addressing her, said, ”He did not wonder that an offer so splendid and n.o.ble should affect and overpower a spirit humble and una.s.suming as her's. I always knew the inestimable value of the Baron's friends.h.i.+p, and am equally sensible of the rich prize I possess in a daughter; but I never dared to cherish the grateful hope that I should live to see two persons on whom I depended for so large a portion of my happiness united, or that a child of De Morney's was to repay the n.o.ble Baron for his generosity to her father.”
”For heaven's sake! my dear dear father, (cried the almost fainting Roseline,) do not thus seem to misunderstand the nature of feelings ent.i.tled to your tenderest pity.--I never, never can love the Baron!”
Sir Philip hastily arose; fury flashed from his eyes; every feature was beginning to be convulsed with pa.s.sion, but he struggled against the rage he wished to subdue, while she continued,--”Consider my extreme youth; contrast it with the age of your friend;--can I be a fit or eligible wife for a man older than my father?--Would not that be to punish most severely the man for whom, so far from loving, I have ever felt an invincible dislike, which sometimes I have thought, if he stayed much longer at the castle, would increase to aversion.”
Sir Philip, who had neither expected to meet nor was prepared to encounter an opposition so determined, was no longer able to keep his pa.s.sion within bounds.
”Roseline, (cried he, striking his clenched fist on the table, and looking with the wildness of a maniac,) dare not presume to cherish, or to avow, a dislike which will not only plunge a dagger into your mother's heart, but rob you of a father. What business can a girl of your age have to like or dislike but as your parents shall direct?--Give them up for ever, or accept the Baron!--How will you reconcile yourself to become an alien to your family?--how relish spending your days in a nunnery, instead of enjoying liberty and every pleasure in the gay suns.h.i.+ne of a court, glittering with diamonds, surrounded by admirers, equal in rank and superior in fortune to many of our most ancient n.o.bility?--Consider well before you determine.
To enable you to conquer your diffidence, or caprice, on month I will give you;--one month I will allow to the struggles of maiden bashfulness, or the wayward humour of your s.e.x. Yet hear at once my final resolution. If, during that period, you either alarm or disgust the Baron by your folly or ignorance, so as to make him repent the n.o.ble overtures he had made to secure an alliance with my family,--or if you attempt to damp the ardour of his pa.s.sion by your coldness,--if at the end of that period you do not, without any visible reluctance, accept him as a lover, and promise to give him your hand, I will instantly send you into a convent of the severest order, and compel you to take the veil.”
Roseline, overpowered by his manner, fell on the floor in a state of insensibility.--Her father now saw he had gone too far; he was alarmed; but, much as he felt himself distressed, he too well knew what he was about, to call for a.s.sistance; he therefore, by the usual methods, endeavoured to recover her as well as he could, and, as soon as he saw her revive, soothed her hurried spirits with every fond attention, addressed her by the tenderest appellations, and begged her to have pity on him and on herself.
Roseline, too much terrified to contend farther at that time, heard him with silent despondency, and hoped the cruel contest would be ended by her death; for, as she never before had fainted she imagined it was a prelude to her dissolution. Sir Phillip, to reconcile her, if possible, to his ambitious views, argued the matter with that sophistry and art which in all ages have been practised with too much success; a.s.sured her of every flattering indulgence that a youthful heart could desire desire,--painted her future prospects in colours most likely to captivate the attention and ensnare the senses; and even went so far as to promise, till the end of the month, he would not mention the Baron's name to her again, but insisted on her receiving his attentions with complacency, and desired her not to make a confidant of any one in a matter of so much importance: he likewise informed her, he had forbidden her mother's talking to her on the subject, and concluded this painful interview with telling her, he trusted her gentleness, duty, and affection, would determine her to oblige and gratify her anxious and tender father in the first and most prevailing wishes of his heart. He recommended her to retire to her own room, and promised to find a proper excuse for her absence.
After leading her to the door of his apartment, he embraced and left her.
Sir Philip de Morney, though in many respects a kind father and a good husband, was proud and aspiring. These pa.s.sions, as he advanced in years, gained additional ascendancy over his mind, and as he saw his children approaching that period when it became necessary to think of an establishment for them, he was more and more anxious to see them placed among the great.
His lady, equally attached to the fascinating influence of birth and splendor, had neither inclination nor power to counteract his designs, nor to dispute with him on a point to which her own wishes tended. She was too partial, too fond of her children not to think they were calculated to s.h.i.+ne in the most exalted situations, and that they deserved every blessing, every indulgence which rank of fortune could bestow. She had married a man much older than herself, and was happy; therefore she saw no reasonable objection in the difference of age between her daughter and the Baron, whose birth carried an irresistible pa.s.sport to her heart.
Sir Philip had talked the matter over with her, and, with that prevailing influence he had ever retained, brought her not only to consent to any measures he should find necessary to adopt in order to carry his point, but obtained a solemn promise from her to conceal from Edwin, and every one else, the sanguine establishment of their daughter.--The fact was, Sir Philip had at different periods of his life received many favours, and some of a pecuniary nature, from the Baron, which had never been settled, and had it not been for the a.s.sistance of the Baron's purse, he must have deeply mortgaged his estates to carry on the law-suit, which, without the interest of his friend, would at last have terminated against him. It was in consequence of their unexpected meeting in town that he prevailed upon him, with some difficulty, to return with him to the castle.
What ensued was so much beyond the most flattering expectations he had ever dared to cherish, that the feelings of the parent were sacrificed to ambition, and he instantly determined to carry his point, let the consequence be what it would; and, though he had observed, in the whole of Roseline's behaviour to his friend, convincing proofs of that dislike which she had in her interview with him avowed, yet he did not despair of gaining his purpose: he was aware that he might find some little opposition to his wishes, and therefore to guard as cautiously as possible against disappointments, he had more than once represented to the Baron the youth, inexperience, and extreme timidity, of his daughter, and the terror she would feel at being separated from a mother from whom she had never been absent.