im^ ^. (V PERKINS LIBRARY Duke University Kare Dooks i WINTER IN BATH IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. L WINTER IN BATH. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. L BY THE AUTHOR OF TWO POPULAR NOVELS. LONDON: Printed by J, G. Barnard, Snovo-HiUy FOR B. CROSBY AND CO. STATIONER'S COURT, PATERNOSTER- ROW : SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN BATH; RICH- ARDSON, BRISTOL; DONALDSON, BRIGHTON; HARVEY, WEYMOUTH; SKELTON, AND MRS. STREET, SOUTH- AMPTON ; GARNER, MARGATE ; BARRY, HAST- INGS; NASH, TUNBRIDGE--WELLS ; LEEK, eaOMER; ruff, eHELXESHAM ^ AND BURGESS, RAMSGATE. I A WINTER IN BATH, CHAP. I. W £ are told, that the sins of the pa- rent will be visited on the children : we think this a hard sentence, and yet we every day with our own eyes see it ful- filled ; we every day see the virtuous VOL. I. B 2 A wintp:r in bath. and prudent daughter shunned b}' young women of her own age, and lier own si- tuation in hfe (with whom it would be licr wish to associate, and to hve in habits of friendly intercourse), because she is under the same roof with a mother, M'hose volatile manners, and culpable conduct, had lowered her character in the early part of her life, and had ever since kept her at a proscribed distance from those who had never violated the rules of propriet}^, and the laws of virtue ! Years have probably elapsed since that period, and in deep and retired repent- ance, the unhappy parent has bewailed her errors ; to her Maker she has con- fessed them, and he, merciful and com- passionate, may have blotted them out : but the inexorable world still looks on her with an eye uf severity, and though A WINTER IN BATH. 3 not a single fellow-creature, feeling her- self perfectly free from guilt, dares cast the first stone, yet the laws of custom prevent the most compassionate amongst them from receiving to her friendship, or to her confidence, the frail sister ! — Such are the laws of the world — and such should they he; for these operate on minds which are unaffected by religion, and contribute to keep the decencies of life from being violated ; these draw the line between the openly vicious, and the up- rightly virtuous character : and though on each side the shades may respectively fade and lessen, still the line of separa- tion is apparent ; and if we sometimes grieve while we draw that line, and la- ment the hardships of it in this or that particular case, yet the interests of reli- gion, and of social order, demand the •4 A "SVINTKR IX EATll. sacrifice of sensibility and compassion on our parts, and on tlie part of tlie sufferer patient endurance. — But her daughter her darhng ! who shall teach a mother to see her child neglected or overlooked? wjio shall teach her to bear the two-fold stab, which pierces her bosom througli ]ier offspring? If such be the severe consequences entailed on maternal cul- pability, how cautious should every mo- ther be, of even the appearance of cri- minality ! how should she guard herself against the attacks of the prophane and the profligate, by decency of dress, mo- desty of demeanour, steadiness of con- duct, and simplicity of manners, always bearino" about her the truth of this su- blime passage--^^ Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth tlie Lord, she shall be raised!" A WINTER IN BATir. 3' At seventeen the sanguine nnnd of youtli beliolds a gay perspective ; hence the clouds unseen are gathering at a dis- tance, frequently bewilder, and ahnost overwhehn as they approach, the inex|>e- rienced enthusiast. Elctted by hope, and with a heart beat- iiig high ^\ith exp^t'tatlvju, Av.tinnri Hartley found the chaise stop at tlie door of her father's elegant mansion in Gros- yenor-square. Four years had elapsed since she had seen either of her parents; she had been placed at a school in the north of England, where, satisfied with hearing from time to time of her health, Mr. and Mrs. Hartley left her, and pur- sued their gay routine in London and the country, without "talking '• an ex- pensive journey to visit a cliild, to whoui B 3 A MINTER IN BATH. they could do no manner of good, and from the visiting of whom, from her being placed quite out of the vicinity of their friends and acquaintances, tliere was no way of combining pleasure with such a tour." The death of Mrs. Villers, the worthy governess of the academy, obliged this easy couple to think of a new situation for Adriana ; and hs they were obliged to remove her speedily from the house which had contained her for the last nine years, they directed her to be conducted to London, by a trusty servant, resolving to keep her for a few days, till they had settled were to lix her. The heart of Adriana was rightly moulded, and Mrs Villers had faithfully performed the task which had been so A WINTER IX BATIf. / entirely confided to her. The first real sorrow which her pupil had felt, was the death of her beloved governess ; yet did she not yield to the impressions of grief t Mrs. Villers was relieved from a long pe- riod of suffering, and she had cheerfully resigned her breath to him who had be- stowed it, with the firm faith and hope of a Christian ! Adriana had received the last pressure of affection Irom that hand, which opened to close no more ! but she chased off the warm tears of sorrow from her cheek, whenjshe recollected that Mrs. Villers had told her, it was selfish to in- dulge grief for those who were removed to a state of happiness. Filial affection reigned triumphant in her bosom, at receiving the summons to come home, to come to her father — and b4 8 A \VINTER IN EATIL her mother ! She recollected the sweet smiles M'hich had always played on the lovely countenance of that mother, when she had seen her even hut for a few mi- nutes; every feature was still plainly de- picted to her " mind's eye/' as if seen but yesterday. The manly form of her father, too, M'as distinctly remembered ; and that which had been the first wish of her heart, from the dawn of reason, to these her riper years, was now about to be realized — she was to live with her parents ! It was ten at night when she entered the mansion of her father: her head grew giddy, from the sudden cessation of that rapid motion which she had experienced for the last three days ; her heart panted, and her knees trembled at the thoughts A WINTER IN BATH. U of beholdino;, and beinq; embraced by, her dear parents. — She was ushered up stairs by a footman, into a small but ele- gant boudoir, where a good fue and si- lence were all that awaited her. A faint sickness crept round her heart, she stag* gered to a sopha, and was seating herself, when a loud scream saluted her ears, and a monkey springing on her, violently ' seized her arm between his teeth. Adri- ana shrieked in her turn; the door burst open, a fine showy personage entered, and catching up the marmoset, cried-— ** Oh ! Heavens bless ye, Miss, I hope you a'nthurt! Come away, you vile little wretch! come, Mr. Pug— come, sir, come with me ! I hope, Miss, that the mischee- X'ous little hanimal hasn't scratch'd ,off the skin from your poor harm: 'tis quite Mrs. Hartley's pet, I assure ye, andwhea B 5 10 A WINTER IN BAtH. she*s away, wont let any body come into the biirtau with impurity,'" — " I was more frightened than hurt," said Adriana; '* though I believe I should not have been so easily alarmed, but my journey has fatigued me:- — and pray are my papa and mamma apprised of my arrival ?" asked she faulteringly. — *' Oh ! yes, Miss! they won*t be surprised, they both knew as you were suspected to harrive to night; but they desired you would take every refreshment, and make yourself quite comfortable. — Mrs. Hartley is gone t& Mrs. Curzons's party, and then to Lady Honoria Elmer's, and after to a ball and supper at my Lady IVhat is its,'' — '' And my papa is gone with her of course ?"►— '* Oh ! dear, no, Miss ! he's gone to Brookes's I suppose, or— —but," stroking the little marmoset, which she still held A WINTER IN BATH. II Oh her arm, '* what will you take Miss Hartley after your journey? Any tiling' that you will mention, I will insfanfan* ouslj/ order the housekeeper to get, and one of the footmen shall bring it up. Sup- pose now you were to take a little hamlet, Miss, or some "cerysillif soop, or some macaronis and cheese, or, for my part, (lie still little Pug!) I know nothing as I pre- fer to a glass of knoxvyou^ with a few ra- /i/fW cakes, after a journey?" If Mrs. £)avers had been correct in her list, Adri- ana being wholly u. cquainted with these viands, would have refused them ; but she had no inclination to eat, and scarce- ly heard the voluble and officious attend- ant. She felt the pain of '* hope defer- red," when she found that she was not yet to see her parents, and her voice wae b6 1 12 A WINTER IX BATIT, impeded by her rising emotions as she tried to speak. — -^^ They will not be at home yet then ?" she said. — *' Oh ! bitss ye! no, Miss; but they desired you would make yourself quite comfortable after your journey, and dojustasyou liked: so perhaps. Miss, you would like to go to bed ?" — " If you please," replied Adri- ana. *' Why, after a long journey and fatigue, bed, I must say, is the very best place. — I beheve your room is quite rea- dy, Miss, — shall I shew you to it?" Adri- ana gave her assent by rising from her seat ; and when her officious attendant had closed the door on Jier for the night, she laid her throbbing head on the pillow, and burst into a violent flood of tears. She knew not the cause of her emotion ; a coinbinati9n of feelings, operating with A. WINTER IN BATH. 13 fatigue, united to produce it ; and disap- pointment, perhaps, had its full share, though she did not place it to that ac- count. 14 A ^riN-TER IN BATH, CHAP. U. XT was nine o'clock when Adriana ven- tured to peep out of her apartment : all was silent — every door in the pass- age was closed, — not a sound was heard. She walked on a few paces, when she saw a door gently and cautiously opened: it led to another flight of stairs; and witli shoes in hand, and evident symptoms of heing just escaped from the arms of Mor- pheus, the housemaid made her ap- pearance. She started at seeing Adri- A WINTER IN" BATH. 15 ana, who gently enquired if Mr. and Mrs. Hartley were stirring. '' Oh ! no, Mem!'* said the servant whispering and pointing towards a door, *' Oh ! law, no ! there is my mistress safe enough for these four hours, I war- rant; and my master, he won't be down much before, I suppose : that's his room, down the gallery." Adriana turned from her informer, and re-en- tered her chamber. She sat down on her bed : she was, indeed, launched on a new world, for every thing was new to her: she was perfectly ignorant of its customs and its manners ; to her it seemed singular to find that her pa- rents were divided, though living un*- der the same roof; to her it also ap- peared singular, that that roof had for many hours sheltered their only child, 16 A W'lXTER IX BATH. ^7hom they had not seen for a long period, without their making one effort to bring her to their presence. *' If such be the world," said she, " the knowledge of it is not to be co- veted!" But Adriana sighed as this remark crossed her mind, for did it not contain an implied accusation of her parents ? and *' to honour her fa- ther and mother," had been early im- pressed on her young mind by Mrs. Villers. Yet, warm in her affections, and sanguine in her hopes, the chill of disappointment had already pierced her heart; and the anxious wish of be- ing received to the bosom of her mo- ther, and being held in the arms of her father, was insensibly fading away, and an apprehension arising of some- thing in the approaching interview, as A WINTER IN BATH. 1? new and as unexpected as all that she had seen since she entered the house. At half past ten, breakfast was served to Adriana in a parlour, and she was interrupted an hour after from pensive reflection, by a summons to Mrs. Hart- ley's dressing-room, Her kneels smote each otlier as she followed the servant, but she tried to arm herself with cou- rage. '* Miss Hartley, Sir," said the man, as he opened the door.—" Let her come in," answered a voice from behind a folding screen, which she recognised for her fathers. '^ How are you, Adri^ ana?" said Mr. Hartley; but as she came within his view, the feelings of a father seemed to give May to the ac- quired politeness and complaisance of the well-bred man of the world. At see- 18 A AVINTtR IN BATH. ing an elegant female, he rose from his seat, laid clown the newspaper he had been studying, and bowed to his daugh- ter; while that daughter, overcome by emotion, sunk on her knees before him! ** Rise, Adriana !" said Mr. Hartley^ gently taking her up, and imprinting a kiss on her forehead : ** I declare I had almost forgotten you.— =Why yoti are absolutely grown out of knowledge f as he looked on her with strong marks of admiration. ^* You have not seen Mrs, Hartley of course — she will be as much surprised as myself; you will make us quite old, child !" said he laughing. ** You are a good girl, I dare say ; Z have heard great accounts of you from Mrs. Villers."— " She was kind, Sir, to speak favourably of me," said Adriana; ** I hope I shall do nothing to forfeit A WINTER IN BATH. 19 her good report." — *' I dare say not, I dare say not," said Mr. Hartley, ex- amining her countenance with great at- tention. *' And you sing, I under- stand," said he, ** and play of courser" '' A little,'' said Adriana.— ** A little will not do, child, in these days,— it must be all or nothing : there is no doing- any thing by \u\\ven \n the uttietfcnth cen- tury. You draw too ?*''='" I was going again to say a little,'* said Adriana, smil- ing, *^ but Mdien you do me the favour to look over my porte-feuille, you shall judge whether I do it by halves." — ^* O yes, I shall look it over one day or other! But a whim has just entered my head: give me your hand, child; I will in- trude into Airs. Hartley's boudoir, merely to see if she will recognise her great girl." " But may not the surprise, Sir — .-"asked ^0 A WINTER IX EAT II. Adiiana hesitatingly. — *' O never mind, ^ve will go;" and he led to the room where our heroine had heen ushered the preceding night. He made signs to Adriana to keep silence, as he opened the door without knockino\ Mrs. Hfirtley, in a wrapping gown, reclined on residence in London. She recollected herself in time to be ready at the c 3 3© A WTN'TPR IN BATU. iliiincr hour, and with a praise-worthy vanKy (if any tiling denominated vanity can be praise-worthy), she exerted her- self in disposing her fine auburn tresses to the greatest advantage ; she put on a robe of finest muslin, a string of coral round her neck set oiF her complexion, wliich Avas dazzlingly brilliant, and a pleased consciousness suffused her cheek as she surveyed herself in the glass, convinced that her appearance had nothing of tliat childishness in it, which cou]d authorize her mother to treat her as she did. She was some time alone in the drawing- room; the last dinner bell had rung, when Mrs. Plartley entered. She started back ©n seeing Adriana, while Adriana started in her turn, on seeing the beautiful and dazzling person of her mother ! Roses A WINTER IN BATH. 31 and lilies bloomed on lier countenance, her eyes were animated and sparkling, her dress was elegant, the lustre of her brilliants exceeded any thing which she had ever seen, and were most tastefully displayed. ^^ What a renovation !'* thought Adriana; but, alas ! pcor novice! art cannot renovate, it can only disguise. ** How are you, my dear?"' said Airs. Hartley, recovering herself: " come, we must go to dinner, I suppose Hartley is waiting for us :" and sl;e condescended to lead her daughter to the eating-room. As they entered it, Hartley advanced, and bowed to them with the same po- liteness with which he would have re- ceived visitors of distinction. Adriana was placed at the right hand of her mo- ther. *' Where to-night, Mrs. Hartley:'' C4 if<2 A WINTER IS BATH. asked her husband, after fixing his eyes for two whole minutes on Adriana, and just then resuming his fork. — *' Laiiy Betty Kirwan's,— it will be quite a cram!" ** Ah ! you will initiate Adriana at once into the mysteries of fashion,— she goes of course T — '* Of course she does not !" replied Mrs. Hartley ; " how could you think of such a thing? what ! introduce a child into the world 1 — dear Hartley, you have lost your senses." — '* And you your memory, I fear, Caroline. How old were you when that child was born?" and he looked in his wife's face with a provoking archness. — ** Not old enough to know right from wrong, of that I am very sure," said the lady, with a sarcastic expression of countenance, and affecting a sigh. — " Some people, if they were to live to the ai^'c of the antediluvians, A WINTER 1^ ]&ATI-r. 5$ M^oukl never know ri^lit from wrono- '' answered Hartley, coolly. — '' No, tliat the}- certainly would not," retorted Mrs. Hartley, with quickness; '^ for instance, your present proposition is so reverse from •-"aii that is right."—'' And for instance, Mrs. Hartley, your setting yourself against it, is so much the reverse of it also, tliat for tlie sake of being a little perverse, I say you shall take Adriana along with you '/' — " For the sake of be- ing a little perverse," answered the lady, imitating him M^ith great effect, *' I say I will not." " No, pray, Sir, let me re- main at home," said Adriana, turning a beseeching countenance on her father, as she marked the indignant glance of his eye turned towards her mother, '* believe me, Sir, I have not the least wish !'' — ** I c'5 34 A WINTER IN BATH. did not consult your wish," said Hartley, '' I merely consulted my own plersure." ** Perfectly right ! you merely consulted your own pleasure, and you did it with a view to teaze me; thank you, Sirl'* bending her head.^ — *^ You are perfectly welcome, Madam," returned Hartley, bowing and smiling: *^ I have the honour to drink your health ; I\Iiss Hartley, my love to you ; — look up, child, and put on your best countenance, for you must do a little execution to-night on the hearts of Lady Betty's beaux/'—" Ridiculous mid provoking!" said Mrs. Hartley, turn- ing up her lip. — " Adriana, suppose you get me your porte-feuille, I will look at your drawings now," said Hartley. — Adriana rose, and left the room. "She's a lovely creature," said Hartley, looking after her, " and instead of sending her A WINTER IN BATH. 3> down to the manor, ^ve must keep her here a few weeks^ and she will make her fortune. Slieis now in tlie vciy flush of beauty: take her with you to-night, Ca- roline, and sec if the men are not about her like a swarm of bees round the hive." *' Round the honey, you should have said, as she is such a collection of sweets. The child is well enough :'' this was said poutingly. — " The young woman is charming!"' — ''Come, come, don't let me liear any more nonsense : if she catches any of your rhapsodies, you will make licr as vain as' — '* Her mother!*' interposed Hartley with quickness. — '' Pshaw! how you trifle, Mr. Hartley ! Pray have you got the diaft I wanted ? and also I must liave a reinforcement fo-r to-night.'" — " I can ill spare you either ; c a 36 A ^riNTER IN BATH. but take Adriaiia with you, and you shall have both/' — '^ No, Sir, I am not to be bribed to do what ray judgment ' " Your judgment T repeated Hartley, sceptically. — ''Yes, Sir, my judgment 1 By \voeful experience, I know the ill effects of marrying too early."—'' Nowyou are quite serious, Caroline, and I can chime in with you, for you know I liave had my shsLTe^&f dear-bought ea-perience 1'* Mrs. Hartley hi^mmed a tune, and Adri- ana entered with her drawings. She placed them before hex father : with some quickness Mrs. Hartley caught a parcel of them, and looked them carelessly over, notappcaring to notice eitlier beau- ties or defects. " Designs or copies, Adri- ana?" asked Hartley. — "A few of them are sketches from nature: that is one ; you remember the view, perhaps^ Sir?" — '' Oh ! A TS'IN'TLR IX BATH. 37 perfectly, and it is very well done ; you had enough of the majestic in Cumber- and." ''The subhme and beautiful T' sai'lve voii credit for the idea." *' It is romantic enough," said ]Mrs. Hart- ley. — '^ Romance and enthusiasm are the natural attendants of youth," said Hartley, answering his lady, and again intently surveying the countenance of his daughter. — *^You have not given me tlic draft I desired, Mr. Hartley." — '•' Neither have you given me the promise I desired, Madam ; till then — " — '^Take away your drawings, child!" said Mrs. Hartley,, hastily. — ''No, Adriana, let them remain; it was I wlio sent for them, I have not done with them." i\Irs. Hart- ley leaned her head on one hand, restino- her elbow on the table, and M^ith the other hand began to play with the stop- per of a decanter. '' The person who confers an obligation, demands a little concession on the part of the obliged."— 40 A WIN'TER IX BATH. " Obligation ! concession ! obliged ! — I do not coinprcliencl your language, Mr, Hartley/' — '' I think you do not," was his answer — " but you comprehend wliat I wisli you to do tliis evening*: — probably Harcourt Aviil be at Lady Betty's, and — " *' I am decided, Mr. Hartley ; give me the draft, and some bills, for my carri- age is at the door." — " Madam, I can be as obstinate as yourself, — you shall not have either." — " No, Sir?'' said Mrs. Hartley, in a tone of cool contempt. — No, Madam !" with an air of more sai?g froid than passion. ^* It is Avell, — take care how you provoke me to revenge !" Adriana hid her face with her handker- chief; Mrs. Hartley moved towards the door.^ — *'How, Caroline! revenge!" cried Hartley, starting from his seat — '^no, no, you dare not !*' He sat down again : the 1 A WINTER IN BATH. 4i frown which had rumpled his brow, as he said tlie last words, was dispersed. — " I should like to know how," said he, affect- ing a laugh.-** Know you not, that where there is a will, there will be a way ?" said Mrs. Hartley, with much impression in her manner — *^ take care, Hartley, I once more ask, will you give the draft?" ** Will you take her with you ?" asked Hartley, pointing to Adriana, whose emotion prevented her hearing what was said. — " I will not," said Mrs. Hartley. ** Then, by Heavens ! not a farthing will I give to save you from ruin !" — " Re- member your words. Sir, they have meaning in them — one day you may un- derstand their force !"* and Mrs. Hartley quitted the room, flinging to the door with such violence, that Adriana was roused from her position; but catching a 4C A WINTER IN BATIK glance of her fatlier's face, she turned hastily from him, frightened at beholding the furious expression which Mas there apparent. He rose from his chair, and left the room. Poor Adriana ! who does not pity her, what heart does not ache as it beholds her during this melancholy and solitary evening, reviewing the scenes of the last day, and with a sickening sigh, confess- ing to herself, that home is not the home she has depicted — that her parents are not the parents she has poartrayed ? She already longs to leave London, though she is an utter stranger to all its plea- sures and attractions. She pants for the time when she is to be sent to her grandmother: her heart glowing with all the warm and benevolent feelimrs, longs I > A AV INTER IX BATH, 43 to make Itself an interest in some kindred iieart : her father, her mother, are too much attached to the world, to find room for the social affections ; hut her grand- mother's age and infirmities must keep her from the scenes of dissipation, even though her inchnations pointed to them ; and to cheer her evening of life ; to lull her to rest, when visited hy pain and suf- fering ; by cheerful and innocent gaiety, to exhilarate her spirits, to be to her that daughter she had lost — that daughter, wlio appeared to neglect her parent ; these hopes were fresh and ardent in the mind of our heroine, and prevented her from yielding entirely to despondency. 44 A WINTER IN BATH, CHAP. IV. WijEN Adriana arose in the morn- ing, slie went to the parlour which seemed to be allotted for her nse. Here her solitude was not interrupted, ex- cept by the servant who brought lier her breakfast. She tried to draw; but several times lier tears blistered the pa- per. About noon, when the man re- turned to make up tlie fire, she en- quired for her father and mother. — ■ ** Mr. Hartley is in his own room, Ma'am ; Mrs. Hartley has given or- A WINTER IS BATH. 45 ders not to be at home during the whole of the day." — ^' Not even to her child, I suppose!" sighed Adriana. She made no answer to the servant, but fixed her eyes upon the drawing which lay before her. Mr. Hartley dined out ; Mrs. Hartley had her dinner served in the boudoir; and as our lieroine ate her solitary meal, she could not help drawing a comparison in her mind, of tlie cheerful and happy group by which she used to be surrounded at ^Irs. Villers's table. The period of infancy she had often beard depicted as the period of the most unalloyed happiness; she- was tempted already to subscribe to the truth of this representation, and to look back' with regret to the days 4r 40 A WINTER IX BATH. that Mere gone, as tliose in perspec- tive did not present her a flattering pros- pect. Ahout eight o'clock, Adriana was roused from a long reverie, into which she had fallen, hy her mother. Mrs. Hartley entered the room, and started on beholding her daughter; she was going out, and came into that par- lour while her chair put into the hall. She sat down on a seat by the door, and putting her hand to her head, seemed to pant for breath. " You are not well, I fear, my dear Madam ?" said Adriana, going to her, and gently taking her hand, which fell in iVfrs. Hartley's lap. A deep sigh issued from the bosom of her mother. *^ Yes, yes, I am very well, I thank you," said she A WINTER IN BATH. 47 faintly; but she did not look at her child as she spoke, and she withdrew her hand, though Adriana thought not till it had gently pressed hers. — ^* I should be so happy, my dear Mamma," said Adriana, " if I could be of the least comfort to you. You do not know the pleasure it would give me, to be of the smallest service to you !" Her voice faltered, for her heart was brimful with aftection, and she felt that it was impossible to express all she meant. ** I hope you zrili be happy, Adriana," said Mrs. Hartley; **Iwant neither comfort nor service." Her voice fell though as she repeated tjie word ^' comfort," and a convulsive sob seemed to proclaim that her words and -her feelings were not in unison. She rose from the seat. — ^* The chair is ready " 4S A MIN'TER IN BATH. said she. ''Fool that I am!" She M'ildly threw her arms round the neck of Adriana; she kissed her forehead with fervour, and then darted into the hall. The roof of the chair was raised, it was closed again — and Adriana re- turned to her solitude; but her whole frame trembled — she knew not why. The behaviour of Mrs. Plartley had been so strange, so wild, and so em- passioned, that she feared lier reason was disordered. She could not other- M'ise account for the contrariety of her manner, nor for that hasty im- pulse of feeling with which she had elapsed her to her arms ! Yet Adriana recalled this action again and again to her mental vision; her lieart thrilled with delight at the retrospection; it told her, that she had yet an interest A WINTEU IN BATH. 49 in the heart of her mother. — It told her, that she should yet be tlie happy daughter she had depicted ! This evening was passed hke the last; and when she arose the next morn- ing, she seemed to be more familiar- ized to her lonely situation; for meclia- nically, she carried with her her work and drawing apparatus into the parlour. She was, as usual, uninterrupted, ex- cept by the confusion and bustle whicii seemed to pervade th6 house. Loud and quick steps resounded through the hall, and the noisy laugh of the do- mestics often reached her ears. Won- dering at this unlicensed mirth, she pursued her occupations till four o'clock, when a violent rap at the street door, made her almost start out of her chair, VOL. I. p 50 A WINTER IN BATH. SO tremblingly alive was she become to every noise, from the irritable state of her nerves. The door of the room where she sat was flung open, and Mr Hartley en- tered. His countenance appeared wild and ruffled; his hair was dishevelled; he strode across the floor, and grasp- ing the hand of Adriana, said, 'Pre- pare to set out instantly for the manor. - — Your grandmother will receive you, — You will there be out of the reach of danger. — Johnson will conduct you. —Be ready within an hour from this time!'' — '' Shall I not see— is my mam- ma?" asked Adriana tremblingly and hesitatingly. M\\ Hartley hastily let go her hand. He stamped his foot on the ground. '' Torture me not A WINTER IX BATH. -ivith questions/* said he; ** but listen to me while I have the power of ut- terance. On your going to the manor, and your peaceable and obedient be- haviour there, will depend the forfeit- ure, or the inheritance of my favouir through life! I have sent an express to your grandmother; he will travd all night, and being already on his road will precede you by many hours'^ therefore Mrs. Cosby will be prepared to receive you. Ask no questions as to the cause of tliis sudden journeij ; the knowledge of it could be of no avait. Sufficient IS it for you to hear, that the event which has accelerated it, has per* haps coloured your future days.— That \ihas disgraced the name of Hartley. Distraction's in the thought ! — But what am I saying?'- — and he clenched ^ 1)2 o ^• I 52 A WINTER IN BATH. his hands in agony, and smote them against his forehead. Adriana caught liis hands, ** Oh my dear papa !" cried she, '' what is the matter? Pray — • pray be cahii !" and she unconsciously kissed the hand which she had seized. /' That voice, that look, and talk of calmness!" said he, *' child, you will drive me frantic. — Yet you are not to blame. Do what I require in sile?it obedietice,'' said he, turning to her with a steady voice, " and may Pleaven bless you !" — '^ Amen !" said Adriana, as she involuntarily bent her knee, to re- ceive a parent's blessing. Hartley stooped to raise her, and as he did so, he hastily pressed his dry and burning lips to her cheek. " Go, go now," said he, struggling to speak, *' go and pre- pare yourself! — remember! — no ques- A WINTER IN BATH. 5'd tions!— I can depend on Johnson, lie will convey you safely/* Adriana's knees smote each otlier as she obeyed, and as she hastily gathered up her draw- ing implements, her hands shook so; that she was every moment in danger of letting them slip through her fnigcrs. Sir. Hartley had turned from her; he leant one elbow on the manfle-piccc, and covered his face with his hand. It was in this attitude he stood, when Adriana gave him a last look, as her hand rested on the lock of the door. — She longed, yet dreaded to speak to him, — ''Yet once again;" — but the timid accents died on her lips, and j>he went to her chamber. There a maid-servant waited, who told her she had received orders to assist her in packing. 54 A WINTER IN BATH. The servant examined with scruti- nizing curiosity the tearful eyes of Adriana, and with loud sighs on her part, and excliunations of "Dear heart l" and *' Sad doings f endeavoured to draw her to converse; but Adriana was naturally averse to the famiharity of domestics, even had she not recol- lected the injuctions of her father; and, in silence, she hastened to pack up her wardrobe. Yet the thoughts of going without beholding her mother, filled her heart almost to bursting : she stole along the passage, and listened at the door of the boudoir. All was quiet. ** Shall I disturb my mamma ?" thought slic. *' And yet will she l>e angry, when I only approach to bid her a long farewell !" A WINTER IN BATH. 55 She tapped gently at the door. — No answer was returned ; she gained a little more courage, and opened it; but she saw not her mother. The lire had not been lighted in the grate, tlie ashes remained wlicre they had fallen the preceding day; confusion was apparent in the wdiole apartment ; bits of paper were strewed in every direction, and the playful and petted marmoset was busily employed in tearing off the fringe from the ele- gant cushions of the chairs, *' My mamma must be ill then," thought Adri- ana ; and in the same moment, she crossed the boudoir, and opened a door which led through it to her mother's bed-room. The curtains were closely drawn ; she stole on tiptoe to the side of the bed. — She put aside the cur- tain; — but what washer surprise, whea d4 ^0 A WINTER IN BATH. she perceived that the bed had not been Jain in. '^ My inamma did not come home last night," whispered she. '' Alas! I sliall not see her!" and tears forced their way down her cheeks. At that minute she heard her name pronounced by a servant. *' The trunks are in, Alaam, and Mr. Joluison is ready.'* Adriana threw a wild look round the boudoir, and went down stairs. In the hall, Johnson waited her approach; he took her hand, and assisting her into tlie cliaise, placed himself at her side, iiud they were soon rattling over the pavement. A WIXTER IN BATH. Sf CHAP. V X HE evening was wet ami dreary; the lamps were already lighted ; and as Adriana's eyes caught the passing objects, she could not help thinking of her extraordinary visit to that city, which she was now quitting so sud- denly. The cause of her abrupt de- parture she could not guess, hut she feared it was a most serious one ; though of what nature she could not divine; p5 58 A WrNTER IN BATH. but the words and the manner of her father were still impressed on her ear. Johnson was respectful in his de- portment, but did not attempt to en- gage her in conversation, so that she found herself at full liberty to indulge her thoughts and conjectures. The lamps of the metropolis were soon succeeded by darkness. Adriana had frequently heard stories of high- waymen infesting the heaths which skirted London, and had often shud- dered at tlie idea of being attacked by them ; but such was the present state of her mind, that she felt as though she could have seen them ride up to the chaise windows without the smallest emotion ; so entirely was she engrossed A WINTER IN BATH. SQ by the recent scenes which she had witnessed. Our heroine was conveyed two stages in safety that night, and pursued her journey early the following morning. It was late in the evening of the fourth day, wlien Johnson told her they were nearly arrived at tlic manor. The wea- ther was clear and frosty, the stars sparkled in the firmament, and shot their rays^ between the high trees of a wood, which overshadowed the road with their branches, although despoiled of their foliage, through which they were passing. An opening vista yielded them a partial view of the manor. It was situated in a deep aixl narrow vale, surrownded by hills and enveloped by p6 60 A Winter in bath. "woods, except on one side, where it opened to the majestic ocean. Adriana looked with anxious curi- osity towards the mansion, wliicli was soon to become her residence, but she could discern nothing accurately, ex- cept lights flashing from different win- dows instantaneously, and then disap- ])earing as quickly. ^' There seems to be some bustle in the house," said John- son ; *' yet I do not think the old lady sees much company. Perhaps they hear the chaise coming through the wood, it being a clear still night, and so are preparing themselves for your approach." As he said tliis they drove, by a gentle sweep, to the door; a ser- vant appeared at it — Adriana got out of it, and followed him across a larg^ A WINTER IN BATH. 6l paved court to another door, which opened into a spacious hall; she was then ushered into a large parlour, wain- scotted with black oak, where two can- dles only served to show its gloomy appearance in proper colours. " How is Mrs. Cosby? — How is my grandmamma?" asked Adriana. ** The Lord's hand is upon her. — She is just gone, Miss," said the servant, who was a lank-haired, sallow-visaged man ; " soul and body hardly kept together." *^ What do you meani^" asked Adriana. — ■ ^* Is she dying? — Good Heavens! am I then come to see her die?" — '* She is not long for this world, iMiss," said tlie man, shaking his head; " but death is the end of us all, and Avhen our time is come, we must go!" He lifted up G2 A WrKTER IN BATir. liis eyes as he said tliese words, and" dra\vled tliem out in the true ** nasal- twang heard at conventicle." " Good God!" said Adriana, "how dreadful!" as she sank into a chair. " Nothing dreadful in the summons of the Lord, — but it is dreadful to take his name ia vain," said the man continuing his tone of sanctity. " May I not see her? — can- not you send a female servant to con- duct me to her room r" — " I v/ill see," said Ezekiel, walking away slowly and erectly. "Oh! hasten, hasten!" cried the almost frantic Adriana. " She will die, and I shall not receive her bless- ing r' — The Lord's will be done," said Ezekiel as he quitted the room. Adriana's sufferings during his ab^ sence, exceeded any thing she had ever A WINTER IN BATH. 63 felt before^ Tl>e hope which she had cherished of beins: a comfort to her grandmother, of making lierself an in- terest in her aifections, of cheering tlie evening of her days, was now utterly annihilated. She was come to witness the '' last struggles of expiring nature." Her heart palpitated, her \vhole fram.e shook, but she tried to rally her feel- ings; and when a decent elderly fe- male appeared, she rose as if to fol- low her immediately to the chamber of death. ** Mrs. Cosby is delirious, Miss," said the woman, taking her hand re- spectfully, with much compassion de- picted on her countenance, the tears coursing each other down her cheeks. ** She cannot know you, dear young 64 A WINTER IN BATir. lady ; had 3^011 not better spare your- self tlie shock of such a sight? This night will probably terminate her suffer- ings." — " Does she suffer much then?" asked Adriana, pressing the hard hand of the speaker. — ''She has greatly suf- fered," answered she. '' Oh, let me see her! I am equal to any sight: but 1 cannot bear the thoughts of letting my grandmother die, and not going to her when I am the only relative near her.'* ** The only one, indeed," said the do- mestic, sighing. — '' Will you make use of my arm, Miss ? but first you must talvord3 &he ever spoke. Adriana had sunk down at the foot of ihe bed. She had seen the wild looks of the poor suf- ferer — slie had heard every word she had uttered, and her self-possession liad quitted lier just at tlie period when Mrs. Cosby had yielded h.er breath for ever ! When Adriana regained her recol- lection, she found herself in bed in a large and old-fasliioned apartment ; the elderly domestic, who had con- ducted her to i\frs. Cosby's room, sit- ting at her side, her countenance heavy^ her eyes swollen with tears, brought every circumstance to her memory, and taking the hand of Martha (for that was the name of the servant,) she said, A WINTKR IN' BAIIL 67 ill a low voice, '* My grandmamma died without knowing I was near her.— She did not know nic !" and she burst into tears. *' Compose yourself, my dear Miss Cosby— Miss Hartley, I should sav ; but vou remind me so much of your mumma, that I can't somehow help calling you Miss Cosby in my mind, when I au*t speaking"— " Do Ir* asked Adiiana, unconsciously smiling through lier tears, and feeling a gi'ati- iication in being thought like her mo^ ther. — '' Ah ! if mv mamma v/ere but liere now ! if she liad but been here before my grandmamma died !'* — '^ Ah, if she had," repeated Martha; — ** but, — " How long had my grandmamma been ill :" asked Adriana. *' My mamma did know it, I am sure." — ^* Not the worst of it, Miss, though mv dear mistress (S8 A WINTER IN BATH. had been drooping a long, long time. But such was her consideration, and lier fear of interrupting the comfort of Mrs. Hartley, that she would not make her acquainted with her illness. The very last letter she wrote, about ten day since, she could scarcely guide her pen; but then she would not let me write for her, though, poor dear ludv, her hand trembled so when she liad done, that she could not fold it up. She went to lie down, and or- dered nic to seal, and to fold it; but not on any account to direct it, for fear of frightening Mrs. Hartley. I did put in a bit of a line, as she left me, just saying that she was but very poorly, and worse than she spoke of But, perhaps, Mrs. Hartley, thought my fears made me think the \rorst ; or A WINTER IN BATH, 6Q may be, she could not well make out my writing, for I am but a poor one with my pen. However, your grand- mamma did not seem to get worse till the night before last, and thtn when the express came with the letter, she fell into a convulsion fit, and had scarcely a moment of reason afterwards. Oh, Miss! I shall never forget her clasp- ing and wringing her hands, and call- ing] on her Carohne — on her child. I did not see the letter, for she tore It into a thousand pieces in an instant — but I am sure it brought her bad news. Well, no matter — she will be an angel in heaven." '* Where is Mt. Johnson, who accom- panied me here?" asked Adriana, try- ing to rally her feelings, and to exert 70 A WINTER IN BATH. liersclf. — *' lie is below, Miss, wailing only to speak to you before he sets out again for London." — " Will not my papa come down to attend the funeral ?" " I fancy not, Miss — indeed, I fancy he is not but you will see Mr. John- son?" — ^^' Certainly," said Adriana; and with the assistance of Martha, she in- stantly arose : she trembled as she dressed herself, — all the horroj-s of the last night were still before her. Again she heard the heart-piercing tones of the dying Mrs. Cosby ; again she saw the wild glare of those eyes, which were so speedily fixed in death. She recollected the careless indifference with which her mother had mentioned an unopened letter from ^frs. Cosby. ** Perhaps it is still unopened," thought she. ** Good Heavens! what compunc- A WINTER IX BATFI. 71 tion, what bitter compunction will Mrs. Hartley feel, when she hears her mother is no more!" As these thoughts passed in our heroines mind, her colour varied, and her countenance changed. She clasped her liands together. ** Do not take on so, dear Miss Hartley !" said the attentive Martha, ** but bear your- self up in this hour of trouble. You Avill want all your courage, my dear Miss."—'* I think I shall— I think I do ;" said Adriana in a hurried voice, ** But show me to Johnson." 75 A WINTER IN PATH, CHAP. VI. 3 OHNSON rose respectfully at Adriana's entrance. Martha left them together. — *' I would not leave the manor, IMiss Hartley, without asking if you have any thing for me to do ?'' — ** Nothing, but to give my duty to my papa and mam- ma,'/ answered Adriana : " but I suppose one, if not both of them will be down, as A MnXTER IN' BATH. 7^ soon as tbcy arc apprized of tlielate mc- iancholy event:"' — ''Why, no Ma'am, I rather think not ; indeed I know that they will not — that they cannot be here,*' added Johnson ; and "■ Mr. Sehvyn, the clergyman, has kindly promised to under- take to see the old lady's remains decent- ly disposed of. You will of course remain here, just as if the event had not happen- ed ; no danger can possibly come to you here ; and the servants of your late grand - motb^* will wait on you, and serve you as their mistress, till — "■ — *' Till my papa tbinks of some situation for me?" said Adriana, enquiringly, yet with a doubt- ful accent.— '* Why, at present he has not time for much thought ; he is ere this in France," said Johnson, *' and '' '' In France !" repeated Adriana, " in France ! then Mrs. Cosby's words were £ 74 A WINTER IN BATH. not the oftspriiig of delirium. Oh ! tell me, Mr. Jolinson,— no more questions will I ask—Oh ! tell me, for this proceeds not from idle curiosity,--'is Mrs. Hartley gone with my papa?" — Johnson hesitated, and then laconically answered — ^* She went first." " And he follows her r" said Adri- ana." — " Yes, he follows her," repeated Johnsun. *^ Are you going to them ?"—. *' No, INIiss, I am not, I am going to settle matters in London ; but I mus^t not answer questions, this is agaiiist my orders." — ^^ Oh I one, only one more," cried Adriana: *' shall you write to them ?" *' That is very unce4'tain, Miss Hartley." ** O ! ifyouvould wish to vary the scene.'' '* No, Sir, I am much obliged to you for your kindness," interrupted Adriana hastily, ^'but on every account it will be best for me to remain here : indeed, pub- lic decency requires on the recent death of my grand-mamma, such a seclusion for a time, and by such conduct I shall cer- tainly be pleasing my father. How long do you suppose it may be, Sir, ere he returns?" ^* Heaven only knows !" answered Sel- wyn, with emotion: ^^ the business on which — not knowing the business — the motives — I should think his stay is very uncertain— but do not be surprised, my 86 A AV INTER IN BATH. dear young lady, if it should be very much prolonged ; public affairs are just no^y in so critical a state, that it is ex- pected the peace will be a very short- lived one : it was very hazardous to go to the other side of the water at this period, for, perhaps, Mr. Hartley may be de- tained there against his inclinations. But I would not willingly alarm you," per- ceiving the fixed eagerness with which Adriana regarded him, '* I would only prepare you for the worst, as tiieie seems more than a possibility of that worst oc- curring ; for I should not be surprised if to-morrow's post brought us a declara- tion of war." " And in that case will the English be detained in France, Sir?'' asked Adriana. — ** I should fear they would/' answered 2 I A WINTER IX BATH. 8 ^/ Mr. Selwyn ; '* but as this is only a pro- bability, and we will trust a remote one, we will not let it disturb us. But I must again recur to the subject which you so dexterously evaded. Seclusion, the ab- solute seclusion of this house, I can by no means suffer:— have patience, my dear young lady," continued he, perceiving Adriana was going to speak, *' and hear me out ; I do not mean that you shall leave it to-day, or to-morrow, but your health and your spirits must suffer from an ab- solute abstraction from the world." *^ I mean to take exercise," said Adri- ana, " I have been used to it, and suspect I cannot do without it. These grounds, the park, and the cliffs which overlook the sea, are all new to me, and will afford me charming views." — -*' And the cloiie SS A WINTER IN BATH. and more retired walk to the rectory is not without its charms, believe me," said Mr. Selwyn, smiling : *' promise me that you will sometimes bend your steps that way. Mrs. Selwyn I fear will not be able immediately to come to you, for she is recovering but slowly from a very se- vere illness ; I have a fair friend at Oakley, not more than an hour's walk, who will be very happy in the pleasure of your acquaintance; I have just resigned my office as guardian of her fortune, though I yet assert my claim with regard to her person : she will be delighted to be in- troduced to you." — •*' You are very good, Sir,'' said Adriana, languidly. — ''Come, come, be sincere, young lady, and do not say, ' you are very good,' when at the same time you think me officious and troublesome." — " No, believe me, I A WINTER IN BATH, ^9 cannot think that, Sir," said Adri ana, co- louring at the accusation: ^* the benevo- lence, the goodness of your intentions, cannot admit of a doubt ; and if I re- ceive your offers in an unthankful man- ner, pray impute it to my situation, to the strange scenes which I have lately witnessed, and whicli have almost stunned my faculties; impute it to my fear of going beyond my father's wishes, — to any thing but unfeeling ingratitude, of Avhich I know myself, I have not a spark in my nature !" — " I believe it, I really beheve it," said Selwyn, Avith warmth, ** and I shall, in the absence of ■Mr. Hartley, constitute myself the guardian of his daughter. I Mill with pleasure resign my charge to him, and in the mean time I will be answerable for every thing you do in his absence." 90 A WIXTER IK BATH. ** You do not know wliat you undertake, Sir," said Adriana, attempting to be lively. — '* That ingenuous countenance assures me that I shall undertake nothing that I need fear,'' said he: ** promise me, promise your guardian," taking her hand, ** that you will he careful of your health, and that you will not forget that the rectory is near you ; at any rate the rector will not suffer this to slip your memory. You have an active mind, young lady ; and an active and well dis- posed mind can always find employment and amusement; and employment at your time of life, indeed at any time of life, I judge to he absolutely necessary ; but I am wearying you with my com- pany and conversation." — " No indeed, Sir }" said Adriana, emphatically ; " to shew vou that I value this favour as i A WINTER IN BATH* 9i ought, I must entreat that you will very soon oblige me in the same way." ** Pro- vided," said he, *' that you return the compliment in kind to Mrs. Selwyn." ** Agreed," said Adriana; and press- ing her hand with the kind affection of a father, Mr. Sehvyn left the room. Neither the benevolent words nor looks of Mr. Selwyn, had had the power of draw- ing Adriana from the subjects which more immediately occupied her thoughts ; her imagination was constantly recurring to the funeral ceremony which siie had witnessed in the morning; she still heard the *' rattling earth strew 'd o'er the corse." Again she reverted to the look of fixed despair, depicted on the coun- tenance of the dying Mrs. Cosby, — her agonizing shriek was yet in her ears ; again she thought of her father and her ^2 A WINTER l^r BATH. mother, soon perhaps to be prisoners in a, foreign land. Why did they leave Eng- land? What cause — wliat dreadful unre- vealed cause could tempt them to quit their country and their child?" — ^^Sufficitnt is it for you to hear that the event whicli has accelerated it, has, perhaps, coloured 3'our future days, — that it has disgraced the name of Hartley !" These had beeu the fearful, the never to be forgotten words of her father. Adriana shud- dered even yet, when she recalled the look of agonizing passion which accom- panied their utterance. A WrNTp-.U IX BATIi. 93 CHAP. VII, One day succeeded another, and by degrees our heroine became fainiharized to her situation ; and her spirits were tranquil, if not cheerful. Fond of tlie beauties of nature, of the bold and ma» jestic, she often wandered to the sum- mits of hills which might almost be termed mountains, guided up the steep only by the sheep-paths ; but the pros- pect which there met her eye, fully re- 94 A WINTER IN' BATH. paid her for the labour of gaining the ascent. Tlie wide expanse of ocean was before her — majestic rocks, in un- couth and fantastic shapes, broke the >vaves, as foaming they approached the pebbly shore; while many a white sail was distinguishable, plowing its way on the bosom of that element, which might in k moment overwhelm it. To a contemplative mind, this was an am- ple field for wonder and admiration; and, as the bark pursued its trackless way amidst the world of waters, va- rious interesting conjectures, as to its destination, and its future fate, filled the breast of Adriana, till she watched it gradually vanish into obscurity; and she would unconsciously heave a sigh, as if disappointed that she could no longer watch its progress, though she A ^VINTER IN CATH. Qo rere so famous. The walk to the rectory was, indeed, pleasant, but many days had elapsed ere Adriana could venture to make its inhabitants a visit—not till Mr. Sehvyn had insisted on her accompanying him there, and himself introducing her to his wife. Adriana felt l]is kindness, and suffered him to lead her to his mansion. By the way he amused her with cheerful cojivcrse, and the bene- volence and goodness of his sentiments plainly evinced to his companion, that he derived them from a ]>ure and in- exhaustible source. Adriana tried to be cheerful also, and to shew her gra* A WINTER IN" BATH. 97 titude for the kind interest he took in her M^lfare. Unostentatious neatness reigned throughout the rectory; there was nothing deficient, yet nothing super- fluous. Show was discarded for use- fulness ; and usefuhiess, under the hand of taste, wore the garb of elegant sim- pUcity. The traces of sickness were yet visi- ble on the fine countenance of Mrs. Sci- wyn, as leading a little girl between three and four years of age in her hand, she came out to receive her guest. The introduction was quickly over, and Adriana felt as easy with ]\frs. Sehryn as if she had known her all her life; her manner was like Mrs. Villers's, and VOL. I. F ^8 A ^r INTER IN BATH. a fa\oirrablc impression was instantly made on tlie unsophisticated heart of Achiana. *' Miss Hartley must spend the day with us, my love," said i\Ir. Selwyn, "and in the evening I will again be her squire; I will now leave her to your care, and will join you again before the dinner hour." Mrs, Selwyn invited Adrian. t to an intimacy, by that friendly confidence of manner, which is so par- ticularly attractive in an open and be- nevolent character. She was an un- affected sensible woman, fit to fulfil the duties of her station, and not aiming beyond it; leaving to other females to soa?^ into the /leiohfs of science, or to involve their faculties, and cloud then- understandings, with theological con- A WINTER IN r^ATn, 99 troversies. She v\*as contented to learn her faith and her duty, as explained to her from tlie pulpit by her husband ; and she might iridy be said, ''to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with her God." The morning had passed away before Adriana imagined it was noon. Mrs. Selwyn had three ^children, two bfjys and a girl, and their smiling fices, and artless prattle, soon won the way to Adriana's heart. Just as the dinner was going on, an elegant chariot drove up to the door. *' Don't be alarmed, my dear Miss Hart- ley," said ]\Irs. Selwyn, ** it is only Cecilia Oakley; she often takes us thus by durprise. I consider her as my ddeat r 2 100 A WINTER IN BATH. daughter, or my younger sister. She is an heiress, to whom Mr. Selwyn is a])pointecl guardian." At that moment Miss Oakley entered the room, handed in hy the rector ; he introduced her particularly to Adriana : '' Let me hope^ Cecilia, that you will form an intimacy with Miss Hartley— you \Aill fmd your account in it." — " That I am confident I shall, Sir; for I am a physiognomist, and first impressions are not easily erased from my mind." Adriana made a courtesy to this flattering speech. ** We have not seen you for a whole week, Cecilia," said Mrs. Selwyn, as tliey sat down to dinner. '* Where have you been?" — '* Dear Madam, all the country over — to B , to C , to Arlingham, where there was a gay A WINTER IN BATH. 101 assembly on Tuesday last. — I came home at four in the morning."--'^ Who was your chaperon T' asked Mr. Sehvyn : " I must enquire into the proceedings of my ward: and surely Mrs. Hambleton was not willing to sit up till four in the morning?". — *' Oh dear! no. She was at home and fast asleep hours before I returned," said Cecilia. " I went witli the Pemhertons." — '' I wish you had gone with anotl^.cr parly,"' said Mr. Scl- ^^yn, gravely. '^ Now, why" — my dca^' prim guardy, why?" said Miss Oakley, stroking the rector's fnce \:\\\\ her white hand, and showing by tliis action the beauty of her well-turned arm to Adriana, ** now- tell me vliV-" — '' I will, after dinner," said Mr. Selu'\n, *• notwith- standing all your Syren blandishment?." F 3 10^2 A U- 1. NT Kit JS KAJJI. Eiithtr pleased than disconcerted at tliis answer, Cecilia went on chatting thvDiigh ilie meal, and when it was ended, she placed her hands before lier, got \\\y from lier seat, went up to Mr. !Seiv»yn, and niaking a very low and stileiim courtesy, she said, " Now, Sir^ with all due deference, your ward is standing before you, to hear your rea- sons." — " Cannot you guess them, Ce- cilia?" — " I may guess a thousand^ Sir, and not hit on the rlglit at last/' — '' I suspect that is a little subterfuge, and that 3'ou are conscious the )right reason was uppermost. Mrs. Pemberton is a xconian of the ivorld ; she ad n"! its ac- quaintances very promiscuously, in jiopes of establishing her daughters. She is flir from correct, either in manners or conduct : there may be no essential harm A WINTER IN BATH. lOfi in her, what generally goes under that dc- 3ignation; but I do not approve those characters for the companions of youtli, who arc continually overleaping the rules of propriety, and if not entering the territories of vice, approaching its threshold too nearly.'* — " I never licard any harm of Mrs. Pemberton in my life," said Cecilia.—'' Look at her, and tell me, do you see any good in lier," asked Mr. Selwyn. — " She is very lively, and entertainino- and o-ood-huniourecL'' *' Jn what does her liveliness consist:'* asked the rector. " Is it tlie spontaneoTiS and natural effusion of an ur. adulte- rated heart; or, is it in laughing and quizzing^ as it is termed, every he or she who falls under lier notice, with a defect of person, or aukwardness of manner? Entertainment of this ill-na- F 4 104 A ^vJ^TEJl in bath. tuied kind is a gratification dearly gained'--at the expeiice of feeling and humanity ; and as to her good hu- mour — to Mibs Oakley, Mrs. Pember- ton Dial/ be good humoured, it is her interest to be so ; but is this equani- mity ;ind aftabillty ox temper carried wltli her amongst her servants, lier daughters, those whom she esteems lier inferiors, or those she n^ay have under her controul?*' — '' Dear Sir! you arc go-- ing quite beyond me now. Plow is it possible that I ean see her where I am not? unless, indeed, you consider me endued with the properties of the invi- sible lady, about whom the world makes so much noise — really now, it is not w.y province to see further " — ^^Than you like," interrupted Mr. Selwyn, with quickness. — ^^ And would yoUj my good and cbaj'itable Sir, adviseyour Cecilia,with A WINTER IN BATH. 105 severe scrutiny to find out all tlie dark shades in the characters of her acquaint- ance ? What a horrid ! what a fearful study r' raising her hands with affected disgust. — '' Not so," said Mr. Selwyn, ** you hioiv not so, but you affect to mis- understand me ; and yet you have in general a facile comprehension, quick enouq-h to discover a hidden meanino\ j\Iine is not obscure — I neither deal in enigmas nor in riddles." — '• O pardon me there! you'are talking of o/^e female to another, and all women are riddles" " What, you allow yourself incompre- hensible, though you are not invisible^" said Mrs. Selwyn. — '^ I allow myself every thing that is wrong, with tlie warmest wishes towards every tiling that; is rio7i^," said Cecilia. Mr. Selwyn look her hand and pressed it. f5 |06 A WIXTIR IX BATH. ** But how can I be good," said Miss Oakley, with a iialf natural, half afi'ectetl manner,--"'* how can I be good, when even you spoil me, and when all the Morld beside are telling nie I am the most r harming, the divinest creature in ex- istence — how is it possible not to be- lieve th.cm — ■ — ?" — *' Especially," inter- rupted Mrs. Selwyn, ^* when you were previously disposed to be of their opi- iiion !" *' But,'' said Mr Selwyn, smih'ng at his wife's good-humoured sarcasm, *' have I iK)t frequently bid you beware, Ce* cilia, and proved to you that money, let your perfections and your merits be a million times beyond what I al- low them with all due deference to be, A WINTER IX BAT[T. 107 that money will still be your attraction M^ith tlie multitude; and when you con- sider this in your rciieccivc moments- (for I presume you still have a few of tliese) will not your self-love be pre- vented from rising to an inordinate height?" **Ah!" said Cecilia, "these retleet- ive moments are dang-erous period;^. Now, for instance, when I i\-tiirncd from tlie Arlingliam assembly, Mhere I had appeared the idol — the divinity - — and h:id almost imagined myself a goddess, because I was addressed and looked at as one, — I say \a hen I re- turned fatigued and jaded — when I sat at my toilette, and saw my eyes red as ferrets — mv hair hano:ingr like Sir Andrew Ague's cheeks in Shakspcare's- f6 108 A W I NT Ell IN BATH. Twelfth Night — my cheeks despoiled of their roses, I discarded my fine trap- pings — I looked at them with contempt- uous ahhorrence — I almost said to the diamond tiara which had adorned my hrow, ' It is you that are the object of ripturous admiration, not the wearer — you would be followed and courted — you would be complimented and idol- ized, placed on the head of idiotism, decrepitude, or insanity ! and in the first moment of my splenetic fatigue, I was tempted to have placed it on an automa- ton, to personate Miss Oakley the next time she appeared in public."--** Ce- cilia, I have great hopes of you yet," Said IMr. Selv/yn, with unusual warmth. ** Who did you dance with at Ar- lingham?" asked Mrs. Sehv^yn. Cecilia A WINTER IX BATH. 109 coloured. ^' Who did you dance with?" repeated tlie enquirer. !Miss Oakley played with the orange on her plate, and looked down as she answered, '' With Lord Maybury."— ^^ Who is this Lord Maybury?" said Mrs. Sel- wyn, applying to her Imsband, and not noticing the evident confusion of Miss Oakley. ^' I think I have frequently heard his name within the last six weeks. He is colonel of the regiment, and is quartered at Arlingham," an- swered Mr. Selwyn : *' I dined in com- pany with him one day at Mr. Dut- ton's." — '^ And what do you think of him?" asked Mrs. Selwyn. ^^ Oh ! it is unfair to ask ?}iy opinion — we must ap- ply here — to the physiognomist,' said her husband. '*w' no A WINTER IX BATIK Cecilia had recovered her presence of mind, and tranquillity of counte- nance ; " He is an excellent dancer, and a very agreeable man,"' said she; ^' he seems to have seen a great deal of the world — and Mrs. Pcmberton says -" She caught Mr. Selwyn's eye and stop- ped. *' What does iVIrs. Pemberton say?'* asked Mr. Selwyn, in a tone of good-humoured enquiry. — ** That he is generally allowed to be a perfect gen- tleman in his manner ."^ — ** A per- fect man of the zco7^h/, 1 believe he may be," said Mr. Selwyn, drily. — "Mrs. Pemberton is acquainted witli him, is she?" said Mrs. Selwyn. — "Oh yes! I I beheve they are connected, or re- lated, or something." answered Cecilia; " they are particularly intimate" — " What is he Irish too ?" asked Mrs. Selwyn, 5 A WIN'TER IN" BATH. Ill turning up her lip with rather a contempt- uous expression. — " I believe so," said Miss Oakley. — '* I am sure of it," said INIr. Selwyn; ^' the title you know is Irish, and though schooled in the language of the world, his lordship cannot divest his speech and accent of the peculiar brogue of his country." — ^' What a disagreeble brogue it is!"' said ^frs. Selwyn. — '^ My dear Madam, how can you think so! you would not say so again I am sure if you were to liear /' Cecilia stopped, and coloured ; she caught the eyes of Mr. Selwyn fixed on her with a peculiar sort of expression, which she v.'ell understood, and she was silent. ^* Well, my dear Madam," said she, after a minute's pause, assuming an air of sudden recollection, and turning to 112 A AVINTER IN BATIK Mrs. Selwyn, '* Oakley is just completed, and I have at length issued the cards for my ball. I woidd not send you any thing so ceremonious, and so I came myself to tell you, that it is fixed for the twelfth of next month." — '* Would not the first have done better?" asked Mr. Selwvn. *^ your rooms would not ha\'e been so crowded in that case, I think, because people would have been afraid that you meant to make y^o/^ of them, in honour of the day.'' — " You would not have come on either day -" said Ceciha, very good uaturedly, turning to hmi. — " No, my love, you know I would not ; a ball of the description which your's will be, is not at all consonant to my taste. Mrs. Selwyn will, I trust, be well enough to attend you, because I think you will want some assistance, and Mrs. Ilamble- A WIXTEll IN BATH. 113 ton does not enter much into the spirit of modern entertainments." — " No, she is more anxious about substance than spirit," said Cecilia, laughingly. *' I left lier this mornino- busily cno:aii:ed in over- looking the process of curing tongues and drying beef fur tlie occasion; you know slie thinks we ought to go the cheapest way to work, and while she is calculating how to save a penny in a pound, I give indiscriminate orders for what I think I may want." " No medium between you— but re- collect, extremes are dangerous, profu- sion is as blameable as parsimony."—*' Un- doubtedly," said Miss Oakley; "but who but ]\Irs. Hambleton could think of economizing, and saving half a farthing on such an occasion as this ? But I am 114 A WINTER IN BATH. engrossing all the conversation, and Miss Hartley will think nie the riukst being in tiie creation !' — '' Not al>soIutely that," said Adriana, smiling; "and really I have been so much alone of late, that it is quite gratifjing to me to hear the human voice/'-" Mrs. Selwyn, I shall ne- ver forgive you, if you do not bring Miss Hartley in your hand on the twelfth,"said Miss Oakley.—" This request must be made in^br^z to her, I know; a visit to the manor must precede it, Sec. &c — and all tliis shall be done : but 1 have already set n]y heart on seeing her, so, sans cere- monk, I mention my wishes.'' — " You forget," said Adriana, " my situation : the recent death of Mrs. Cosby, the — the— uncertainty ." She stopped, and added, " It will be quite ont of my power for me to wait on vou."- " No, no! A AV INTER IN BATH. 115 it will not ! it must not !*' said Cecilia, interrupting her with ([uickness : " plead for me, Airs. Selwyn ! plead, my good guardian !'' — '* We shall see what is to he done," said Mr. Selwyn ; ''it is a long tiir.e to the twelfth of April.''--" A very long time," said Cecilia, with a half sigh ; " hut it was impossible to prepare the house before. You have not been over since the painter came down, Sir: he has been six w^eksin tlie house, with his two attendants, and I assure you he has worked a metamorphosis in my mansion ; I will not call it Ovid's — for — I must not forestal myself.'* 116 A WINTER IN BATH. CHAP. VIII, IVjiR. Selwyn, as he had promised, es- corted Adriana home. As tliey pursued their walk, he conversed of Miss Oakley. *' Understanding your wishes from your looks,'' said he, '^ I have cautioned Ce- cilia not to mention her having met you at the rectory to day; for my Hvely ward A WINTER IX LATH. 11? having a general and indiscriminate ac- quaintance in the neighbourhood, the whole host would have besieged you, wTre they informed tliat you were visi- ble."' — '* How good, how considerate 1" said Adriana. Mr. Selwyn continued to speak — ''The father of Cecilia Oak- ley," said he, "was bred to trade, and carried on, for thirty years of his life, the business of a grocer in the bustling city of Bristol : he married at the age of for- ty a woman in his own sphere; and eight years since, he was called from weighing sugar and figs, to receive half a plum, and the estate of Oakley, whicli were be- queathed to him by the will of a penuri- ous old gentleman, to whom he was very distantly related. Mr. Oakley had but one child, a daughter; his Vvife had been dead some years, and he left Bristol, and 118 A WINTKR IN- BAill. all the noise and employment of his for- mer situation, to hecome an independent gentleman, and live in the country. He was a man of good principles, and had acquired the title of a fair trader. It is probable, that he never would have been a shining character, had he from his youth received the advantages of a li- beral education and cultivated society. Contracted in his notions, reserved and auk ward in his manners, and obstinately adhering to every prejudice which cus- tom and habit had impressed on his mind, he was not the character to sit down easy and independent in the country; neither was he the kind of man with whom country gentlemen, independent in principles, with a good many heredi- tary prejudices stamped on their minds also, could assodiate with pleasure. Poor A WINTER IN BATH. 1 !& Mr. Oakley soon found, that in toiling to get money, and in tlie full possession of it, there was a vast difference ; and that in his case, tlie advantaircs were all in favour of the former. Often he wish- ed himself standing again behind his counter, weighing sugar and figs, and up to the elbows in business, as he pass- ed a long wet day at Oakley, stirring the fire, looking out of the window, or in playing with the parrot, which had been transplanted with its master from the shop to the countr}^ *' Destitute of resources, with no taste for any intellectual or refined amuse- ment, with neither spirit nor courage to undertake those manly sports in which his neighbours indulged, perhaps a more pitiable situation could not be met with, 120 A WINTER IN BATH. perhaps a greater blank could not be drawn in the whole lottery of life, tliough, in the eyes of common observers, he had appeared to have drawn a. capital prize. " Cecilia Oakley was put to the best seminary for female education at Bristol. On the death of her mother, a widowed sister of her father, of the name of Ilam- bleton (who had married a manufacturer of muslins at Glasgow, and who losing her husband had been reduced to a state of indigence), had been sent for to super- intend the house of the grocer, and was afterwards removed to Oakley with the rest of the family. The rigid notions of economy and strict frugality had been impressed on the mind of Mrs. Hamble- ton, by situation and circumstances: the utmost meed of praise to which she had A WINTER IN BATH. 121 ever aspired, was the term ' good house- wife;* and in pickling, preserving, and recipes for cookery, I believe her equal is not to be found in all the country round. *' About two years since, Mr. Oakley rendered up his joyless existence: he con- stituted me the guardian of his daughter's fortune, till she attained the age of one and twenty. I have, as I have told you, just resigned my office. Mrs. Hamblc- ton, by Mr. Oakley's will, is to live with her niece till she marries, and then his orders are, that she is to be paid fifty pounds yearly for her life. You stare! and so did Cecilia, at the smallness of a bequest, the only deduction from a for^ tune of at least three thousand a year. — The generous heiress will, of course, make VOL. I. G i€*2 A \riNTfR IN BATH. a great addition to it ; but Mr. Oakley saw and knew the disposition of Ins sis- ter, and she will, * in niakinq; both ends meet,' and living on his bequest with the exactest frugahty, be more happy than Avith an addition to her income : but this I shall not say to Cecilia, whose liberal intentions in Mrs.Hambleton's favour, are what duty and principle authorize. You find I am very communicativ^e, but as you will probably see a good deal of Miss Oakley, I would wish you to receive a just impression of her character, and in consequence, make allowances for all that your discernment may discover blame- able in it." " Oh ! Sir," said Adriana, blushing, '* it is not for me to discover faults, I that am so weak, so erring — it is not for A WINTER IN BATH. 123 me ". — '' It is for no being on earth," said Mr. Selwyn, *' to discover them in- sidiously, to drag; them to the eye of day, in order to confuse, or overwhehn the unfortunate possessor; but where discri- mination and judgment exist in the hu- man mind, it must, it will see the fail- ino-s and the eccentricities of those with M'liom it associates ; and though a hu- mane and rehgious person will not pub- lish them to the world, yet they must be still apparent to him ; he cannot shut the eyes of his understanding, though he may generously affix the padlock of se- crecy on his lips." — But I Avill proceed in my little sketch of Cecilia. '* You may perceive, that from he parents slie inherited very fev/ advan- tages, but from nature she inherits a G t IC4 A WINTLH IX BATH. good disposition, great vivacity, and certainly an understanding rather above than below mediocrity; yet all these have been clouded and biassed by the love of money, Mistake me not, I do not mean that avaricious devotion to it, which is the received meaning of the term, though my ward's devotion to it is not to be doubt- ed." — '' I do not comprehend you, Sir!'-' said Adriana, looking for an explanation up to the face of the rector. — " I will explain myself," said he. ** Having told you the unwearied diligence with >vhich Mr. Oakley pursued the acquisition of riches, and informed you of t3ie chance by which he arrived at the possession of a iarge property, and all the goods, and all the luxuries which could be bouglit in this mortal life, you may easily s.uppos« that the imagination of a young girl was A WINTER IN BATH, t*J^ (kizzled by exterior trappings, and that tlie value oF golden ore, which couUt procure so many fine things, did not fail to strike her, "The seminary which had been t\s.cd on for her education, was a most impro- per one: in such a situation I would have placed the proud and poor daughter of some titled man, who had been tutored to look down with contempt on all the phlebeian orders of society, because the daughters of wealthy tradesnjen and merchants would have afforded such a girl a lesson, which might have improved her manners, if not her heart ; but for Cecilia Oakley, the intercourse with such girls was not to be wished : there her fortune was continually sounded in her ears; there her finery, her cloaths, her G 3 J 26 A WINTER IN BATH. trinkets, were daily admired ; and there she learned, that tlie applause and the ap- probation of the world cotdd easily be purchased at the expence of a little of that money, of which she should have so much. " Is it to be wondered then, that she neglected her studies, and sought not to improve her mind, when she found that she could bribe the world to say, that she was already arrived at the summit of perfection 1 and can 3'ou wonder if now, in the actual possession of an overflowing fortune, she runs into a thousand extra- f| vagancies, and fancies that she has a right to do what she pleases? Susceptible to the tongue of flattery, fond of admira- tion, and dazzled by the exterior, I trem- ble lest herself and her fortune should fall the prey of an uiiprincipleJ and artful libertine. ** At present, she confines herself at Oakley; if that can be called confine- ment, which admits of her scouring the country with four hurses, in every possi- ble direction, for above twenty miles round -, for her wealth and her good na- ture, (I might have put the latter word first, only that I know the world so well) make her welcomelv received wherever she appears. *^ As soon as I saw you, as soon as I witnessed the calm and collected manner in which you conducted yourself, as far removed from affectation on the one hand, as from levity on the other, I resolved to interest you for my ward, and, if possi- G 4 j 128 A A^-J^^TR I.V BATH. ble, to bring about a friendly intercourse between you : cliance has this day be- friended me; though being well aware of the aukwardness of your present situa- tion, and remarking that delicacy of feeling v/hich keeps you constantly alive to it, 1 hinted to Miss Oakley that she would oblige me in not mentioning her having seen you, and also, that at pre- sent it would perhaps be as well to see you only at the rectory." " You are very good, and very friend- ly. Sir," said Adriana, *' I cannot thank you as I ought : when my papa and mamma return, I hope, they ." She stopped, for she recollected that the feel- ings of her parents did not always seem in unison with her's — she sighed. The A WINTER IN BATH.. 1^ V rector responsively echoed her sigh, and being arrived at the door of the manor, he pressed her hand, and wishing her a good night, left hen G 3 130 A WINTER IN BATH. CHAP. IX. JJuRiNG the succeeding month, the time of our heroine v/as passed in pur- suing her amusements and studies at the manor, and in frequent visits at the rectory. The society of Mr. and Mrs. Selwyn became daily more pleas- ing to hej^ Instruction and cheerful- ness were always to be found with them ; A WINTER IN BATH. 131 and, on the part of this worthy couple, she was beheld at every succeeding interview with added interest. The lively Cecilia, when she had no better engagement, (or rather, when slie had no other means of killing time) formed one of the groupc, and her gaiety and rattle varied the scene amusingly to Adriana, wlio was not naturally formed for " melancholy musings.'* At length the anticipated, though yet dreaded intelligence arrived, — the war with France had again broken out. The English in that country w^re detained as prisoners: and Adriana suffered un- der acute misery for several days, at the idea of a long protracted separation from her parents ; a separation un- broken by the consoling circumstance g6 13^2 A WINTER IX BiVTH. of a letter, or a single syllable of in- formation concerning them. Tlie fear of cruelties, of hardships, vhich they might be doomed to un- dergo in a foreign land, and in the power of a vaunting and stern oppress- or, affixed a sharp sting in her heart; and all the reasonings and kind con- solations of ^Ir. and Mrs. Sclwyn, were required to bring her to any sort of composure. These excellent friends were not back- ward in administering comfort, and the grateful Adriana soon loved them with an affection which might almost be de- nominated filial. Martha was doubly attentive and watchful on this addi- tion of anxiety to her young lady; A WINTER IN BATH. 133 and Ezekiel, lifting up his hands and eyes, and showing notliing but the whites of the latter, frequently declared that France was the land of abominations, and that he had heard it proved that Apollyon was there loosed from the bottomless pit, and that he had only changed his name to Napoleon ! A good constitution, and a natural elasticity of mind, enabled our heroine gradually to lift up her head ; and feeling that neither her walks, nor the beauties of nature, had the power wholly to divert, she endeavoured, by making herself useful, to derive a stronger in- terest in existence; and by visiting the poor cottagers, the objects of her late grandmother's bounty, by enquiring into their domestic concerns, and as- 134 A WI^'TER IN BATH. sisting them in making raiment for their children, she felt the conscious satisfaction of her usefulness in so- ciety. Scrupulously economical with re- gard to her own dress, she had money enough in her purse, hy which she could be serviceable in a hundred lit- tle ways to those around her. In cau- dles, in broths, and diet drinks, old Martha excelled all the neighbourhood, (for Mrs. Hambleton, though a com- plete housewife, confined her culinary art to her niece's mansion, and did not let her poorer neighbours reap the be- nefit of her skill), and in Adriana's be- nevolent zeal for the invalid villagers, she went hand in hand, and was de- lighted when her young mistress stood > A WINTER IN BATH. 135 at her side in the house-keeper's room, overlooking the progress of the ''kitchen physic," as she termed it. TIis supplies of the table were fur- nished by the house-stevv^ard, who had lived in that capacity with IMrs. Cos- by's father. No retrenchments or re- gulations had taken place at her death, every thing had gone on as usual ; and a large farm being in hand, of which tins man, Mr. Wellclose, had the manage- ment, he contrived (not like modern agriculturists and speculatists, but like an old practical farmer, who had the interest of his employers at heart,) to supply the table, and almost to main- tain the house with the profits, and on the produce of it. 136 A WINTER IN Bath. Wellclose had frequently offered Adriana money, but she had no occa- sion for it. Her mourning habili- ments offered no excuse for her in- dulging in the vanity of dress, had she been so inclined. An old harpsichord which had belonged to her mother, was brought down from the large him- ber-room, to which for years it liad been consigned ; and being cleaned, and new stringed, was capable of as- sisting her practice. The library liad been ransacked, and she liad found in it a number of our best historians, poets, and divines; her favourites in each of these had been brought, with the harp- sichord and her drawing implements, into the small oak parlour; which hav- ing a sash ^vindpw that opened into A WINTER IN BATH. 137 :i flower-garden, and being near the Ijousekeeper's room, she had fixed on as her sitthig-apartment, and wliich now began to wear tlie appearance of a re- i>idence» •* A comfortable residence !" would Adriana frequently whisper, as slie sat at her avocations. ** Ah ! how vlo I know that my dear parents are so well off? Ah! what would I not give to see them at tliis moment sitting on either side of me r'^ It w^as generally useless after this re- flection to attempt to draw, to work, or to })lay any more ; a walk to her favourite solitary cliff would not do ^fter such a soliloquy; only a visit to 138 A WINTtR IX BATH. tlie rectory, or an errand of mercy to some sick tenant of a cottage, Mrs. Selwyn very much wished to be accompanied by Adriana to Oakley, on the night of the heiress's grand ball and supper. Adriana, at first, strenu- ously refused; but all her objections were overruled as speedily as made, by her friend. " I own," said Adriana, blushingly, " that a ball is not with- out its attractions to me." — '' At your age, I should wonder if it should," said Mr. Sehvyn, good -humoured ly. " The 7nerrx) dance I dearly love,'' con- tinued Adriana, " but a light step, and a heavy heart, aie as music without harmony. — And when I think of those who are at this moment prisoners in '' ** You must not think of them, my dear Miss Hartley; and if your parents should A WINTER IN BATH. 139 citlicr of them be at Verdun, where I have hitely read most of the prison- ers of consequence have been sent, tliey liavetheu* balls too; for I yesterday saw in the Star, an account of a very splen- did one given by Mrs. to the Eng- lish detained with lier at that place." *' Can prisoners in a foreign country have the heart to dance?" — *'Why not?" asked Mr. Selwyn : *' tliey imbibe, per- haps, the manners, while they inhale the atmosphere of that * gay sprightly land of mirth and social ease.' The English who are detained, not as pri- soners, not as captives^ we may say, are merely detained for a time, and are suffered to frisk about, and to spend their money on their parole of honour. — Remember, they went over to behold 140 A WINTER IN BATH. the splendour of mocleni France, and to sliare in its amusements; and if they are detained a little longer than they wish, that is a double reason why they should amuse themselves a little lono^er." '' Ah, Sir ! aithougli you talk thus, I know that you are talking sarcastically, and that 7/cti think the English should not have gone over so rapidly to that land, where they are compelled to stay." — '* I really do think," answered Mr. S^l- wyn, ** that most of those who are de- tained are well served for their pains ; and that in the records of the English liistory, it will he an eternal stain on the sterling character of our nation ; and exhibit it in a most ridiculous poiat of view, (to say no worse of ii) when it is seen, that a hasty peace was no sooner concluded, than, from the high- A WINTER Ij; BATH. 141 est to the lowest, tlie British nation was on the mov€ ; and the strand of Dover was covered with the shoals which passed over daily, under the shallow pretext of curiosity, to view those monuments of genius, and those spoils of art, wiiich have heen dragged from the scenes of their primeval splen- dour, to gratify the overweening ambition and pride of a self-constituted tyrant. — But the real motive, perhaps, has been, to witness, and to share in spectacles and feasts of voluptuous intemperance, which Rome, even in her fall, wauld have fol'ushed to have thought of" Mr. Selwyn paused.— His wife again reverted to the ball, and Adriana in- genuously confessed, that great part of her unwillingness to go, proceeded from 14S A nXTtR IN BATH. the idea of appearing before the assem- bled ueiglibourhood as ]\Iiss Hartley, ** and of course," added she, ** as such, an object of curiosity. — ]\Irs Cosby *s death on the night of my arrival at tlie ir.anor, — my parents so suddenly leav- ing England — the cause unexplained — these circumstances Avill draw on me the eye of enquiry, and — I feel, my dear Madam, that I am not equal to it ; for, unused to the world, and living so much alone as I have of late, and having felt so much anxiety — I believe I am grown quite nervous," continued she, sighing, ** for I shrink at the xery idea!" — *^ We are prepared for this, also," said Mrs. Selwyn, smiling triumphantly. Cecilia has never mentioned her know- ledge of you: many strangers will ap^ pear at Oakley— I shall introduce Mk,^ A WIXTFR IN BATH. 143 Adrian as a friend of mine." — '^ And docs ]\Ir. Selwyn approve tliis deception?" asked Adriana doubtingly, yet expect- ingly looking up for his answer. *^ I can' scarcely call this a deception, my dear," said he, " as Cecilia knows yoii for what you are. — May none of her guests on that evening wear a more questionable appearance !" — ** Amen !" said Mrs. Selwyn : ''and so, Miss Adrian, we have now fixed our plan, and I hope we shall meet on Tuesday to execute it," added Mrs. Selwyn, shaking the hand of Adriana as she quitted her. 14i A WINTJ.^ IN BATH. CHAP. X. xxs had been previously agreed, Ad li- ana walked over to the rectory. As she left the manor, Martha followed her to the door to wish her much plea- sure ; and as Ezekiel held it in his hand to let her out, he said, ** It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting."—" Sometimes," A WINTER IN BATH". t45 replied Adriana, who felt her spirits light ; ^* but recollect, good Ezekiel, that tlie same wise man has said, ' There is a time for all things." Ezekiel bowed so- lemnly, but said no more ; and our he- roine tripped to the rectory. The business of the toilette was soon adjusted. The auburn tresses of Adri- ana were tastefully bound round her head, and fastened on the croMu with a plain comb of tortoise-shell ; a black robe set off the brilliant hue of her complexion, and she stood an illustra- trationof the beautiful, but hackneyeci lines of Thomson — " Loveliness needs not the foreign aiil of ornament, *' But is, when unadorn'd, adorn'd the most," VOL. I. H 146 A WINTER IN BATH. The matron graces of Mrs, Selwyn were veiled in the garb of modesty. A turban of fine muslin was folded round her head, a dove-coloured sarcenet robe enveloped her person. She knew her situation in life, and it was her ambition to keep in it. No pearls or diamonds, no beads or bugles were requisite in her decorations — no bare hack, ov fronts or arms were suffered to exhibit themselves ; but the delicate reserve and propriety of her manners, Avere in unison with the chaste simplicity of her dress. Thus arrayed, a chaise conveyed our two ladies to Oakley : they went at an early hour in the evening, in order to precede the rest of the company. Every order of architecture had been blended and violated in the structure A WINTER rX BATH. U? and the alterations which this mansion had undergone from time to time. The heiress had not attempted a radical al- teration, she liad only heen beautifying. The hall, formerly of black oak — in her father's time, yellow stuccoed, and or- namented with prints of the principal mercantile cities in Europe — had 7ww been papered, and painted in panels, in pillars, and entablatures, in imitation of every sort of marble : a painted floor- cloth A VEgyptienuc, Three brazen sphinxes' heads protruded from the centre of the ceiling ; each ** grinned horribly a ghastly smile," for the purpose of letting three rings issue from their respective mouths, -svhich three rings were again encircled by a bronze ring of immense size, which H Q 148 A WIXIKR IV BATH. supported a beautifully cut glass lamp, costume a l^Egyptieufie, m hich a coun- try-bred lackey, mounted on a high flight of steps, was vainly endeavour- ino- to Ho'ht as our ladies entered the liouse. A wide and spacious stair-case, illu- minated on each side by coloured lamps, the windows filled with transparencies, representing *' The Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland by moonlight," led to the drawing- room, (for this night the ball-room ) The Graces were painted on the ceiling — the ]\Iuses were in niches round the room : the spaces between these plaintive and sprightly lasses were filled with vases' of flowers, orange-trees, and variegated lamps. Tripods were placed in the -corners of the room, sup- 1 A WINTER IN BATH. 149 porting Etruscan urns, formed of Der- byshire petrifactions, hollowed, and 11- ;' lumined by wax tapers from v/ithin. Cupid lay in ambush on the floor, en- circled by wreaths of roses and araman- thinc bowers. The artist had exerted his skill in chalkhig out the sportive deity ; and *' the light fantastic toe'' would probably obliterate all vestiges of Ills godship before morning. Otto- man couclies of rose-coloured Persian, trimmed with silver fringe, and supported by bronze serpents, were placed round the room instead of chairs. The win- dows were decorated with the same ma- terials, and tlie light and elegant taste with which the drapery was folded, gave evidence that the hand of the moderns had been engaged, and blended i.30 A WIKTEJI INT liATH. with an imitation of the works of the ancients. A superb mirror at tlie top and the bottom of the room, reflected the prismatic hues of the many coloured lamps, and the crystal brightness of the lustres ^vhich supported the Avax lights*. ■^ Tlie authoress is aware that she has forestalled lashion in her description of Ou/ilei/, according to tlic period in which she has laid her history. But ?he hkewise '\% fully aware, that no description can interest n modern reader, unless it be accord in j^ to the mode. Yet how dilficult is it to " catch the rainbow eVe it fall." For before this work is printed, in all probability, Egypt may have yielded to Tar- tart/, and the costutne of the hordes may be adopted by all our belles ; so that it may become more com- mon thap heretofore, for a gentleman " to cati^k tt Tartar** in the companion he has chosen fur life. A bad pun is a bad thing,---of else we should say, lucky if the lady docs not prove herself from tlic couiiLi'.y of Crim Tartary ! A WrVTEll IN BATH. fcrl Dazzled for a nioiiient by. tlie scene of pageantry before her, Adrian a threw her eyes hastily round her; but from inanimate, they soon fixed on an ani- mated object, as a short thicl: person- age made her appearance, to whom she was immediately introduced by Mrs, Sehvyn as Aliss Adrian, and whom she found to be the aunt of Miss Oakley. ^frs. IlambTcton had a good set of fat course features, enlivened by a pair of acute black eyes, and a settled red in her cheeks. Her hair was drawn up over a high cushion, and so tightly was it kept in this position, that tlie skin of her broad and wide expanse of forehead was absolutely raised frotn its place ; but hmg established usage had so loosened it, that the old lady did 11 4 15j^ A WINTER IN BATH. not feel any thing unpleasant attend- ing it. A very small cap, placed at the back of the head, composed of fi- gured gauze, and trimmed with blond lace, and surrounded by a wide pulling of cherry-coloured riband, completed the liead-dress. A large row of blue beads enveloped her throat. Her gown was a yellow silk damask, cut of a walking length, and spread over a pockct-lioop. Stay-hooks of embossed silver, were placed at the bottom of her long waist, and sustained, (or were to sustain) hermushn apron, which, folded* up» IMrs. Hambleton held in her hand as siic en- tered the room, having pinned a Scotch plaid pocket-handkerchief before her stomacher, to keep herself clean till the company arrived. Gauze ruffles s'nioudcd her elbows, which had never A WINTER ly BATH. 153 seen t]ie eye of day. Tlie high French heels of her shoes (brocaded witli silk and gold) were to be conspicuously observed from under her gown behind, while her stone buckles sparkled in the front of her foot. " How d'ye do, Mrs. Selwyn ? How d'ye do, JNliss ? — I am very liappy to sec you, and take it very kind that you are come so early. Cicey is not dresfe yet. Excuse my carrying my apron in my hand, but I think 'tis a pity to rumple it before the company begins to come in. Law bless us ! what a room here is ! I don't know what this world will come to — not I — who should think of having snakeSj and xipers^ and long cripples, and dark lamps- in drawing rooms !— and this naked blind boy too h5 154 A WINTER rX BATH. on the floor ! — but Cicey Mill have it all her own way, and calls him cubit. ** Afiss Oakley likes to modernize a little, and to do things dashingly, to as- tonish lier country neighbours. — What shall we say? — that she can afford it, iind that she will never be younger?'' ** Wjiy tliat's true enough, Mrs. Sel- wyn," said Mrs. Hambleton, *' for yoa may be sure this ball is all her doing— srhe did not ask my leave." — " She took if," said Mrs. Selwyn, smiling. — " Yes, Ma'am, but if she had iouk my advice, it would have been better. Here she has had painters and people down from Lomlon, weeks and weeks, and I could not, for the life of me, persuade her to make them take her work by the job. .^Ko, no, to be sure, she must have A WIXTER IN' BATH. 155 it her own way : and here they've been in the house, eating, and (hinking, and sleeping, and costing Cicey more than tlieir heads are worth, 'lis throwing money away, Mrs. Selwyn.— Why there arc them pictures up there— sec them at the top," looking towards the jMuses, " one, two, three — yes, you see, ouly nine of 'em — I wanted tlie man to make out the dozeK when Cicey paid his bill, and to throw in the oti^er tliree over and above, but Cicey was cpiite a^igry,. and the impudent imposing fellovir laughed outriglit in my face; but I'll be judged by any body, if twelve does not seem a more regular set; and there wouldn't have been all them baskets of flowers been wanting then neither. — I have been bustling about all day, Mrs. Seiwyn, till. Tm quite tir'd- but H 6 J 60 A ^'INTER IN BATH,. law bless us ! wlicre's the use of my try- ing to sarve, when others thuik of no- tliing else but squanderation !" " You had better sit down now, Ma'am, and rest yourself." — " Oh bless us, I can't stay one minute— I hav'nt taken out the wine— and I know better, Mrs. Selwyn, than to trust the key of Cicey's wine- cellar with any butler, especially at such a time as this; for there'll be junketting in kitchen as well as parlour such a night as this, I'll warrant : for," turning again towards Mrs. Selwyn, and lowering her voice, " a couple of fiddles would'nt satisfy Miss Cicey, for- sooth, but she must have tamborines, and flutes, and a whole baud of music; and the muscianer^s they will be here all night.— But, Mrs,. Selwyn, remembcF, A WINTER IN BATH. 157 you must help Cicey to receive the company— here'U be I don't know who, for I don't know none of 'em, except one or two, and I shall have enough to do in seeing that the house is not set on fire — and ten chances to one that it is'nt. Oh !" hfting up her hands and eyes, "if poor dear brother could have lived to see. this day 1— But hush ! hush I for here's Cicey a-coming." Miss Oakley tripped gaily into the room, singing, "'Flyaway, time!'' She advanced towards jNIi^. Selwyn and Adriana, and seizing a hand of each, expressed her pleasure at seeing theiiu " You have remembered my request, and I am extremely obliged to you, deadest Madam," said she, **for appear- 15B A WINTER IX BATH. ing so early, to help me to courtesj to and smile as the company make their entree r — 'And do you rcmeniber77z/;?e,'* said Mrs. Sehvyn, ^* and that this lady is to be Miss Adrian for the night."—" O yes ! I Avill recollect ir all but let mc see — AV'hat a pity that here are no glass slippers for our Cinderella ; for of course some g7^eat tiobteman will fall despa^ately in love with her, and unless she drops her glass slipper, he can liave no clue by which to find his fair incognito. You remember, Miss Adrian, the love- lorn swain ought to be a prince, but as we shall have none of that iiigh rank, we must be content with a "—-"Prin- cess," interrupted Adriana, " who reigns supreme in this enchanted palace V ''Very prettily said/' returned Miss Oakley, casting a look of triumphant AVINTEII IN' BATTI. lS§ pleasure rounrl her Illuminated apart- ment. " But, now say the truth, and do not flatter — do you approve my de- corations ?" — ** It is impossible not to be charmed with them,'' answered Adri- ana — ** Well I am willing to believe you — I have spared no expence to gra- tify my whims." — ''So I perceive," said Mrs. Selwyn, looking archly at the speaker, "and so i\Irs. Hambleton will tell you. Madam." — " I dare say," said Miss Oakley. " But what is the use of mo- ney, unless one can enjoy it, and lay it out as one likes?" — " Certainly of no use ; but there are different methods of enjoyment, and different methods of laying it out," returned Mrs. Selwyn. ** Thank you, Madam, for the quota- tation — a leaf out of my good guardy's last most excellent sermon on charity, 160 A WINTER IN BATH. preached for the benefit of Sunday schools!'' — '' I am glad you remember it," said Mrs. Selwyn, answering her in the same good-humoured tone of raiU lery. A WINTER IN BATH. l6l CHAP. XI. JjEFORE nine, the ball-room was well croLided with company, all strangers to our heroine. The various dresses and the different countenances en- grossed her attention. She was not particularly introduced to any one, and tl)ough Mrs. Selwyn contrived that she sliould not be neglected, and her fair hostess was very attentive, and had al- ways an agreeable nothing to say when $he came near her, yet she had ample G2 A WINTER IN BATH. room for indulging her reflections, and making her private remarks on the com- pany as they were assembling. Mrs* Pemberton and her two daughters en- tered with Lord Maybury; Adriana re- membered the names of this group, and her curiosity was raised as she heard tliera announced. Mrs. Pemberton was a fine showy woman ; her manners were boldly fasliionable: she advanced to Miss Oakley, and with an air and in a tone of affectionate familiarity, seized both her liands, saying, *^ Aly dear creature, such an Elysium as you have transported us to, I never yet beheld ! See, see ! my Lord, did you ever behold any thing so beautiful as the coup-d'ccil of this room ! I am quite enchanted ! what taste, what elegance are here displayed !'* This ra- pid effusion of approbation was addressed A WINTER IN BATH. 163 to Lord May bury, but in tended for Miss Oakley. ^^ Ah !" said Lord ^Liybury, shaking his head, '' what does it ail prove, Mrs. Pemberton, but that this enchantress, this Arniida defies all mortal power ! She exalts the Graces and the Muses," turning his eyes upwards, ** while the poor blind urchin is trampled under foot : and is it thus,"* said he, in a lower tone of voice, '* that you mean to treat all those who feel and own his power ?" — '^ Should I not treat them as they deserve ?" asked Cecilia. — ** And is it then a fault to feel the power of love?" asked Lord May- bury : ** who then in this magic circle can escape? — For myself, I plead guilty !'* bowing his head, and laying his hand upon his heart. — '* And I condemn you 164 A WINTER IN BATH. without judge or jury," said Cecilia. '^ Vou he my jucIgCj I ask no jury," said his lordship, '' for sure mercy dwells in tliat bosom/' Lord Maybury's voice sunk yet lower as he concluded this sen-^ tence. Cecilia tried to laugh as she turned away towards the Miss Pember- tons, but Adriana saw the colour mount into her cheeks, and suffuse her neck and face. The Penibertons were tall girls, who had called forth all their charms for this evening's display, and who, trained under the auspices of their mother, had stepped into the world armed with ^' many a wanton beck, and wreathed smile," aim* ed at the hearts and the purses of every male in the room. Mrs. Pemherton en- tered into conversation with Mrs. Selwyn, A WINTER IN BATH. l65 and broke out into an animated eulogium on Miss Oakley. *' Such a lovely crea- ture," said she, *' and such bewitching manners, I never met with before; my girls are quite enchanted with her 1" '' INliss Oakley is very charming," echoed each of the young ladies, smihng, and displaying their teeth. *^ Miss Oakley opens the ball herself, of course r" said Rlrs. Pemberton. — '^ Yes, I fancy she does," replied IVlrs. Selwyn. — " Are you engaged, Maria? are you engaged, Hen- rietta ?*' asked Mrs. Pemberton, touch- her daughters' elbows as au elegant young man was passing. ** No, mamma!'' — **No, mamma!" Mrs. Pemberton added, in a louder key, "Yes, the partners are to be changed every two dances 1" — It would not do ; the young 166 A WINTER IN BATH. man passed the trio witli a sliglit bow. " I don't know what can ail him to- night," said i\Irs. Pemberton, while ^la- ria played with lier fan, and Henrietta, looking down, picked a rose, which had been stuck in her bosom, to pieces. Again I\lrs. Pemberton began to expa- tiate to Mrs. Selwyn on the agreeable qualities of ]\Iiss Oakley ; again she touched her daughters, wlio raised their heads, and simpered and smiled, as a red coat, of no mean appearance, was com- ing towards them; but he merely noticed them e?i passant, *' I don't know what is the matter with the men to-night— you neither of you take, ]\Iaria or Henrietta — you really don't take to-night, and yet you both look very well too; but do, Maria, pull that curl a little more over A WINTER IN BATH. 1^7 your left eye, to give you that roguish lookwhicli May bury so much admires, — there, tliat's it." i\Irs. liambieton at that moment accosted ^Irs. Pembertou, who knowing her relationship to ^liss Oakley, thought it incumbent to bestow on her very particular attention. " A delightful room this, Ma'am, and most exquisitely fitted up.*' — '' Yes," answered the old lady, '' I believe it may, but it has been a long time pre- paring, and pains, and trouble, and mo- ney it has cost.' — *^ To be sure, no doubt of it," said ^Irs. Pemberton; " but M here taste and judgment " — *' Oh ! Ma'am, I know nothing of taste, and as to judgment, mine was seldom called upon ; I try to set things a little in order, and a little after tlie rate, and so on Oh! 168 A WIXTER IN BATH. bless US all, if there an't a thief in that candle over there, in one of them glass candlesticks : I told George to bring snuffers, but the deuce a one do I see all round the room ! Now, Mrs. Selwyn,'* turn ing towards that lady, in a loud whisper, '* now, I persuaded Cicey to put moulds in them there glass ones at the top — now would it ever have been seen ? — but she would nt hear me." '^Tallow candles arc seldom used in such a room as this, I should think,'* said Mrs. Selwyn. — ^' Twould never have been found out, of that I am very sure,'' said Mrs. Hambleton: this was spoken frumpishly. — *' Not till to-morrow morn- ing, perhaps, when these elegant Persian covers might have betrayed evident marks of contiguous tallow," said Mrs. Selwyn. A WINTER IN BATH. 1^9 '* Elegant Persian 1" repeated Mrs. Ham^ bleton, contemptuously: ^'ifCiceyha^ had brocade, I would have said some- tiling to it, for then there might have been a chance of its lasting o??e seven years : but now thiui's an't made to last as they did formerly. Look ye !)cre, Mrs. Selwyn, this damask on my back has been in wear for iiveand forty years ; but things are made so bad now, the very- richest silks as are wove have no stiffen- ing in *em, nor make no rustling. C'iccy laughs ai me when I talk of brocades— well, well, say nothing about it, for here she's a-comiuiij !' and off the old kulv tripped, to jniml the candles^ as she said. The band hud struck up their notes of lively music ; the heart of Adriana bourid- VOL. I. 1 I/O A MISTER IX BATIf. C(l responsively ; the scene before her could not fail of pleasmg her3'oung and innocent fancy. She had never beheld any thing like it, nor ever been at a ball, except at the annual exhibition of Mrs. Villers's pupils. **This 2:entleman is desirous of obtainTuii: the honour of your fair hand for the en- SAiing- two dances," -said Miss Oakley, addressing Adriana, and leading towards her a man of graceful figure and agree- able countenance, who seemed to have passed the very heyday of youth; he was announced to her as Mr. Falkland, she to him as Miss Adrian. Adriana blushingly, yet not confused, received this introduction, and suffered herself to be led off to join the merry group. Mrs. Pemberton'smilcd, yet hither lip, as she A WlXTEll IM BATH. 171 witnessed this i n trod uc lion, evidently mortified that it had nor been made to one of her own daughters ; hut as the couple walked away, she said to Mrs. Selwyn, '' Don't you think it is vastly vidiculous to see such a disparity as that : I should think it is time for old I'alklaiid to leave off dancini;*, and to let your awiiahle young friend have the eliance of getting a partner more capable of eh, tcrtaining licr; to be sure such an Ask- AVednesday face as Falkland carries about .witli liim, is not very suitable to a scene hke this !'' ^' I doubt if there be a man- in the whole room more likely to entertain my friend, than ^Ir. Falkland/' said Mi's. Schvyn ; ** his conversation, when he is inspirits, is particularly pleasant, and of 12 172 A WINTER IN BATH. course, it is likely that he would con- vene his whole stock to carry him throu«^h this evening : few people have such a lively fund of thought, or a more happy method of expressing it." — '* Is he not thought very satirical ?" asked ]\Iaria Pjemherton — *' O yes ! I am afraid of my life of him," answered her sister — " I was quite dehghted that he did not ask me to dance." — '^ Oh lud! and so was I !" rejoined her sister. ** As to satire, I hardly know how to answer that,' said Mrs. Selwyn, not ap- pearing to notice what was last said by :he young ladies ; *' he has a reflective turn of mind, and great penetration: ex- empt from the little follies of a trifling world himself, it is hard to witness them in silence : his severity is the voice *of I A WINTEU IS BATH. 17? truth ; censure must be merited ere lie adopts its language !*' — ** You arc inti- mate with him ?" asked Mrs. Pembcrton. '*Mr. Selw}^! has tliat lionour. After sc- - questering himself at tlie Hill for two months at a time, even our rectory has the ajipearance of bustle to Mr. Falkland; and therefore, I say that Mr. Selwyn has that honour, for he does not come to us as frequently as we could wish. But tljcre is nothing misanthropic in his disposition or manners ; he has great sensibility, and has had it tried, I believe, in his journey tlirough life; but so much do I honour and respect him, that I am quite de- lighted when I see him in company, and T. entering with spirit, and partaking with hilarity, the amusements of yonng people : and 1 hope he will continue to dance for twenty years, for I am sure a more in- 1 3 174 A WINTER IN BATH. noccnt licart coiiK^s not into tlie mcny group;' *' Twenty years ! bless ye, Mrs. Sel- wyn, wliy, I believe, be is fifty now 1'' said Maria Peniberton. — '' Wby not frisk beneath the burden oi* fourscore ?" asked, lier sister, looking round to see if any one remarked her a-propos quotation." *' I think Mr. Falkland may have nearly reached forty," said Mis. Selwyn, after pausing a moment. A young ensign nou^ making grimaces before the Pembertons, the eldest Miss walked away with him to the set ; and the son of a country squire coming up to Henrietta, she also was engaged, over- looking the rusticity of his manner, and his tall aukward gait, when sli€ recollect- A WINTEK IX BATH. IJS ed tliat he Mas undoubted heir to five or six thousand a \'car. Some young ladies educated in the beau mondc, would have i)een at a loss to liave understood the address of this country boor. »/ ^^ Well, Miss Hemiy, how dye do? how d ye do? Are you for this shaking bout ? if you be, I'll stretch a leg with you/» *' Oh, yes ! Henrietta will dance with you, Mr. Dawson," said the mother.- - ** With great pleasure, Sir," said the daughter. Mrs. Selwyn had gone to ano- ther part of the room, to pay attention to the lookers-on, as Miss Oakley was arrano'ina: the order of the dance. 14 176' A WI.VTtK IN BA'Hf, CHAP. Xll i HE heiress began tlie dance — she called, ''Off she goes!" and opened tlie ball with great spirit, her partner Lord Maybury. Adriana stood near her. She had been led towards the top by Mr. Falkland. Adriana, with great modesty, liad desired to go far- ther down, but Falkland said he acted by the authority of the mistress of the mansion, whose laws were that night A n'INTKR IN BATH* 177 to be obeyed implicitly. '* Had senior- ity taken the lead," said be, *' / should iTiost assuredly have opened the ball to night, but fortunately I was not placecUn so very conspicuous a situation ; as it is, I draw the eyes of lialf the room upon me, Avho are laughing at such an old fellow attempting to dance, and are envying him his partner at the same moment/" — " Are you old : I did not ^hink you were old,'' said Adriana, un- consciously putting her tlioughts into >» ords, and looking at Mr. Falkland with the utmost naiveii of manner ; but recollecting that what she had said must liave appeared rather singular, and seeing that lie looked at lier with a degree of curiosity, she hastily dropped her eyes, and said confusedly, '* That is — I did not knoM'— I did lio: thlnk—*^" i5 J 78 A WINTER IN BATH. *' You arc right," said Falkland laugh-- ing; "you did not think about me — vhich proves, perhap«, exactly that ^vhich you were trying to disprove. — Now Lord May bury for instance — Mljat do you think of liim? — Is he young or old?" This was asked with some archness. — *' Tliere is no occasion for 7fie to think of him," said Adriana humorously, " for he appears to think enough of himself — There is a young man ? said she, glancing at Dawson. *^ Va^il young, indeed," said Mr. Falkr Innd, "and if youth and folly are syno- n\ mous, not likely to grow older." — " 1'hat is indirectly saying, that wis- i\om and age are synonymous," said Adriana. — " I now prove the fallacy of tliis assertion, perhaps,'' said Falk- land, as they began the dance. A WlXTLli IN BATH. 179 Adrmni^ was, as Mrs. Selwyn had predicted, much pleased witli her part- ner. At the end of tlie two dances, he took a seat by her, and engaged lier in conversation. Slie felt herself per- fectly easy with him, and talked to him as freely as she would have done to Mr. Sehvyn ; though as the tone of her spirits was raised a little higher tlian usual by the associations of ideas which this brilliant assembly brought to her fancy, and the liveliness of Mr. Falkland was more playful than that of the rector, she perhaps conversed more, and with greater spirit, than she had ever done, and much more then she bad imagined she could have done, to an utter stranger. Mr. Falkland talked to her of Devon- I 6 180 A VINTER XS BATir> shire, ns if lie imaofined her whollv utt- acquainted with the country. He asked her no direct questions, yet Adriana perceived tliat lie wanted to be informed from what part of the world she came : she parried these inuendos, and care- lessly answered, that Mrs. Selwyn had introduced her to that iiiglit's gaiety. He hastily fixed his eyes on her counte- nance with anxious solicitude; he ru- minated for a few moments as if in deep meditation, a deep sigh issued from his bosom, atid seeing Lord Maybury ad- vancing, he rose, and walked to another part of the room. Lord Maybury asked Adrianas hand for the two following dances; she did Tuot refuse, though &he did not feel A \Vi:vT£R I>^ BATH." ISI pleased at the change. His lordship fixed his eytvs on licr tac^ \s ith an ex- pression, which tliough she did not iin* derstand, yet nuulc her feci ahashcd and timid. His conversation was gallant and polished, but she was not used to the kind of style which he adx^ptcd. Many of his i)hrascs, thougli perfectly the tJinifr, and the vcrv heii>-ht of fash- ion, were quite unintelligible to her; and slie who had lauglied, talked, and chatted with the most perfect nohcha- lance to Mr. Falkland, felt herself braced up into the very form of stiffness and constraint by his lordship: not a livelv sally issued from her lips; lie scarcely got any thing from her but monosylla- bles and negatives ; and after having rxtorted about a dozen of these, his lord- ship cou tented liimsclf with lounging ViC- 18Q A WIN^TER IN BATH. down tlie dance in an easy careless manner, wliicli he judged to be truly 7wble, Poor Dawson observed tliis. lie had been viewing him at a distance, and in silence, for some lime. He had marked the spirit with which he had gone down the dance with i\liss Oakley ; | and in humble conformity, he had gal- lopped about poor Henrietta Pemberton, ',i,nd pulled her arms till they were sore, and had given his neighboiirs many kicks in their shins : but now seeing the alteration in his lordship's move- ments, he broke out, '' Look, look, Miss Maria !" for the elder sister was his pre- sent partner, ^' we are all in the wrong again. The lord is as quiet now! — why you can hardly see him move about, and AWINTEH IN BATH. 183 just now he danced liked a lion rampant.'* '' It is not always the fashion to dance ones hest," said a young red-coat, who stood at his side. — ''Then I won't dance mine now," said Dawson. — '^ And did you before ?" asked the officer drily. *' To be sure I did/' said he, ** didn't you see me?" — *"' Now then be couchant, instead of rampant," said ^laria Pem- berton: " you see his lordship is tamed, and spare me, my dear Mr. Dawson!" ** Dear Mr. Br^iiin r said the military beau, turning again to his own partner^ Henrietta, *' for he sets oif exactly like a dancing bear." Dawson, in endea- vouring to lounge, waved his heavy body from side to side, and waved about, till making an unfortunate slip, he lost his equilibrium, and fell prostrate at the feet of his partner, iilling-up the va- 184 A MIMJ.R IN" DATIl, cancy between the couples which wct^ meant to exhibit liis dancing. At length (Iniwing up liis *' monstrous length/' Nvitli the assistance of tlie good-liii- inoured ensign (Cranfield), lie was again raised to liis situation; but tlie general laugh was lieiglitencd by his saying, *' Tve not only danceure." — *' No toil, believe we," said Mrs. Selwyn; *' for Cecilia, in tlie midst of tlie dance, and enjoying it as much as any of her company, has lier heart so fully engaged in the scenes be- fore her, tiiat her eyes are constantly on the watch, to see that lier guests are attended to, and she leaves me no- 188 A MIXTKR IS I;aT!{. tiling to do. — To be sure 1 was just now callcil into the card-room, to settle a diflerencc at a whist-table between two antiquated spinsters of tlic town of Arling- ham. I adjusted it with a most serious face, knowing that if 1 called Miss Oak- ley to hear the appeal, she would under- stand it as well as myself. My judg- ment or decision was not questioned of course, and I shall not a little surprise Mr. Sehvyn, when I get home, by tell- ing liimof my recently acquired know- edge of the * board of green cloth." *' To see Miss Oakley this nigv.t/* said Falkland, following the li\ely heir- ess round the room with his eyes, " must give all her friends pleasure; she enjoys an amusement of this kind with such a keen, such a speaking avidity, that she A WrXTER IN^ BATH. ISO communicates no small portion of her own feelings to her company. Happy, happy being!" said he, ** maycst thou long enjoy thy pleasures with the same zest that tliou dost at present ! — But, alas! " He stopped on perceiving that liis apostrophe was attended to by Adriana. Siie sighed involuntarily. **Miss Oakley is very engaging," said Adriana, — "don't you think so, Sir?" — ''I do think her so, indeed,'' said Falkland, " and I sliall be greatly interested for her future fate. She has beauty — she lias youth — she lias understand insr — slie has many amiable qualities; yet there is an alloy to them all : she has too much money!" — **Even gold has its alloy, you know," said Adriana, smil- ing. 4 IDO A WIXTLR IN BATH. ** How diflficult a study is the human mind!" continued Falkland; '* to know others is hard, to know one's self is yet harder. AVill Miss Oaklcv, intoxicated with the applause and the incense she this. evening receives — praised as the ar- bitress of taste — listened to as the irod- dess of wit — com))limcnted as the queen of beauty, will slie find time or iiichna- tion to fathom tlie niolives of this un- quahfied achdation? Is she not more likely to be infatuated by tlie delusive blandishments of pleasure, to be lulled to repose by its flattery, and to fancy herself all and every thing that she is told she is?" — *' She does not appear vain,'* said Adriana. — '* She may not appear so— but you must excuse the question from me, though you may think it severe. Are any of tlie sex A WINTER [X BATH. 19 1 without vanity? Perhaps I might go still further, and say, Is any human bcins: free from it? Look around this crouded room, and tell me, JMiss Adrian, does not every individual wear the face of self-satisfaction — from Mrs. Ham- bletoji witli her apron and stay-hooks, and Mr. Dawson with his liead tatooed like an Indian's body, up to the elegant Lord Mayhury and our captivating- hostess?" — '^Satisfaction may be appa- rent, but tliat docs not bespeak its consisting in seltj" said Adriana : ** a person may be pleased, and derive sa- tisfaction from a scene like this, surely, without imagining that their indivi- dual charms, eitiicr of mind or person, were of the least consequence in the business. Now Mr. Daw^son for in- stance — wherein can his self-importunce 19^ A WIXTKU IX BA'YU, consist? lie cannot be vain o^ personal charms, or oi^ mental abilitie^f, I sliould guess; and the trio above us," looking sportively up to the Graces depicted on the ceiling, '^are^much beyond him— they had no hand in forming his man- ners, 1 should think.'' — ''He is heir ta five thousand a year," said Air. Falk- land, *' and about ^\wt thousand reasons for self-importance and self- approbation are to be derived from this source!" *' Well here, then, you have silenced me. But Mrs. Hambleton, " — '* Is bus- tling about in all the pride of active ma- liagemeut, and every moment praising herself for the skill and method with which she has conducted her depart- ment.'' — *' If this is the case, and va- nity is ivo easily satisfied, I believe I must A WIXTKR IN EATH. 103 yield you the point," said Adriana. — "And now tell me, then," said Falk- hmd, " whether you do not think the situation of ^liss Oakle}^ extrenu^ly pi- tiable: — She knows not her friends from her foes; she is easy of access, has great good -nature, and little discrimi- nation — and admits ]\Irs. Pemberton, the acquaintance of a few weeks, a perfect stranger in this neighbourhood, to as close a familiarity as she does !Mrs. Selwyn, the ^vife of her guard- ian, a woman of stcrhng M'orth and lono'-tried virtue! Lord Mavburv has been introduced by ]\irs. Pemberton— he too is almost a stranger!"' At this momeiU supper was an- nounced, and at the request of Miss Oakley, Mr. Falkland led Adriana to tlie room where it awaited them. VOL. I. K '**.^ 194 A WINTER IN BATH, CHAP. XIIL X HE supper, (consisting of every ele- gant rarity and delicacy which could be j, procured) was served up in the dining- room. The table Avas arched from the top to the bottom with the most beau- tiful evergreens and flowers ; orange trees were placed round the room, costly heaths and exotics filled up the spaces between : a temple of Pleasure, formed of A WINTER IN BATH. 195 sweetmeats and frost-work, was placed in the centre of the table; and from the ceil- ing abov^e it, the goddess of Fame ap- peared descending, blowing her silver trumpet, and ready to hang her votive wreath on the building. To prevent confusion, after the elder parts of the assembly had seated them- selves, every belle was ordered to sit b}- the gentleman with whom she had danced the two last dances. As neither Adriana nor Mr. Falkland had danced the two last, and as Lord Maybury had danced Mith Miss Oakley immediately before supper, he sat by her side at the head of the ta- ble, while many persons took the cue from Mrs. Pembcrton, and exclaimed — " What q, sweet couple ! what a charming pair !" K Q liJO A WINTER IN BATH. Adriana was placed by Falkland, and as she chatted to him, and ingenuously gave him her sentiments and opinions on different subjects, she more than once, notwithstanding his pointed gallantry to- MMrds Miss Oakley, caught the eyes of Iiis lordship regarding her with no small marks of curiosity; for he saw the girl from whom lie could gain nothing but ''yes" or ** no,'' conversing with seeming pleasure, and great gaite de cceur, with old Falkland. There was an easy method of construing this : — his rank and his per- sonal attractions had co-operated to pro- •duce a mauvaise honte, which the poor girl was so entirely divested of with her present entertainer. "When the supper was concluded, and the company had returned to the ball- A WINTER IN BATH. 197 room, Adriana again danced with Mr. Falkland. They had reached the bottom of the set, and were resting on a sofa, when Adriana heard an old lady, ^fter having attentively eyed her for several minutes, turn to her companion, and say, ** Who is that girl in mourning who has just been dancing with I\l r. Talkland -' *VlIer name is Adrian, or Andrews, or some such thing,'' answered the lady to whom the enquiry had been addressed. '' ! tlien I am mistaken in my conjec- tures : but the seeing her in black, and liearing she was brought by Mrs. Sclwyn, 1 began to put things together, and fan- cied she might be Hartley's dauglitcr; and to see how far imagination will carry- one, I even thought I saw a likeness of her unhappy mother." Adriana (hew in licr breath, to hear every word that was K 3 J5)8 A WINTER IN BATH. jsaid, though slie felt her heart beat as if it wouUl escape its prison ; and looking up to see if Mr. Falkland observed her, to her inexpressible relief, she perceived that he had gone to another part of the room, and was conversing with a gentleman. — ** Pray where is that unhappy creature?'* asked one of the ladies. — *' I believe, INfa'am, no one has heard of her since her elopement: some people doubt whether 8he^went to France at all, or whether she only made it appear that she did, just to give her husband a wrong scent ; certain it is^ that Hartley went there himself, and he is not likely to come away again at present." Adriana's knees smote each otlier, but she retained her seat, in fear- ful expectation of what she was next to hear. A WiNTER IX BATH. 199 ** That unliappy being, liis wife, will one clay come to her senses, and to re- flection, perhaps," said tlie first speaker. *' I should think, on the contrary, reflec- tion would drive away lier senses for ever ! Pray, Tvla'am, who is tlie Mr. llarcourt that slie went off v/ith :''— A deep sigli issued from the bosom of our heroine; she rose from the sofa, !)iit was obliged to sit down again; she sup- ported lier head witli her hand on the arm of the seat: a faint sickness came over her, but she did not lose her self-posses- sion, and still had power to hear further of this distressing dialogue. *' O ! some libertine, who, I understand, was on intimate terms with her husband at the very time that he seduced the af- fections of his wife." — ** As to affectioiij, K 4 .^00 A u;nti:r i\ bath. I believe thcic did not subsist nuieh o. that ! Mrs. Ihirilcy had no licart — she was always eat up with vanit\' 1" — '' She was a very j^rctty vroman— -you remem- ber her, Ma'am r" — '' O ! perleetly, v/hen as Caroline Cosby, and when she had far tliflcrent vie\v\s than thu^c of bein^^ Mrs. Hartley/'—*' It was her mo- ther that spoilt herP — ** Slic was to be sure very indulgent, but Mrs. Cosby was in tlie maiu a good, though a weak woman/* "And her daughter," interrupted tlie otiier lady^ *' inherited all her mother's A\eakness, and none of her goodness ! — And so Hartley's girl is at the manor?" "Yes, I am told so; I heard sh^ arrived there on the very night of Mrs. Cosby 's death." — " Poor thing ! I pity her."— A WINTER IN BATH. *20l " And SO do I ; and really one would notice her, but you know, Ma'am, it is impossible to introduce the daughter of a mother, under such circumstances, into any company; and when that likeness of this Miss Andrews, or Adrian, struck me just now, 1 was thinking that, should it be Miss Hartley, none of us mothers should be mightily obliged to the pious Mrs. Selwyn for bringing her amongst us." — '• And yet it would be hard that the innocent should suffer for the guilty." *' Why, that I hardly know; these things run in families in general, I think. I hear this |)oor child is pretty — vain no doubt, and old enough to have imbibed all her mother's wretched principles." " I did not think that she had lived much with her parents; indeed, I took it into. K 5 502 A WINTER IN BATH. TTiy head, that Mrs. Hartley could never have suffered a grown daughter at her side." — '' To my certain knowledge, Ma'am, this girl was in Grosvenor-square at the time and before the elopement, and who knows but she might be an aider a^id abettor in it?'' — ^' One can hardly think that: however depraved we may suppose Mrs. Hartley, yet surely no mother could make her child the pander to her vicious inclinations !" These prudent parents now, linked in each other's arm, walked away. Adriana was unconscious of their removal ; she scarcely heard the concluding sentence, and when Mr. Falkland approached, and said she was wanted in her place, she sat like one petrified, without speech or mo- tion. Attributing her silence to assent, A WTXTEll IX BATH. 203 Mr. Falkland took her hand, to lead her to the dance;— it dropped down again hea- vily on her lap: he then for the first time looked in her face, and perceiving it pale, and despoiled of the roseate tint which had recently bloomed on it, he said, with some earnestness, " I fear you are not well, Miss Adrian? are you fatigued^ are you ill ?" cried he, perceiving she did not answer. — Adriana shook her head, — " Very ill indeed,'* sighed she.—*' What shall I do?"' said Falkland, Adriana put her hands to her temples^ as if to stop their beating, and to recall her recollection.^ — *' Stop one moment 1" said she. Falkland sat down by her.— After a minute's silence — '' Now, now," said Adriana, *' I think I can walk out of the room." She rose, but staggered k6 204 A WIXTKK IX BATH. as she stood. — " One moment longer," said slie, with a sickly smile. She sat down again. Falkland did not attempt 10 break the silence. .\* and are the innocent and the guilty always confounded ? — O better, far bet- rer, is it to live in retirement forever! — better, far better, to live solitary and 3 214 A M'lXTER IN BATH. alone all the residue of, perhaps, a long life, tlian to be subject to the invidi- ous sarcasms of an undistinguishing multitude!" Mrs. Selwyn sought, but in vain, to sooth the deeply wounded mind of her youthful friend. Sanguine and enthu- siastic, Adriana's spirits had been raised beyond their usual tone: the shock which had succeeded, had consequently been, •felt with added bitterness. She re- sisted all Mrs. Selwyn's entreaties of passing the night at the rectory. "No, dear Madam," said she, *' so- litude and reflection are requisite to compose the hurry of my thoughts ; the next time I see you, I hope you shall find me more rational," — '* Then say AWINTER IN BATH. 2\5 that you are not angry with me, my love?" — *^ Angry ! Oh! how can you talk so my best, my only friend — my mother F" whispered she, as she re- ceived the offered embrace of Mrs. Sel- wyn. Both JNIartha and Ezekiel were wait- ing their young lady's return. She si- lently walked through the hall; and thanking Ezekiel for a candle, which she took from his hand, she went im- mediately to her chamber, where Mar- tha followed her >vith negus and bis- cuits. A good wood-fire blazed in the hearth, " but nothing could a charm impart" to our poor heroine. She hasti- ly threw off her cloaths, took a little of the negus, and dismissed Martha 5 2lG A WINTKR IN BATH. as soon as she could do so with any ci- vility. Left to licrsclf, to tlie full indulgence of her reflections, she o:ave wav to all the agony of sorrow for several hours. That ball which she had anticipated with youthful eagerness, and which had opened so pleasantly, had closed with mor- tification and bitter pain. She revolved every circumstance which she could re- collect, that had passed in Grosvenor- square preceding her mother's fliglit; she reviewed the dialogue that had taken place between her father and mother re- lative to herself; she remembered that her father had then mentioned the name of Harcourt. She suddered as she recalled in ima- A WINTER IX BATH. 217 gination the fervid embrace of her mo- ther—her forehead yet glowed with the pressure of her h'ps. ** Fool that I am !" had been her last words. ** Even at that moment, compunction smote at her breast !" sighed Adriana. *^ Nature pleaded for her child at that moment, but she fled from its voice!'' Could Adriana ever forget the clenched hands of her father— the sepulchral tones of horror with which he had uttered those words on which she had so often pondered, the meaning of which she had vainly endeavoured to divine ? " Ask no questions as to the cause of this sudden journey, the knowledge of it could be of no avail — sufficient is it for you to hear, that the event which VOL. I. L 13 A WIN TEH IX BATH. h2LS accelerated it, has perhaps coloured your future days — that it has disgraced ihsfiame o^ Hartley T—'^ At length then I have discovered the dreadful import of these words," said Adrian a. — ^' Yes! my days are coloured ! they are shaded in darkness forever!" '* Visions of distracted night" dis- turbed Adriana during a transient for- getfulness, and «he arose the next n)orn- ing with ''pallid looks and haggard eye,*' Before she quitted her apartment, she applied to Him for support, to whom no on» can apply in vain. Her frame trembled as she walked down stairs, i)ut she struggled with her feelings. " Alack-a-day ! merry nights make sad xnoinings, Miss !" said Martha, as she A WI^^Ttll IN BATH, t\p brought in the tea-canister. ^' I believe this ball at Miss Oakley's spoilt your niglit's rest." Ezekiel at that moment put down the tea-urn, and looking into Adriana's face, he said, *' She that liveth in pleasure is dead whilst she liveth T* then rising up on his feet, and showing no- tliing but the whites of his eyes, he ^juitted the room. A tear rushed to the eye of Adriana —she thouo'ht of her unfortunate mo- ther. She raised her eyes to the man- tle-piece, and there fixed tliem on a portrait of a child, who, resting on a crimson cushion, was playing with a dog. *' Such zcas my mother," sighed she. ** Playful innocent! alas!_^what ^ She would not trust herself even men- •2^ A AVINTEU IN BATH. tally to finish the apostrophe, but turned towards Martha. ^* AVhy, Miss, you havui't made the tea yet— the water will be cold — I believe you left your heart at that there ball?" " No, no, I brought it home, good Martha, and here it is — heavy enough!" *' And why heavy, dear Miss Cosby — Miss Hartley, I should say ?" Adriana was sorry that she had gone so far, and answered, attempting to smile, *' I don't know why, j\Iartha, — wlien the heart is sad, it must be heavy; you know, and you have just told me, that merry nights make sad mornings." — ** And you prove the truth of the saying, I warrant. But come, may J be so bold, Avill you tell me who you danced with?'' — " With Lord Maybury," said Adriana. — ** With A WINTER IN BATH. '2^1 a lord?, wliat dance witli a great ?'eal lord r — Well, that was well done! — Witli- 110 body else, I suppose ? — No, yoa couldn't dance with any other body after the lord !'" — '' Yes, I did," said Adriana," smiling at tlie artless^ rusti- city of Martha's manner, ** I danced with a gentleman named Fcilkland,' " Falkland ! what Squire Falkland of the Hilll" — ** I do not know of what place," said Adriana. — ** O that was he, I dare say, Miss — wasn't he a tall good- looking gentleman, of a line presence, Miss Cosby — Miss Hartley I should aay ? — Miss Cosby, to be sure, has danced with him hundreds of times. Wasn't he — r'* and she stood wpon a chair, and took out a small black profile from the drawer of an India cabinet ; wiping aff the dust with her apron, *' wasn't he ^2*J: Jk M' INTER IN BAT}f. like tliis ? wasn't the line of his features )ike this? — He wears his liair tycd now, Mi^s — when tliis was taken, it waved all (Iowa liis shoulders in beautiful ring- lets." '* I think there is a resemblance of the features," sakl Adriana. ** Oh, yes, Mis."?, they oj-e the very lines of his face ! — My good miiitress, your grand-nianima, took. it as he sat by this window, conte next month two and twenty years ago; lie was then just eiglitcen, and fair to look upon. Here is another, taken that very day too, of your mamma, Miss: Miss Cosby was then just turned of thirteen — that picture, there," pointing to the J mantle-piece, ** was taken when she was only four years of age — I remember that 4 t<»o, as if it were but yesterday. What A WINTER IX BATH. ^^2:> a hard matter we had to keep her sfill while tlie painter did it !— and at the last we were forced to quiet the little thing by holding up some peacock's feathers before her eyes. Mr. Lcimbert the pain- ter was a rigl.t funny man. *Yes, yes/ says he, ^ we have found something tliat will hitlicr fancy now— the young lady has a taste for finery already.' My poor dear mistress laughed to hear Mr, Lam- bert." Adriana had taken the profile of her niother from the hand of ]\Iartha, and lield it n^echanically, though she was resting- her head on her elbow and only appeared to notice it. ** Was }>l\\ Falkland in good spirits, Missr' asked ISIartha. *' I have »ot Li 2S14f A WINTER IN BAiJI. seen him for ina-nif years now." — '^ Yes, he appeared very cheerful." — Ah ! true, I suppose so hy his dancing. Ah! lie used to dance very genteel — I have seen him foot it in the oak parlour with so mnch ease, and with such an air ! — But alack-a-day! for ma-ny long years, I believe, Mr. Falkland has had no heart for dancing— poor dear soul, he was sadly crossed!" — *' Did Mr. Falkland often come to see my grand- mamma?" asked Adriana. — ^'The last time he came withinside of these doors, ^liss, was eighteen years ago come the twelfth of next November. — I re- member the day well," said Martha, folding up the corner of her apron, and heaving a deep sigh. '*I stood by the entry as he passed out. * Good by, Martha !' said he. ** God bless vour ho- A WINTER IN BATH. ^£5 nour !" said I ; ^^and 'twas well I could say that, for something came up to my throat, and almost choaked me, when I heard him ride away from the stables wdiere he mounted his horse." — "And ^vlty did he not come again?'' asked Adri- ana, with some earnestness. — " Ah, Miss! there was a why, and there was a where- fore!" said Martha, with a countenance which expressed more than it uttered. " Tell me all about it?" said Adriana. '* Come, good Martha, bring your knitting, and give me the history of Mr. Falkland's leaving the manor, for I think — for I guess you will oblige me by telling me," said she, fearing to put her conjectures into words, Martha complied with this request; l5 226 A WINTER IN PATH. but as we can better give the substance of her discourse in our own words, we will turn to anotlier cliapter for anec- dotes of the Cosbvs. A WINTER IN BATH. 027 CHAP. XV. IVJl'R. Cosby was born of a respectable family. Having little or no fortune, he entered the army, and being, with his re- giment, quartered at the fown of Arling- ham, his person and plausible address, soon gained him an interest in the heart of Miss Hartley, of Hartley Manor, the only child, and reputed heiress of her father, with >vhom she lived. The young 228 A WINTER IN BATH. red coat's attentions were not so well received by the father as by the young lady; but Mr. Cosby was not easily re- pulsed, and an elopement took place in the third month of his acquaintance with ]\Iiss Hartley. Mr. Hartley was dreadfully enraged at his daughters disobedience. Time un- veiled to the mistaken wife the error of her choice, and she saw that her husband was unprincipled and extravagant. Mr. Hartley never would consent to receive him as his son; and on his death-bed he left away all his fortune to a distant re- lative, a male infant bearing his name, leaving his daughter a life-interest in the manor, provided she made it her resi- dence. A WINTER IX BATH. 229 At her demise, this estate was also to devolve to the infant Hartley : no settle- ment or provision was made for any chil- dren which misfht arise from the nnion of Mr. and Mrs. Cosby, and it was evident tliat the old gentleman's intention had been merely to keep his daughter from starvation, and if possible to prevent Cosby, or his children, from being bene- fitted in the remotest manner by liim. Disappointed in his mercenary views, Cosby gave himself up to the most in- temperate debaucheries, and did not long survive his irascible father-in-law, leaving his widow with one child, a female. In obedience to her father's will, Mrs. Cosby was obliged to keep up his usual style of living, and an accustomed num- '230 A WlNTl'R IN BATH. bcr of domestics; indeed, it was evident that the old gentleman's idea had merely been tliat of suffering his daughter to exist at the manor, as a sort of family appendage, which he could not absolutely suffer to perish. Deeply lamenting her former impru- dence, broken in spirit, and injured in health, Mrs. Cosby 's hopes were wrapped up in her infant Caroline ; but her heart smote her for her unthinking and preci- pitate conduct, when, as she watched the eherub smiles of her darling, she recol- kcted the forlorn state in which her I death would leave her ; for so restricted and so tied up had been her father's will, such arrangements had been made, and such care had been taken to prevent Mrs, Cosby, from enriching herself, and by A WINTER I» BATff. ^^1 that means making her husband or her child independent, that she was entirely subject to the agent in whose hands it had been left; and his superintendence was that of a man, wlio, studying his profes- sion witli tenacious and technical accu- racy, strictly fulfilled every letter of the la\v» Obliged to live in a sort of style which was utterly averse to her present feelings, or comfort, Mrs. Cosby every day sat down to a plentifully supplied table with anachingheart, dreading lest, perhaps, the common necessaries of life might hereafter be denied to her child; and as these fears gained ground in her mind, her affection for her Carcfline daily increased : her foolish indulgencekept pace with it, and instead of steeling the young mind of 233 A WINTLR IN BATH. her child against the trials and the rever- ses to which she would prohahly he called, the most injudicious tenderness was hia- iiifested in her rearing, and the " winds of Heaven" were scarcely suffered '' to visit her face too roughly." We have shewn that Mrs. Cosby 's prin- ciples had yielded to her inclinations in that action which marked her subsequent life, and though she had dearly purchased her experience, yet she could not pur- chase judgment or sound understanding. At ten years of age, Caroline Cofiby was the beautiful idol of her mother ; she looked the picture of good humour, every wish was anticipated, every look was watched, and, in such a situation, her temper must have been diabolical if A WINTER IX BATH. 233 smiles had not played on her counte- nance. Her accomplishments were not neglected; the more sterling acquire- ments were forgotten : how, indeed, should they have been remembered, when Mrs. Cosby knew not that such things existed r Caroline had a good capacity and a retentive memory, and she learned all that was taught her. Early impressions and associations are never effaced. She had a decided knowledge of her pre-emi- nence in beauty, but as she grew older, she concealed this knowledge under the pleasing exterior of smiling simplicity. To marry lier daughter previous to her own death, was the sanguine wish of Mrs. Cosby, and many an air-drawn C34 A WINTER IN BATH. sclienie played on her fancy, as she sat watching the opening charms of her Ca- roline. Caroline tiiouglit fine cloaths, and fine coaches, and fine lords, and fine ladies, must be very fine things, because she had always heard them called so : but at fifteen she lost sight of all these thoughts for a time, when William Falkland returned, his education com- pleted, to his father's house upon the Hill, about five miles distant from the manor. Mr. Falkland had always visited IMr, Hartley, and had jnaintaincd a friendly intimacy with his daughter ; he was a man of moderate fortune, who content- edly lived on a few hundreds, and, in- dependent himself, sought not to enrich or to aggrandize his only son^ but l><)ped A WINTER IX BATH, 235 that he would also sit down contentedly at the Hill, and follow those maxims and customs which his father had laid down for him. The young man had received a liberal education, liis princi])les were good, and bb heart had right propensities ; but his affections were warm, and his temper cnxpassioned and romantic ; and at twenty years of age, the period of his return, these were in full How, He had always admired Caroline Cosby as a beautiful child, and had played, and romped, and danced with her at all the juvenile parties in the neighbourhood, where he had met her at his vacations from school and college; but now, with all her *^ blushing charms" just peeping I 230 A WINTER IN BATH. towards womanhood, he bowed to her, and ahiiost worshipped her as a divinity. The impression which she tlien made on his lieart was never erased. That mo- ment '* love and desire sprang in his bo- som, to himself unknown 1" The evident admiration of such a young man as iWk- land could not fail to interest Caroline Cosby; for, added to his personal attrac- tions, which were at that period by no means despicable, he had a lively imagi- nation, a happy turn of thought, and a playful manner of expressing the most trifling things, which was peculiarly plea- sant to a young girl of Caroline's turn. The heart of William Falkland she knew not how to appreciate, but she soon found out that she was the sole posses- A WINTER IN BATH. 237 sor of it, and she kept up the advantage she had gained by smiles and by allure- ments, which were calculated to fix him her's more firmly. If sometimes he saw an air of coquetry infused in her smiles, if sometimes he had perceived the ascendency of vanity, or had discovered the false light in which she viewed a self- evident duty, the candour with which she owned the one, the air of modest hu- mility with which she acknowledged the other, the look of partial appeal with which she heard him point out her error in the last, these taught him to love even her imperfections. Mr. Falkland enquired not into the reason for his son's frequent visits to the manor ; he had a full confidence in him, and had determined never to thwart his C38 A TVIN TER IX BATH. inclinations on so important a point as, that of marriage. To see Caroline married was, as we have before said, the first wish of Mrs. Cosby ; she hked Mr. Falkland, indeed no one could help it: she sighed as she said to herself, '^ If Caroline can forego all the gaieties and splendours of that world for which she is formed, why let it be so !" Thus passed nearly two years at the manor. Caroline Cosby was increasing in beauty, the passion of Falkland in- creased with it ; he had poured out his wishes and his hopes to liis beloved, she had heard him " nothing loth," and he hst^l gone to pay avisit of a few weeks to a friend in a distant county, in all the A WIXTEIl IN BATH. 239 conscious security of requited affec- tion. Soon after his departure, Mrs. Cosby received a letter from her late father's agent, informing her that Mr. Hartley, tj the heir to the property, having attained the age of twenty-one, it was necessary for him to visit the manor, in order to make some arrangements, and that for that purpose he should accompany him there the week ensuinir. Mrs. Cosby could not read this infor- mation without emotion. She had li^er seen the young man in whose favour her father had performed so cruel and unjust an act, she had thought that she could never bear him in her sight : but there now appeared a necessity for it, and, 240 A WINTER IN BATH. though very rehictantly, she consented to receivethe gentleman. The prospects of Carolhic Cosby at this time appeared bright, and in the absence of Falkland she judged, ''pour passe?' ie terns,'' that it would be an agreeable break in the monotony of their life, to be interrupted by a couple of new faces. She did not neglect to decorate her- self with more than usual care on the evening when they were expected ; and ^Ir. Hartley thought he belield the most beautiful being in creation when he first cast his eyes on his cousin, who sustained her mother's rechning form, as, trembling with emotion, she rose to re- A WINTER IN BATH. 241 ceive him who had despoiled her daugh- ter of her inheritance. I\Ir. Hartley had a most attracti^^e person and address. Schooled in the graces of the world, his manners had ac- quired that high polish, Mdiich the so- ciety of Avell-hred people alone can be- stow. Insidious and persuasive, his conversation was at once fascinating and entertaining. He almost immediately attached himself to his *^ charming cou- sin," as he delighted to call Miss Cosb^' ; and he would have no conductress but herself, to show him round the walks, the fields, the woods, and the cliffs of Hart- ley manor. There, amidst rural scenery, and the wild beauties of nature, he painted the pleasures of the beau mondc with a masterly hand. He talked cf VOL. I, M 241- A \\'ixti::r in bath. the incense which was there oflered to beauty. lie flattered, he persuaded, and, skilled in rlictoric, he soon suc- ceeded in winning her ear, and seduc- ing her imagination, if not her heart, and at the end of ten days poor Falk- land was forgotten. Mr. Sykes, the agent, who had really the interest of the family at heart, had hoped for this consequence from their visit; he thought, with every person who saw only the exterior of things, that the union of the two cousins would be an easy way of uniting their interests, and obliterating all the injustice of the late Mr. Hartley towards his grand- diild. Mr. Sykes did not see, hedidnot know. A WINTER IN BATH. 243 and had he seen and known, he would not have understood, that the admira- tion of Mr. Hartley for his cousin was merely personal, and probably would soon be effaced, when he had her in his power; that Caroline Cosby was dazzled by his showy and specious ex- terior, by the elegance of his carriage and the grace of his deportment, and that in listening to him, she was turn- ing apostate to the youth who had first breathed the accents of love in her ears — the youth who lived only for her. We say, -Mr. Sykes, who judged from ex- ternals only, and who was blinded by transient good from discerning last- ing evil, was ignorant, and must hav€i remained in ignorance, of these reasons against the cause which he had taken in hand. j244 A WINTER IN BATH. In the advancement and consequent happiness of her daughter, Mrs. Cosby overlooked the disappointment of Falk- land, her consent was yielded with de- light, and the triumphant Hartley left the manor, oidy to return again within a fortnight to claim his bride. During his absence, Falkland re-appeared I As we have seen, the elder Mr. Falk- land had never interfered in his son's attachment to Miss Cosby ; he had suspected it, and winked at it, but had never enquired into, nor guessed at, the extent of its progress. The report of Mr. Hartley's success with the young lady was speedily noised abroad, and thinking that his son might like to be informed of acircumstance which seemed to have all the authority which pub- A WINTER 1\ BATH. 245 licity could give it, be mentioned it as if accidentally, in a letter which lie ad- dressed to him. Not the smallest credit Avould Wil- liam Falkland attach to tlic information; yet not another day, not anotlicr hour, would he stay with his fiieiid ; he tra- velled night and day, and with di- shevelled hair, and haggard eyes, he presented himself at the mancu-. He \valked unannounced into the com- mon silting parlour. Mrs. and Miss Cosby were sitting at a table; the lat- ter was eaii'erly viewing some beautiful diamonds which Mi\ Hartley had jus §ent do^\•n, her eyes sparkling with plea- sure, and almost eclipsing the brilliants which she held in her hand. M S 246' A M*INIFI{ IN' BAlil. '* See here, i\Iamma! wliat a sweet or- namcnt! ^v'hat l:)vely jewels! — IIow good of Hartley to send them down so soon!" — '' And sec Jiere,^' said Falkland, snatching her hand, (his entrance had not been perceived) ^' see here, Caroline, the wretch that you have made!" She started, and shrieked. Mrs, .Cosby rose from the table. *'Tell me, Caroline — tell nie," cried Falkland, wildly, *' is what I hear true? and have you deceived and deserted me? Have you broken your plighted faith: — your promise?'' — '* My daughter never made you a promise, Mr. Falkland," said Mrs. Cosby. "Did not she own she loved me? — did slic not say that she would be mine? and has slie not lis- tened with downcast eyes and smiles of A WiNTEPw IX 15ATI1. 2^47 seeming pleasure while I have painted those haleyon scenes of bhss, which I now find existed only in my feverish imagination:*' — " Oil, Falkland! hear me for a moment." — *' Put aside those splen- did baits, those paltry hires," said lie, hnrling the diamonds from him. Caro- line rescued them from his rough hand, uttering a gentle *^Oh!" as if fearing they would be injured. ''Yes! the]/ hd^ve feelings," said he; " t/iet/ are not stones — 'tis I — 'tis 7Jij/ heart which is a petrifaction. You have tried it, Caroline — you have tried it!" Caroline hid her face with her liancU kerchief *^ My flaughter has a right to follow her own inclinations, ]\Ir. Falkland. This match with her cousin M 4 •€4^ A WINTER IX BATH. will be a j}iuck'nt and a most unexcep- tionable one, as it will be tlie means of ending every thing in the most amica- ble way. I therefore must entreat yon, I\Ir. Falkland, by the regard which you f>rmei=ly professed for Caroline, that you will not disturb her happintss !' ** I disturb it! — /disturb the happi- ness of Caroline Cosby ! Gracious God !" He put liis hands before bis eyes, sank into a chair, and burst into tears. Then, after a few minutes, rising and walking again towards Caroline, " That you liave seen me weep— that you have heard unmanly sobs issue from n^y bosom — • this you may tell — this you may boast of to Mr. Hartley but, stof)," said he, *' am I not too hasty. — And are you really — Is it— can it be .^ Oh, Caroline! A WINTER IN BATH. 249 are you to become the M^fe of Hartley? Speak, I charge you, speak— tell me with- out reserve— or kill me at your feet!" — *' Mr. Hartley is— I — we — " — Caroline stammered. ** Farewell for ever !'* said Falkland, clenching his hands ia agony, ** False, perjured, vain Avomaii! farewell for ever !'' Then it was, that crossing through the hall in all the paroxysm of despair, the simple adieu of Martha had fallen on the ear of the anguish-str-uck Falk- land. He went not to the Hill that day. He wrote a few lines to his father account- ing for his absence in the best manner he could, and he wandered for six suc- cessive days .and nights over heaths ami €50 A M^INTER IX TATH. hills, and plains and dales, ^' unknow- iug and unknown/ The chill blasts of November pierced his breast, but lie felt them not — the falling torrents drenched his cloaths, but he heeded tliem not — darkness and light Mere to him the same. His mental suiferings rendered him impervious to all the in- clemencies of weatlier or of season. At length he was seized with an ill- ijcss which rapidly increased into a viojert Fcv.r. At a little liedge alehouse in the public roaly evaded all his enquiries respecting Miss Adrian, though the A WINILR IN BATM. ^!)3 anxious interest wiili wliicli be made them, did not escape her penetration ; for the maii:netic influence of iMiss Cosby seemed to be extended to Aliss Hartley. We have seen tlie motives wliicli produced the union between Mr. and Mrs. Hartley : vanity on tlie one liand, passion on the other. Mrs. Hartley ^vas intoxicated M'ith her success, and pursued tlie career of pleasure with un- sated aviihty. ^Iv. Hartley paid her attention as long as it is usual for men of fashion to pay it to their wives; he then continued the utmost politeness to- wards her, and contentedly and unin- terruptedly this couple sought folly iii whatever form they liked. 256 A WINTER INBATH. Play was a temptation to wliich Hart- ley often yielded ; his lady's losses in this way were not trivial : her husband's purse replenished her's as long as he could find means ; for, proud of her beauty, and valuing himself on its possession, though he had long been satiated with \ty he would not let her be under obligations to any of the herd who fawned and hovered round her^ A gambler is sometimes careful of the honour of his wife ! and though Mrs. Hartley coquetted and leered with all the witching arts of a trained beauty, yet no serious attack had hitherto been made on her honour by common, fame. Mr. Harcourt returned from India with a large fortune : he bad been tlie "\- A WINTER liV BATH. 257 schoolfellow and intimate bovish friend of Hartley ; a libertine in morals, a free- tliinker and infulel in his o{)inions, with prepos^fessing address, and easy manners, he was admitted on terms of renewed and close amity by Mv. Hartley. The yet uufaded charms of Mrs. Hart* ley, set off by all the adventitious aids of art and dress, were calculated to light up a guilty passion in the breast of a man, who had been used to her style of beauty amongst the voluptuous and languishing females of the East. His purse supplied the wants of IMr. Hartley; by the most delicate and refined flattery, he gained the ear of his wife. Mrs. Hartley perceived that a short pe- riod only could elapse, ere she must forego all the gratifications for which she 258 A WINTER IS BATH. lived, as tlic cmbairassnieiit of her Inis- band's fortune was evident. Ilarcourt painted the happiness of a life of liberty, for such he tern^.ed a life of the greatest slavery — the slavery of sin! Mrs. Hartley started not, as she should have done, at such a subject ; she hesitated, slie listened, she deliberated. We have seen that slie was lost ! and once again she fell a victim to that vanity which had formed the leading trait of her character, which had been early and fa- tally implanted in her young mind, by a weak and erring mother, v. ho, v/hen too late, had bewailed her errors, and whose death had been precipitated by them. A WINTER IX BATH. '259 'Hie account of ?vlrs. Hartley's elope- ment had been beard by Falkland with t*lie e.st concern : thougli love had long been extinguished in his breast, yet he lamented the final ruin of her, whom ht remembered, once lovely in innocence as in beauty; and v. ith a sigh of regret, perhaps, as excusable as it was natural, he whispered *^ Had she been my wife, she yet had been a virtuous and respected one," In order to give our readers a general insioht into the events that had taken place previous to the commencement of our history, we have branched oif on this side and on tliat, for their int'orma- tion, but we must dcsii'e them to remem- ber that old Martha, though filling up hernarrative with numerous little episodes 260 A ^VINTEll liV BATH. and family anecdotes, yet kept in view the main SLi!)ject for wliich she liad been summoned by our heroine, viz. the his- tory of Mr. Falkland. She wiped her eyes as she coiicluded — * God bless your honour !' si.id I.— * Farewell, Martha!' &aid he, as he crossed the hall. He has never stirred foot witliiu tliese doors since that day^ and that was cis^-hteen vears o-one come the twelfth of next November. Ah ! Miss, said I not, that there was a zvhij, and there was a xcherefore ? O ! what a rainy night was that ! doors clapped, and the v/ind howled, and the sea roared, tliere were some as had no house over their heads that melancholy ni^ht." Then followed the history of Falkland's ill- ness. A WINTER IN BATH. £6l Adriana sobbed and shuddered ; it was hev mother who had done this, it was her mother who had driven out this amiable man to the fury of the merciless ele- ments. '' Poor, poor ]\Ir. Falkland !'* sighed she. ^* Ah ! Miss, and I have said the same the best part of a thousand times ; but there : — there's no crying over spilt milk, as the saying is; but, perhaps, your mamma, Miss, would have been as well off in the main, if she had been constant to her first true lover." ** As well !" said Adriana, softly. — ** For though," continued Martha, " your papa is a fine sightly man to look at, and lias a bold air, and presence, and knows all about gentility and fashion, and Lon- don, and tliese things, yet Mr. Falk- 26£ A WlXTEFl rX BATH. laiul, being a true real bred Devonshire gentleman, one of our neighbour's sons, and so like, m hy it might have been bet- ter; but then, marriages are made in Hea- ven, as folks say. ** And your grandmamma, she would liave had her daughter near her, in that case, you know. Miss ; for London was a great way off, and Brighton and Tun- bridge, and that, in the summer. The sea was better too, mayhap, at Brighton than under our own old cliffs. I suppose it was, for I've heard tell, your mamma used to o'o there to waterins: everv summer, and I used often to wonder that she di(Ui't prefer our own salt sea, that ' was so naturad to her.'' A W I N r K H IN B A 1 H . 263 *^ Did my mamma never come down here, MartJia ?"— ^^ Never, Aliss, but once, and that was when you were born, and once after. When you were born, I beheve, she had her fears, and that ; as what woman, you know, I\liss, but must needs have at those times, and so she thouglit her mother's house was tlie best place to be in. And about two years after, slie came down again with Mr. Hartley ; liecamc about leasing the es- tates and such like." ** And did — and did Mr. Falkland ever see her ?" eagerly asked Adriana. — *' O ! no, ^liss, no ! I heard he went miles off, as soon as he heard they were coming into the country. No, no, poor soul, he would sooner have faced a naked sword, as the saying is — no, he has never entered 4 1264 A M'INTJLIl JN' BATir. these doors since that dav, cii'-hteen lono' years a-gone come tlie twelfth of next November !" said Martha, bowing her head emphatically, as she changed the needle in the stocking she was knitting. A WtNTl.R IN BATH. 065 CHAP. X\:I. J^ HE sun was rising in the east, when •Miss Oakley sought her pillow ; the night had passed on halcyon wings, for amidst the applause of lier female friends, and the gallant compliments oi the country heaux, she had received that attention for which her heart exclusively panted. She had been the sole object of Lord May- VOL. I. N C6l5 A 'Sr INTER IN BATH. bury's devotion ; liis manner, his lan- guage, could not be misconstrued, and she should be the happiest of women. Thus thought the inexperienced Ceci- lia, as she ruminated on the scenes of the foregoing night. Lord Maybury's per- son and address were evidently in his fa- vour ; these alone Miss Oakley observed, and of little else could his lordship boast, except an understanding, the perver- sion of which had been the sole business of his life. Early emancipated from controul by the death of his father, and coming inta the possession of a good estate (though being Irish, it was of course a little en- Cumbered), he had entered the army, and ; indiscriminately resigned himself to the A WINTER IN BATM. 26? indulgence of all his wishes, either of pas- sion or caprice, and while maintaining a strict deference for the laws of honour, he defied and contemned all other laws, both human and divine. Yet he was universally received, ev«n courted both by male and female society, by men who called themselves moral, by women who termed themselves virtuous : and can we wonder at the courtly ease, and the well-bred assurance of his man- ners, where he was a stranger, if, M'here he was known, he received all the de- ference and distinction which merit only should ensure. At the period when our history com- menced, he found that it was absolutely necessary to adopt some expedient for re- X 2 Vt58 A ^V INTER IN BATH. cjuiting iiis exhausted finances, liaving laid mortgage on mortgage, in the county of Meath, tiU his title to his estates was become merely nominal. Marriage to the libertines of the last century, even baited with gold, was a bitter pill, from wliich they recoiled ; but our's is an improving age : a married man is more certain of success with ladies of haut ton) than if he had remained single; and if a poor devil has sacrificed his fine person and his liberty for money, what tender heart but must sympathize and participate with him in his distressful si- tuation ? Lord iMaybury was distantly related to Mrs. Pemberton, a lady whose conduct had been pretty notorious in the county A WINTER IN BATH. ^G9 oFMcatli, (luring the life-time of her hus- band. At his death slie saw herself left with a scanty income, and two over- grown girls; to settle them I^y marriage was her plan. Slic brought them to England (a mar- ket which has been generally favourable to pretty Irish girls), but her finances did not pcilillt her getting; into tlio ».vorlcl at present ; and till some capital stroke had been elTected, she came to the tovv'u of Arlingham, ^\'hic]l, from its distance from the metropolis, had enticed many famihes of small inrlependent fortunes to reside there. Many country gentlemen of property lived in the vicinity, and if she could but fix a rich squire for one daughter, N 3 «70 A WINTER IN BATH. the Other would go off in London, or Bath, with the help of his purse : this was her plan, but, as she herself had allowed at Oakley, her girls did not take. When the regiment was ordered to Arlingham, Lord Maybury recollected to have been told that Mrs. Pemberton ItfxtX QdviQ th«i'« to live. They had been too similar in their pursuits, and were too congenial in their ideas, not to like each other's society. With all the address and the assurance of her country, Mrs. Pemberton had worm- ed herself into intimate terms with many families. Miss Oakley's fortune, her inex- perience, and the ease with which she admitted introductions, were not over- A WINTER IN BATH. £?7 1 looked ; and really pleased with her per- son, and liveliness of manner. Lord Maybury determined on making lier his wife, from the first moment he saw her. ** She is pleasant and gay, she does not want for sense, I see," said he, " but there is no fashion in her, nothing of ton ! How sliould there, indeed ! Bred in the country, educated in Bristol, a gro- cer for her father, an old housekeeper for her aunt, a parson for her guardian, and the parson's wife for her companion ! but I can forgive all this, as it is her misfortune, and not her fault ; and the world will forgive me, when they hear tKat she brought me the siller. So be you my friend, good Pemberton, and you shall receive a sum of money; tha N 4 (lay oa w]:ich I marry the heiress, which shall give yourself and the !Meath girls a Winter in Bath:' Neither his lordship nor Mrs. Peniber- ton were deficient in skill or address, and each being separately interested in for- warding this plan, we do not wonder that jVIiss Oakley suffered herself to fall into it ; tliat her youthful inexperience was captivated by the agreeable gaiety and easiness of his lordship's conversation ; tiiat her self- consequence was flattered at having made conquest of a man of his rank and figure. The ball had ascertained what she had previously hoped and anticipated ; for lord Maybury had taken an opportunity, after supper, of breathing forth his pas- A M'lXTER ly BATH. ^/o sioi), in all the florid language which he so M'ell uiuicrstood ; and a novice in affairs of the heart, the credulous and all-confiding Cecilia could not conceal from liis penetrating e3'e, that she heard him with secret delight. Miss Oakley was independent, no one had a right to thwart her inclinations, no on-e had a right to prevent her follov/- ing the dictates of her heart; hut on Mr. Selwyn's judgment she had hitherto placed the firmest reliance : to him she had heretofore appealed in every case where she did not feci herself quali- fied to decide ; hut on this inaterial point, on this which was to decide her weal ot v/oe through life, she dared not consult him, for she knew that his voice would be against her wishes. N 5 i^74 A WINTER IN BATH. He had more than once mentioned Lord Maybury in her hearing, and that not in the highest terms. He had frequently cautioned her against too great an inti- macy with the Pembertons ; but impelled by the hope of meeting his lordship, and gratified by the marked attention which she received from Mrs. Pemberton, Ceci" lia had frequently gone over to Arlingham within the last month, and had been sure of meeting Lord Maybury at his conve- nient relation's. Mrs. Hambleton declared she was jaded to death, when, at mid- day, she awoke her niece out of sweet repose. — •• Tis ruination !" said she, '^ and squan- deration too! Ah! well you may lie a-bed— 'tis enough to make any one's heart ache, to be up, and see the Troy town which A WINTER IN BATH. 275 this house is in ; what tumult and what confusionyour mad frolic has caused ! I. staid up hours and hours after the folks were all gone, walking to and fro, and putting things to rights, and blowing out the candles, and I took care to put out the light of the Egyptian lamps in the hall" " And consigned it to Egyptian darkness," &aid CeciHa, yawning. *' No, Miss Cicey, for the sun shone bright upon me as I was doing it.^ — Ah ! sad, sad doings! thought I — this is turn- ing night into day with a vengeance ! Come, child, come, Cicey, do get up, and see all the confusion you have caused.'/ ** Like another Helen," said Cecilia, laughing, *^ spectatress of the ruin I N 6 276 A WIXTEIl IM BATH. liavc marlc; for you have just been talk- ing of Tr(»y, aunt — this is the tirst time that I knew you to be so ckissical !" — " I always knev/ you were whimsical," said Mrs. Ilambleton, '' but I little thought how far you meant to follow up your whimsies." Meantime, in her robe dc chambre, Ce- cilia walked to her toilette, and survey- ing herself from the glass, she broke out rather theatrically, *' Such Ilclon was, and who could blame the boy, " riicitiu so bright a flame consumed his Troy ?" A smile stole over her features — she was thinking of Lord May bury. " Nonsense, nonsense! what dy'e talk about boys for?" said Mrs. Ilambleton; A ^VIXTER IN BATH. 2/7 ^'- but that reminds me, not that I am grieved or that I vex at it, but your line painted and coloured floor is all danced one into the otlier, that there is nothing discernible of it." ** Chaos is come again !" said Cecilia, parting lier hair. ^' I say, ]\Iiss Cicey, I don't vex about it, not 1, because I think it was a shame, that ever that naked boy should liave been painted in any single woman's house, without a rag to cover him — 'tis a shame, and quite in- decent." " Does not love shroud himself on beds of roses, aunt r" asked Cecelia; '^ yes, yes, I know he docs," and a smile dimpled her mouth. — '^ Love ! nonsense," said 27^ A WINTER IN BATH. Mrs. Ilambleton, " I say, love, do make haste, and come down to breakfast." " Then do send my maid to me ; and, good aunt, will you humanize yourself the least bit in the world, for we shall have the \\ hole host of the Philistines upon us presently, to know if we have survived our last nights dissipation." ^^ Let them come, or stay a\vay, 'tis all one to nic, Cicey," said Mrs. Hamble- ton, ** I shall have enough to do in counting up the spoons, and putting away the china, and &uch hke. I shan't .see you ruined outright if I can help it, neither !" *^ Ruin, and silver spoons, and china-r- A M'lNTER IX BATH. 279" what a horrid concatenation ! — rank, love, Maybury — what acha ming one!'' said Cecilia, as the old lady walked out of the room. 280 A WIXTER rX BATH, CHAP. XIV X HE incident which had caused the distress of our heroine, and which in so mortifying and abrupt a manner had let licr into tlie knowledge of her mother's misconduct, M*as severely re- gretted by Mr. and Mrs. Selwyn, who bhamed themselves as being in some measure the causes of it, in persuading A WINTER IN BATH. 281 her to go to the ball at Oakley, and ap- pearing under a feigned name. The succeeding day this worthy cou- ple walked over to the manor, and found Adrianamore composed than they had expected she would have been. In- deed, she struggled with her feehngs and endeavoured to appear cheerful, lest her friends sliould reproach them- selves at the recollection of the part Avliich they had in occasioning her dis- tress. Adriana requested to be excused for the present from visiting at the rec- tory ; and its inhabitants left her, witli many kind and parental expressions of afiection and friendship, Mhich sprung from the heart, for they felt their re- gard for her increase at every succeed- ing interview. S8S A AVIXTtR IN' BATIi. Mr. Falkland had contented himself by a verbal message of cnquirVj which lie dispatched to the rectory the morning after the ball. Appeared to have con- tented himself, mc .sliould have said, ibr '* discontent sat heavy at his heart.** Neither time nor absence had obliterated the image of Caroline Cosby from his memory, although her inconstancy had long cured him of his passion, and principle had early taught him to banish the image of a married woman from his thoughts. But the likeness of Adriana to that ** once lov'd and faithless fair," had forcibly struck him the first time that her lips severed to address him. She had been introduced to him by Miss Oakley as Miss Adrian ; neither her face nor her form were calculated A WINTER IN BATH. 2B3 to be overlooked : lie heard several per- sons enquire who she was, but not one seerned able to give any information concerning her. Pleased with his youthful partner, in- terested by her manner, and enter- tained by the naif simpWaty of her con- versation, lie obliquely made enquiries of herself; but slie had appeared con- fused, and he had gained nothing but that she had come to Oakley with IMrs. Selwyn. The eager solicitude with whicli he had questioned that lady, hovering near the point from which issued all his curiosity, yet not daring to put it into language, did not escape her pene- tration, but she forbore to gratify him, wishing that he might see a little more of Miss Hartley, and that he might 2S4 A AVIXTER IN BATH. overcome liis prejudices towards lier, before she hazarded the disclosure. But suspicion still hovered iu tlie breast of Falkland ; he hoped, yet feared, that this might be the daughter of Ca- roline Cosby; he hoped it because he yet loved to behold her beautiful image in her daughter, as it had once shone he purity of innocence; he feared it, because a daughter, who, under the re- cent and disgraceful circumstances which had attended her mother's elope- ment, could appear in public, and could enjoy a dance in the very circle and amongst the scenes where that mother had been born, must evince such un- feeling apathy, such fragrant indelicacy^ as he shuddered to think of. A WIN^TEll IN BATH. 285 Under tlie iiifliiencc of these opposing feelings, he had sent his servant to tlie rectory, and had himself rode over to Oakley; and there, while paying his com- pliment to tiie gay heiress, he accident- ally heard that enquiry, which he had longed, yet had not courage to make, and heard the heiress, with adrjijit and careless ease, answer, ^' a friend of i\Irs. Selwyn's." Some days elapsed ere he called on Mr. vSelwvn; his lady was seated at her work-tahle, and alone. *' Your friend has then left you?" *'You mean Miss Adrian : she went the morning after the ball." ^Nlrs. Sclwyn longed to have said more, but after the almost solemn injunctions 2S6 A WINTER IN BATH. of i\d liana, she dared not. Mr. Falk- land "Nvould have given worlds to have asked one question, but had rvorlds been offered him, he thought he could not have articulated a syllable, and he shortly took his leave. The monotony of Adriana's life was a little enlivened by the receipt of the fol- lowing letter from ]\Iiss Oakley, withi« a week after the ball. THE LETTER. ""' Pr'imte Theatricals,'' " On Tuesday night was performed at Oakley lodge, the favourite play of * The Wonder ; or, a Woman keeps a Secret.* The part of Viola sustained by A \VINT£ll IN BATH. 287 Miss Oakley, wlio came off with un- bounded applause ! Yes, it has put nie to the torture, but still I have not yielded up my Cinderella's name ; and as she did not lose her glass slipper, I believe they will be a long time in finding her out, especially as Mrs. Selwyn tells me, she is never going to leave the manor again. Dear Miss Hartley, I am truly sorry for the distress you suffered at my house ; but why, on that account, you should immure yourself for ever, I can't divine. I am also forbid to call on you ; and, to vent my grief, I must needs trouble you with an heroic epistle, — Heigho! I have just been thinking of the difference be- tween us, my charming little friend; — you, all propriety and prudence — I, all volatility and thoughtlessness. — Heigho ! again. — They will be a long time in find- 288 /V WINTER IN EATH. ing it out, I said above. Metbinks I bear you very gravely saying, ' Wbo does sbe mean by fhei/ ?' — ^V^by tbe men m.v dear, tbe men from Dawson to mv Lord Maybury — tbere's a cbmax ! wbicb you may fill up witb an bundred names, curates as well as rectors, subalterns as well as commanding officers, dasbers and quizzcrs, as well as reasonable beings. — Seriously, dear Miss Hartley, I am very, very angry witb you. I bad never so great a mind to form an intimacy as witb you. I bave met you, I am sure, more tban balf way — and, you sensitive plant, you — what sball I call you ? — you snail, you just put yourself slowly forth to be seen, and to be admired, and then re- coil and retreat to your mansion. — Well, it's of no use to call names ; I believe I must learn to inure myself to disappoint- A WIXTKR IX DATH. 28^ nients — I must Icaru, i say, for as yet I have nev^er met with a serious one in my hfe; and to tell you the truth, dear Adriana, I think I might find a re^/and true serious one, very ditncult to hear. Suppose, for instance, tliat, after all lie has sworn Pshaw ! why instance im- possibilities? — I declare I do not know what ails me, but as I sit, throwing away one pen, and crying pish and pshaw, and taking up another at the instant, and moving about from right to left twenty times in a minute, my aunt Hambleton, who is very iiohlij employed in hemming dusters opposite to me, lifts up her spec- tacles, and resting them on the high roll which supports the little fly cap, she says, '^ In the name of fortune, what ails thee, girl?' — 'Meaning me, INIa'am ?' — * ]\fean- ing you, Cicey.' — ' Lord, Ma'am ! what a VOL. J. o 290 A WINTER IN BATH. terrible hissing you keep ! I assure you, dear aunt, since you liave lost one or two or tiirce of your teeth^ the abbreviation of my name does not answer at all I' — You are never without an answer I think, Miss /' — * Dear aunt ! would you have your Cissif-hissy lose her sex's charter!' — But it is you that are to ansicer for all this flippancy, Miss Adriana; for, out of humour with you for daring to sequester yourself, and not thinking it right and proper to vent all my spleen on the paper, I most inhumanly and barbarously have turned myself on my poor dear notable aunt. — Well, God bless you. Miss Hartley, and turn your heart ! So v/ill pray " Your cruelly used, ^* but still sincere friend, ** Cecilia Oakley/' I A WINTER IN BATH. gO"! Still remain ino^ in utter ignorance re- specting- Mv. Hartley's situation, and not daring to glance a hope, scarcely a thouglit of enquiry, towards that of her mother, the days of Adrian a passed cheerlessly on. Afraid to meet tlie eye of a human being, to whom the guilt of Mrs. Hartley's conduct might be known, or who might recognise in her child that girl who frolicked with careless and un- feeling levity at Miss Oakley's ball, Adrr- ana absented herself from the rectorv as frequently as she could with civility ; she always made a particular enquiry if there was any company before she en- tered, and while she remained there, every ring of the bell at the gate threw lier into a nervous trepidation. Mr. and Mrs. Selwyn pitied her sincerely, and re- spected the delicacy of feeling which had o 2 29i2 A WIN Tilt IN BATH. given birtii to these emotions. Nothing', they feared, was to be done to relieve her from then), unless the return of Mr. Hartley, and his protection, should once n^orc give l^er con^rquence in her own eyes; or unless she could at once reso- lutely resolve to step into company, and to bear, unmoved, lliose questions, and those looks of curiosity, Avhicli, once gratified, would speedily be hushed into .silence : but the return of Mv. Hartley was scarcely to be expected in the pre- sent situation of public affair?, and even to hint to y\{h'icuia the adoption of the latter alternative, v,as v/hat neither of th.is Vvorthy couple Vv'ould venture to do. Abstraction from society was thus forming: the character of Adriana to steadiness and reflection, fiu beyond her A WINTER IX 13ATH. i293 years. Alive to the best aficctions of kuniaii nature, yet warm-hearted, ein- .passioued, and sanguine, the entliusiasm and romance which rvould have attended her, had siie rushed into the world with ali her feelings afloat, was now checked and restrained by the pecuHarity of her situntion. She liad leisure and time for reflection ; her mind had been properly- stored, and her retired hours at the manor had helped to fix her judgment, and to correct the errors of her nature : she saw, with regret, how vain and fallacious had been those ardent hopes, and that gay perspective, on which her imagina- tion had tiid itself in Cumberland ; she had learned that this world is a far diirerent scene to that sunshine of pleasure and happiness which she had then pourtrayed it; and though she looked forwards with 594 A WINTER IN BATH. ])opc, yet it was a hope fixed on a firmer basis than on this nether world — it was the hope of a christian ! And happy was it for the youthful Adriana, that this hope was firndy implanted in her mind : bereft of it, where could she have looked for a ray of comfort ? The return of her parents, which was once the ardent wisli for which she seemed to live, which had given to every passing hour a feeling of anxious expectation, was now lost sight of as a cause of hope ; for what could it produce to her r— Her mother had dis- graced and abandoned her husband and her child ! her father, feeling the weight of her misconduct — wounded to the soul by the reproach and contumely which she had affixed to his name, would he seek that comfort from his daughter, and from A WINTER IN' BATH. 295 domestic habits, M'hich his wife had despoiled him of? As these thouo-hts crouded into tlie mind of Adriana, they had often a pain- ful influence over her whole frame. The apprehension of Mr. Hartley's sudden re- turn would start to her fancy, and the sound of horses' feet would, at these moments, almost paralyse her. The waves on the sea- shore, or the wind rush- ing through the large and hollow chim- nies of the manor, would often cause her to start from her pillow at midnight, ex- pecting to hear a carriage drive mto the court- way. KND OF THE FIRST VOLyME- printcd trj J. cJ. B^irnard^ Snovt-HUi J r- -^