a I B R.AFIY 
 
 OF THL 
 UNIVERSITY 
 or ILLINOIS 
 
 KZZt 
 
 V.I
 
 IMICHAEL 
 
 SADLERI
 
 7 
 
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 TBERIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/terribletemptati01read
 
 w<^^^^^ 
 
 TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 % ^toxv oi lljc gaij. 
 
 By CHARLES READE. 
 
 JN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1871. 
 
 [All Rights Reserved.]
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PKIh'TED BT W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STKEET 
 AND CHAKING CROSS.
 
 5k 
 
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 V.I 
 
 f=^ A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION, 
 
 ^ CHAPTER I. 
 
 I- . 
 
 "^ The morning room of a large house in 
 
 Portman Square, London. 
 t A gentleman in the prime of life stood 
 ^with his elbow on the broad mantel-piece, 
 4 and made himself agreeable to a young 
 lady, seated a little way off, playing at 
 'v, work. 
 
 ^ To the ear, he was only conversing ; but 
 his eyes dwelt on her with loving admira- 
 tion all the time. Her posture was favour- 
 able to this furtive inspection, for she 
 . leaned her fair head over her work with a 
 VSv, OL. I. B
 
 I A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 pretty, modest, demure air, that seemed to 
 say, " I suspect I am being admired : I 
 will not look to see; I might have to 
 check it." 
 
 The gentleman's features were ordinary, 
 except his brow — that had power in it — 
 but he had the beauty of colour ; his sun- 
 burnt features glowed with health, and his 
 eye was bright. On the whole rather good- 
 looking when he smiled, but ugly when he 
 frowned ; for his frown was a scowl, and 
 betrayed a remarkable power of hating. 
 
 Miss Arabella Bruce was a beauty. She 
 had glorious masses of dark red hair, and a 
 dazzling white neck to set it off; large 
 dove-like eyes, and a blooming oval face, 
 which would have been classical if her lips 
 had been thin and finely chiseled ; but 
 here came in her Anglo-Saxon breed, and 
 spared society a Minerva, by giving her 
 two full and rosy lips. They made a 
 smallish mouth at rest, but parted ever so 
 wide when they smiled, and ravished the
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 6 
 
 beholder with long even rows of dazzling 
 white teeth. 
 
 Her figure was tall and rather slim, but 
 not at all commanding. There are people 
 whose very bodies express character ; and 
 this tall, supple, graceful frame of Bella 
 Bruce breathed womanly subservience ; so 
 did her gestures ; she would take up or put 
 down her own scissors half timidly, and 
 look round before threading her needle, as 
 if to see whether any soul objected. Her 
 favourite word was " May I ?" with a stress 
 on the " May," and she used it where most 
 girls would say " I will," or nothing, and 
 do it. 
 
 Mr. Richard Bassett was in love with her, 
 and also conscious that her fifteen thousand 
 pounds would be a fine addition to his 
 present income, which was small, though 
 his distant expectations were great. As he 
 had known her but one month, and she 
 seemed rather amiable than inflammable, 
 he had the prudence to proceed by degrees ;
 
 •i A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION . 
 
 and that is why, though his eyes gloated 
 on her, he merely regaled her with the 
 gossip of the day, not worth recording here. 
 But, when he had actually taken his hat to 
 go, Bella Bruce put him a question that 
 had been on her mind the whole time ; for 
 which reason she had reserved it to the 
 very last moment. 
 
 '^ Is Sir Charles Bassett in town ?" said 
 she, mighty carelessly, but bending a little 
 lower over her embroidery. 
 
 " Don't know," said Eichard Bassett, with 
 such a sudden brevity and asperity, that 
 Miss Bruce looked up and opened her lovely 
 eyes. Mr. Richard Bassett replied to this 
 mute inquiry. " We don't speak." Then, 
 after a pause, '' He has robbed me of my 
 inheritance." 
 
 '' Oh, Mr. Bassett !" 
 
 ''Yes, Miss Bruce, the Bassett and 
 Huntercombe estates were mine by right of 
 birth. My father was the eldest son, and
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 5 
 
 they were entailed on him. But Sir 
 Charles's father persuaded my old doting 
 grandfather to cut off the entail, and settle 
 the estates on him and his heirs ; and so 
 they robbed me of every acre they could. 
 Luckily my little estate of Highmore was 
 settled on my mother and her issue, too 
 tight for the villains to undo." 
 
 These harsh expressions, applied to his 
 own kin, and the abruptness and heat they 
 were uttered with, surprised and repelled 
 his gentle listener. She shrank a little 
 away from him. He observed it. She 
 replied not to his words, but to her own 
 thought. 
 
 " But after all it does seem hard." She 
 added with a little fervour, '' But it wasn't 
 poor Sir Charles's doing after all." 
 
 " He is content to reap the benefit," said 
 Eichard Bassett sternly. 
 
 Then, finding he was making a sorry 
 impression, he tried to get away from the 
 subject ; I say tried ; for till a man can
 
 6 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 double like a hare he will never get away 
 from his hobby. " Excuse me," said he ; 
 '' I ought never to speak about it. Let us 
 talk of something else. You cannot enter 
 into my feelings — it makes my blood boil. 
 Oh, Miss Bruce ! you can't conceive what a 
 disinherited man feels— and I live at the 
 very door : his old trees, that ought to be 
 mine, fling their shadows over my little 
 fl.ower-beds ; the sixty chimneys of Hunter- 
 combe Hall look down on my cottage ; his 
 acres of lawn run up to my little garden, 
 and nothing but a ha-ha between us." 
 
 " It is hard," said Miss Bruce composedly ; 
 not that she entered into a hardship of this 
 vulo'ar sort, but it was her nature to soothe 
 and please people. 
 
 " Hard !" cried Richard Basse tt, en- 
 couraged by even this faint sympathy ; " it 
 would be unendurable but for one thing ; I 
 shall have my own some day." 
 
 " I am glad of that," said the lady ; " but 
 how ?"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 7 
 
 * By outliving the wrongful heir." 
 
 Miss Bruce turned pale. She had little 
 experience of men's passions. " Oh, Mr. 
 Basse tt !" said she — and there was some- 
 thing pure and holy in the look of sorrow 
 and alarm she cast on the presumptuous 
 speaker — " pray do not cherish such 
 thoughts. They will do you harm. And 
 rememher life and death are not in our 
 hands. Besides ." 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 " Sir Charles might- .'' 
 
 " Well ?" 
 
 "Might he not — marry — and have 
 children ?" This with more hesitation and 
 a deeper hlush than appeared absolutely 
 necessary. 
 
 " Oh, there's no fear of that. Property 
 ill-gotten never descends. Charles is a 
 worn-out rake ; he was fast at Eton — fast 
 at Oxford — fast in London. Why, he looks 
 ten years older than I, and he is three years 
 younger. He had a fit two years ago.
 
 6 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Besides, he is not a marrying man. Bassett 
 and Hunter combe will be mine. And oh ! 
 Miss Bruce, if ever they are mine " 
 
 "Sir Charles Bassett!" trumpeted a 
 servant at the door ; and then waited, 
 prudently, to know whether his young lady, 
 whom he had caught blushing so red with 
 one gentleman, would be at home to 
 another. 
 
 " Wait a moment," said Miss Bruce to 
 him. Then, discreetly ignoring what 
 Bassett had said last, and lowering her 
 voice almost to a whisper, she said 
 hurriedly, " You should not blame him for 
 the faults of others. There — I have not 
 been long acquainted with either, and am 
 
 little entitled to inter But it is such 
 
 a pity you are not friends. He is very 
 good, I assure you, and very nice : let me 
 reconcile you two. Mgt/ I?" 
 
 This well-meant petition was uttered very 
 sweetly, and indeed — if I may be permitted 
 — in a way to dissolve a bear.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 9 
 
 But this was not a bear, nor anything 
 else that is placable ; it was a man with a 
 hobby-grievance ; so he replied in character. 
 
 " That is impossible, so long as he keeps 
 me out of my own." He had the grace, 
 however, to add, half sullenly, " Excuse 
 me ; I feel I have been too vehement." 
 
 Miss Bruce, thus repelled, answered, 
 rather coldly, " Oh, never mind that ; it 
 was very natural. I am at home then," 
 said she to the servant. 
 
 Mr. Bassett took the hint, but turned at 
 the door, and said, with no little agitation, 
 " I was not aware he visits you. One word 
 — don't let his ill-gotten acres make you 
 quite forget the disinherited one." And 
 so he left her, with an imploring look. 
 
 She felt red with all this, so she slipped 
 out at another door, to cool her cheeks, and 
 imprison a stray curl for Sir Charles. 
 
 He strolled into the empty room, with 
 the easy, languid air of fashion. His 
 features were well cut, and had some
 
 10 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 nobility ; but his sickly complexion, and 
 the lines under his eyes, told a tale of 
 dissipation. He appeared ten years older 
 than he was, and thoroughly blase. 
 
 Yet, when Miss Bruce entered the room 
 with a smile and a little blush, he 
 brightened up and looked handsome, and 
 greeted her with momentary warmth. 
 
 After the usual inquiries, she asked him 
 if he had met anybody ? 
 
 " Where ?" 
 
 " Here ; just now." 
 
 "No." 
 
 " What, nobody at all ?" 
 
 " Only my sulky cousin ; I don't call 
 him anybody," drawled Sir Charles, who 
 was now relapsing into his normal con- 
 dition of semi-apathy. 
 
 " Oh," said Miss Bruce, gaily, " you 
 must expect him to be a little cross. It is 
 not so very nice to be disinherited, let me 
 tell you." 
 
 " And who has disinherited the fellow ?"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 11 
 
 "' I forget ; but you disinlieritecl him 
 amongst you. Never mind ; it can't be 
 helped now. When did you come back to 
 town ? I didn't see you at Lady D'Arcy's 
 ball : did I ?" 
 
 " You did not, unfortunately for me ; 
 but you would if I had known you were to 
 be there. But about Richard : he may tell 
 you what he likes, but he was not dis- 
 inherited ; he was bought out. The fact 
 is, his father was uncommonly fast. My 
 grandfather paid his debts again and 
 again ; but at last the old gentleman found 
 he was dealing with the Jews for his 
 reversion. Then there was an awful row. 
 It ended in my grandfather outbidding the 
 Jews. He bought the reversion of his 
 estate from his own son for a large sum of 
 money (he had to raise it by mortgages) — 
 then they cut off the entail between them, 
 and he entailed the mortgaged estate on 
 his other son, and his grandson (that was 
 me), and on my heir-at-law. Richard's
 
 12 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 father squandered his thirty thousand 
 pounds before he died ; my father hus- 
 banded the estates, got into Parliament, 
 and they put a tail to his name." 
 
 Sir Charles delivered this version of the 
 facts with a languid composure that con- 
 trasted deliciously with Richard's heat in 
 telling the story his way (to be sure, Sir 
 Charles had got Huntercombe and Bassett, 
 and it is easier to be philosophical on the 
 right side of the boundary hedge), and 
 wound up with a sort of corollary : " Dick 
 Bassett suffers by his father s vices, and I 
 profit by mine's virtues. Where's the in- 
 justice ?" 
 
 ''Nowhere, and the sooner you are re- 
 conciled the better." 
 
 Sir Charles demurred. "Oh, I don't 
 want to quarrel with the fellow ; but he is 
 a regular thorn in my side, with his little 
 trumpery estate, all in . broken patches. 
 He shoots my pheasants in the un fairest 
 way." Here the landed proprietor showed
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPT ATIOX. 13 
 
 real irritation, but only for a moment. He 
 concluded calmly : " The fact is, he is not 
 quite a gentleman. Fancy his coming and 
 whining to you about our family affairs, 
 and then telling you a falsehood !" 
 
 '' No, no ; he did not mean. It was his 
 way of looking at things. You can afford 
 to forgive him." 
 
 " Yes, but not if he sets you against me." 
 
 " But he cannot do that. The more 
 any one was to speak against you, the 
 more I of course." 
 
 This admission fired Sir Charles ; he 
 drew nearer, and, thanks to his cousin's 
 interference, spoke the language of love 
 more warmly and directly than he had 
 ever done before. 
 
 The lady blushed and defended herself 
 feebly. Sir Charles grew warmer, and 
 at last elicited from her a timid but 
 tender avowal, that made him supremely 
 happy. 
 
 When he left her, this brief ecstacy was
 
 14 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 succeeded by regrets on account of the 
 years he had wasted in follies and intrigues. 
 
 He smoked five cigars, and pondered the 
 difference between the pure creature who 
 now honoured him with her virgin affec- 
 tions, and beauties of a different character 
 who had played their parts in his luxurious 
 Hfe. 
 
 After profound deliberation, he sent for 
 his solicitor. They lighted the inevitable 
 cigars, and the following observations 
 struggled feebly out along with the smoke — 
 
 " Mr. Oldfield, I'm going to be married." 
 
 " Glad to hear it. Sir Charles." (Vision 
 of settlements.) " It is high time you 
 were." (Puff— puff.) 
 
 " Want your advice and assistance first." 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 *' Must put down my pony-carriage now, 
 you know." 
 
 " A very proper retrenchment ; but you 
 can do that without my assistance." 
 
 " There would be sure to be a row if I
 
 A TERKIBLE TEMPTATION. 15 
 
 did. I dare say there will be as it is. At 
 any rate, I want to do the thing like a 
 gentleman." 
 
 " Send 'em to Tattersall's." (Puff.) 
 
 *^ And the girl that drives them in the 
 park, and draws all the duchesses and 
 countesses at her tail — am I to send her to 
 Tattersall's ?" (Puff.) 
 
 "Oh, it is her you want to put down 
 then ?" 
 
 " A¥hy, of course."
 
 16 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Sir Charles and Mr. Oldfield settled that 
 lady's retiring pension ; and Mr. Oldfield 
 took the memoranda home, with instruc- 
 tions to prepare a draft deed for Miss 
 Somerset's approval. 
 
 Meantime Sir Charles visited Miss Bruce 
 every day. Her affections for him grew 
 visibly ; for being engaged gave her the 
 courage to love. 
 
 Mr. Bassett called pretty often ; but one 
 day he met Sir Charles on the stairs, and 
 scowled. 
 
 That scowl cost him dear, for Sir Charles 
 thereupon represented to Bella that a man
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 17 
 
 with a grievance is a bore to the very eye, 
 and asked her to receive no more visits 
 from his scowling cousin. The lady 
 smiled, and said with soft complacency, 
 " I obey." 
 
 Sir Charles's gallantry was shocked. 
 "No," don't say 'obey.' It is a Httle 
 favour I ventured to ask." 
 
 "It is like you, to ask what you have a 
 right to command. I shall be out to him 
 in future, and to every one who is dis- 
 agreeable to you. What ? does ' obey ' 
 frighten you from my lips? To me it is 
 the sweetest in the language. Oh, please 
 let me ' obey ' you ! May I ?" 
 
 Upon this, as vanity is seldom out of call, 
 Sir Charles swelled like a turkey-cock, and 
 loftily consented to indulge Bella Bruce's 
 strange propensity. 
 
 From that hour she was never at home 
 to Mr. Bassett. 
 
 He began to suspect ; and one day, after 
 he bad been kept out with the loud, stolid 
 ^^VOL. I.
 
 18 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 " Not at home " of practised mendacity, he 
 watched, and saw Sir Charles admitted. 
 
 He divined it all, in a moment, and 
 turned to wormwood. What ! was he to 
 be robbed of the lady he loved — and her 
 fifteen thousand pounds — by the very man 
 who had robbed him of his ancestral fields ? 
 He dwelt on the double grievance till it 
 nearly frenzied him. But he could do 
 nothing ; it was his fate. His only hope 
 was that Sir Charles, the arrant flirt, would 
 desert this beauty after a time, as he had 
 the others. 
 
 But one afternoon, in the smoking room 
 of his club, a gentleman said to him, " So 
 your cousin Charles is engaged to the 
 Yorkshire beauty. Bell Bruce." 
 
 " He is flirting with her, I believe," said 
 Kichard. 
 
 "No, no," said the other; "they are 
 engaged. I know it for a fact. They are 
 to be married next month." 
 
 Mr. Richard Bassett digested this fresh
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 1^ 
 
 pill in moody silence, while tlie gentlemen 
 of the club discussed the engagement with 
 easy levity. They soon passed to a topic 
 of wider interest — viz., who was to succeed 
 Sir Charles with La Somerset. Bassett 
 began to listen attentively, and learned for 
 the first time Sir Charles Bassett's con- 
 nection with that lady, and also that she 
 was a woman of a daring nature and 
 furious temper. At first he was merely 
 surprised : but soon hatred and jealousy 
 whispered in his ear that with these 
 materials it must be possible to wound 
 those who had wounded him. 
 
 Mr. Marsh, a young gentleman with a 
 receding chin, and a moustache between 
 hay and straw, had taken great care to let 
 them all know he was acquainted with 
 Miss Somerset ; so Eichard got Marsh 
 alone, and sounded him. Could he call 
 upon the lady, without ceremony ? 
 
 " You v/on't get in ; her street door is 
 jolly well guarded, I can tell you."
 
 20 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 " I am very curious to see her in her 
 own house." 
 
 " So are a good many fellows." 
 
 "" Could you not give me an intro- 
 duction ?" 
 
 Marsh shook his head sapiently for a 
 considerable time, and with all this shaking, 
 as it appeared, out fell words of wisdom. 
 '^ Don't see it. I'm awfully spoony on her 
 myself; and, you know, when a fellow 
 introduces another fellow, that fellow 
 always cuts the other fellow out." Then^ 
 descending from the words of the wise and 
 their dark sayings to a petty but pertinent 
 fact, he added, " Besides, I'm only let in 
 myself about once in five times." 
 
 "She gives herself wonderful airs^ it 
 seems," said Basse tt, rather bitterly. 
 
 Marsh fired up. " So would any woman 
 that was as beautiful, and as witty, and as 
 much run after as she is. Why, she is a 
 leader of fashion. Look at all the ladies 
 following her round the park. They used
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 21 
 
 to drive on the north side of the Ser- 
 pentine. She just held up her finger, and 
 now they have cut the Serpentine, and 
 followed her to the south drive." 
 
 " Oh, indeed !" said Basset. " Ah ! then 
 this is a great lady ; a poor country squire 
 must not venture into her august presence." 
 He turned savagely on his heel, and Marsh 
 went and made sickly mirth at his expense. 
 
 By this means the matter soon came to 
 the ears of old Mr. Woodgate, the father of 
 that club, and a genial gossip. He got 
 hold of Bassett, in the dinner-room, and 
 examined him. '^So you want an intro- 
 duction to La Somerset, and Marsh refuses 
 — Marsh, hitherto celebrated for his weak 
 head rather than his hard heart ?" 
 
 Richard Bassett nodded rather sullenlv : 
 he had not bargained for this rapid pub- 
 licity. 
 
 The venerable chief resumed : "We all 
 consider Marsh's conduct unclubbable, and 
 a thing to be combined against. Wanted
 
 99 
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 — an Anti-dog-in-tlie"manger League. I'll 
 introduce you to the Somerset." 
 
 " What ! do you visit her ?" asked Bassett, 
 in some astonishment. 
 
 The old gentleman held up his hands in 
 droll disclaimer, and chuckled merrily, 
 ''No, no; I enjoy from the shore the dis- 
 asters of my youthful friends — that sacred 
 pleasure is left me. Do you see that elegant 
 creature with the little auburn beard and 
 moustache, waiting sweetly for his dinner ? 
 He launched the Somerset." 
 
 " Launched her ?" 
 
 " Yes ; but for him she might have 
 wasted her time, breaking hearts and 
 slapping faces, in some country village. 
 He it was set her devastating society ; and, 
 with his aid, she shall devastate you. 
 Yandeleur, will you join Bassett and me?" 
 
 Mr. Yandeleur, with ready grace, said 
 he should be delighted, and they dined 
 together accordingly. 
 
 Mr. Yandeleur, six feet high, lank, but
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 23 
 
 graceful as a panther, and the pink of" 
 politeness, was, beneath his varnish, one 
 of the wildest young men in London — 
 gambler, horse-racer, libertine, what not ? 
 but in society charming, and his manners 
 singularly elegant and winning. He never 
 obtruded his vices in good company ; in 
 fact, you might dine with him all your life 
 and not detect him : the young serpent 
 was torpid in wine ; but he came out, a bit 
 at a time, in the sunshine of Cigar. 
 
 After a brisk conversation on current 
 topics, the venerable chief told him plainly 
 that they were both curious to know the 
 history of Miss Somerset, and he must tell 
 it them. 
 
 " Oh, with pleasure," said the obhging 
 youth. " Let us go into the smoking- 
 room." 
 
 " Let — me-^see. I picked her up by 
 the seaside. She promised well at first. 
 We put her on my chestnut mare, and
 
 24 A TERKIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 she showed lots of courage, so she soon 
 learned to ride ; but she kicked, even down 
 there." 
 
 " Kicked ?— whom ?" 
 
 '* Kicked all round; I mean showed 
 temper. And, when she got to London, 
 and had ridden a few times in the park, 
 and had swallowed flattery, there was no 
 holding her. I stood her cheek for a good 
 while, but at last I told the servants they 
 must not turn her out, but they could keep 
 her out. They sided with me, for once ; 
 she had ridden over them as well. The 
 first time she went out, they bolted the 
 doors, and handed her boxes up the area 
 steps." 
 
 ''How did she take that ?" 
 
 " Easier than we expected. She said, 
 ' Lucky for you beggars that I'm a lady, 
 
 or I'd break every d d window in the 
 
 house.' " 
 
 This caused a laugh. It subsided. The 
 historian resumed.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 25 
 
 " Next day she cooled, and wrote a 
 letter." 
 
 " To you ?" 
 
 " No ; to my groom. Would you like 
 to see it ? It is a curiosity." 
 
 He sent one of the club waiters for his 
 servant, and his servant for his desk ; and 
 produced the letter. 
 
 " There !" said Yandeleur. " She looks 
 like a queen, and steps like an empress, 
 and this is how she writes : 
 
 " DEAR JORGE, 
 
 *^ i have got the sak, an praps your turn 
 nex. dear jorge he alwaies jjromise me the 
 grey oss, which now an oss is life an death to 
 me. If you was to ast him to lend me the 
 grey he wouldn't refuse you, 
 
 " Yours respecfuUy, 
 
 "Rhoda Somerset." 
 
 When the letter, and the handwriting, 
 which unfortunately I cannot reproduce,
 
 26 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 had been duly studied and approved, 
 Vandeleur continued : 
 
 '* Now, you know, she had her good 
 points, after all. If any creature was ill, 
 she'd sit up all night and nurse them ; and 
 she used to go to church on Sundays, and 
 come back with the sting out of her ; only 
 then she would preach to a fellow, and 
 bore him. She is awfully fond of preaching. 
 Her dream is to jump on a first-rate hunter, 
 and ride across country, and preach the 
 villages. So, when George came grinning 
 to me with the letter, I told him to buy 
 a new side-saddle for the grey, and take 
 her the lot, with my compliments. I 
 had noticed a slight spavin in his near 
 hock. She rode him that very day in 
 the park, all alone, and made such a sensa- 
 tion, that next day my grey was standing 
 in Lord Hailey's stables. But she rode 
 Hailey, like my grey, with a long spur, 
 and he couldn't stand it. None of 'em 
 could, except Sir Charles Bassett, and
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. Z/ 
 
 he doesn't play fair — never goes near 
 her." 
 
 '* And that gives him an unfair advantage 
 over his fascinating predecessors ?" inquired 
 the senior, slily. 
 
 " Of course it does," said Vandeleur, 
 stoutly. " You ask a girl to dine at Rich- 
 mond once a month, and keep out of her 
 way all the rest of the time, and give her 
 lots of money — she will never quarrel with 
 you." 
 
 " Profit by this information, young 
 man," said old Woodgate, severely : '^ it 
 comes too late for me. In my day there 
 existed no sure method of pleasing the fair. 
 But now that is invented along with every- 
 thing else. Richmond and — absence : 
 equivalent to ' Richmond and victory !' 
 Now, Bassett, we have heard the truth 
 from the fountain-head ; and it is rather 
 serious ; she swears, she kicks, she preaches. 
 Do you still desire an introduction? As 
 for me, my manly spirit is beginning to
 
 28 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 quake at Vandeleur's revelations, and 
 some lines of Scott recur to my gotliic 
 memory : — 
 
 " * From the chafed tiger rend his prey, 
 Bar the fell dragon's bhghting way, 
 But shun that lovely snare.' " 
 
 Bassett replied, gravely, tliat he had no 
 such motive as Mr. Woodgate gave him 
 credit for, but still desired the introduction. 
 
 " With pleasure," said Vandeleur ; " but 
 it will be no use to you. She hates me 
 like poison : says I have no heart. That 
 is what all ill-tempered women say." 
 
 Notwithstanding his misgivings, the 
 obliging youth called for writing materials, 
 and produced the following epistle : — 
 
 '' Dear Miss Somerset, 
 
 " Mr, Richard Bassett, a cousin of Sir 
 Charles, wishes very much to he introduced to 
 you, and has hegged me to assist in an object 
 so laudable. I should hardly venture to iJre- 
 sent myself, and therefore shall feel surprised
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION-. 29 
 
 as well as flattered if you will recdve Mr, 
 Bassett 07i my introduction, and my assurance 
 that he is a respectable country gentleman^ 
 and hears no resemblance in character to 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " Arthur Vandeleur." 
 
 Next day Bassett called at Miss Somer- 
 set's house in Mayfair, and delivered his 
 introduction. He was admitted after a 
 short delay, and entered the lady's boudoir. 
 It was Luxury's nest. The walls were 
 rose-coloured satin, padded and puckered ; 
 the voluminous curtains were pale satin, 
 with floods and billows of real lace ; the 
 chairs embroidered, the tables all buhl and 
 ormolu, and the sofas felt like little seas. 
 The lady herself, in a delightful peignoir, 
 sat nestled cosily in a sort of ottoman with 
 arms. Her finely formed hand, clogged 
 with brilliants, was just conveying brandy 
 and soda-water to a very handsome mouth, 
 when Richard Bassett entered.
 
 30 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 She raised herself superbly^ but without 
 leaving her seat, and just looked at a chair, 
 in a way that seemed to say, " I permit 
 you to sit down ;" and, that done, she 
 carried the glass to her lips with the same 
 admirable firmness of hand she showed in 
 driving. Her lofty manner_, coupled with 
 her beautiful, but rather haughty features, 
 smacked of imperial origin. Yet she was 
 the writer to '^ jorge," and four years ago 
 a shrimp-girl, running into the sea with 
 legs as brown as a berry. 
 
 So swiftly does merit rise in this world, 
 which, nevertheless, some morose folk pre- 
 tend is a wicked one. 
 
 I ought to exj)lain, however, that this 
 haughty reception was partly caused by a 
 breach of propriety. Yandeleur ought 
 first to have written to her, and asked per- 
 mission to present Richard Bassett. He 
 had no business to send the man and the 
 introduction together. This law a Parlia- 
 ment of Sirens had passed, and the slightest
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 31 
 
 breach of it was a bitter offence. Equi- 
 librium governs the world. These ladies 
 were bound to be over-strict in something 
 or other, being just a little lax in certain 
 things where other ladies are strict. 
 
 Now Bassett had pondered well what he 
 should say^ but he was disconcerted by her 
 superb presence and demeanour, and her 
 large grey eyes that rested steadily upon 
 his face. 
 
 However, he began to murmur melli- 
 fluously. Said he had often seen her in 
 public, and admired her, and desired to 
 make her acquaintance, etc. etc. 
 
 " Then why did you not ask Sir Charles 
 to bring you here ?" said Miss Somerset, 
 abruptly, and searching him with her 
 eyes, that were not to say bold, but 
 singularly brave, and examiners point- 
 blank. 
 
 " I am not on good terms with Sir 
 Charles. He holds the estates that ought 
 to be mine ; and now he has robbed me of
 
 32 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 my love ; he is the last man in the world 
 I would ask a favour of." 
 
 "You came here to abuse him behind 
 his back, eh ?" asked the lady, with un- 
 disguised contempt. 
 
 Bassett winced, but kept his temper. 
 " No, Miss Somerset ; but you seem to 
 think I ought to have come to you through 
 Sir Charles. I would not enter your house 
 if I did not feel sure I shall not meet him 
 here." 
 
 Miss Somerset looked rather puzzled. 
 " Sir Charles does not come here often, 
 but he comes now and then, and he is 
 always welcome." 
 
 " You surprise me." 
 
 " Thank you. Now some of my gentle- 
 men friends think it is a wonder he does 
 not come every minute." 
 
 *'You mistake me. What surprises me 
 is that you are such good friends under the 
 circumstances." 
 
 " Circumstances ! what circumstances ?"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 3o 
 
 ' Oh, you know. You ai'e in his con- 
 fidence, I presume ?" — this rather satirically. 
 So the lady answered defiantly. 
 
 *' Yes, I am ; he knows I can hold my 
 tongue ; so he tells me things he tells 
 nobody else." 
 
 " Then_, if you are in his confidence, you 
 know he is about to be married." 
 
 '' Married ! Sir Charles married !" 
 
 " In three weeks." 
 
 " It's a lie ! You get out of my house 
 this moment !" 
 
 Mr. Bassett coloured at this insult. He 
 rose from his seat with some little dignity, 
 made her a low bow, and retired. But her 
 blood was up : she made a wonderful rush, 
 sweeping down a chair with her dress as 
 she went, and caught him at the door, 
 clutched him by the shoulder and half 
 dragged him back, and made him sit down 
 again, while she stood opposite him, with 
 the knuckles of one hand resting on the 
 table. 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 '' Now," said she, panting, '' you look me 
 in the face, and say that again." 
 
 " Excuse me, you punish me too severely 
 for telling the truth." 
 
 *' Well, I beg your pardon — there. Now 
 tell me — this instant. Can't you speak, 
 man?" And her knuckles drummed the 
 table. 
 
 "He is to be married in three weeks." 
 
 ^' Oh !— Who to ?" 
 
 " A young lady I love." 
 
 " Her name ?" 
 
 '' Miss Arabella Bruce." 
 
 " Where does she live ?" 
 
 '' Portman Square." 
 
 ^' I'll stop that marriage." 
 
 " How ?" asked Richard eagerly. 
 
 " I don't know ; that I'll think over. But 
 he shall not marry her — never !" 
 
 Bassett sat and looked up with almost as 
 much awe as complacency at the fury he 
 had evoked ; for this woman was really, at 
 times, a poetic impersonation of that fiery
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 35 
 
 passion she was so apt to indulge. She 
 stood before him, her cheek pale, her eyes 
 glittering and roving savagely, and her 
 nostrils literally expanding, while her tall 
 body quivered with wrath, and her clenched 
 knuckles pattered on the table. 
 
 " He shall not marry her. I'll kill him 
 first."
 
 36 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 Richard Bassett eagerly offered his 
 services to break off the obnoxious match. 
 But Miss Somerset was beginning to be 
 mortified at having shown so much passion 
 before a stranger. 
 
 "What have you to do with it?'' said 
 she sharply. 
 
 " Everything. I love Miss Bruce." 
 " Oh, yes ; I forgot that. Anything 
 else ? There is, now. I see it in your eye. 
 What is it ?" 
 
 " Sir Charles's estates are mine by right, 
 and they will return to my line if he does 
 not marry and have issue."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 37 
 
 " Oh, I see. That is so Hke a man. It's 
 always love, and something more important, 
 with you. Well, give me your address. 
 I'll write if I want you." 
 
 " Highly flattered," said Bassett ironically 
 — wrote his address, and left her. 
 
 Miss Somerset then sat down and 
 wrote — 
 
 "dear sir CHARLES, 
 
 '^ please call here, I want to speak 
 to you, 
 
 " yours respecfuly, 
 
 " RHODA Somerset." 
 
 Sir Charles obeyed this missive, and the 
 lady received him with a gracious and 
 smiling manner, all put on and cat-like. 
 She talked with him of indifferent things 
 for more than an hour, still watching to 
 see if he would tell her of his own accord. 
 
 When she was quite sure he would not, 
 slie said —
 
 38 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 " Do you know there's a ridiculous report 
 about, that you are going to be married ?" 
 
 " Indeed !" 
 
 '^ They even tell her name — Miss Bruce. 
 Do you know the girl ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Is she pretty ?" 
 
 ''Very." 
 
 " Modest ?" 
 
 ^^ As an angel." 
 
 " And are you going to marry her ?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then you are a villain." 
 
 " The deuce I am !" 
 
 " You are, to abandon a woman who has 
 sacrificed all for you." 
 
 Sir Charles looked puzzled, and then 
 smiled ; but was too polite to give his 
 thoughts vent. Nor was it necessary; 
 Miss Somerset, whose brave eyes never left 
 the person she was speaking to, fired up 
 at the smile alone, and she burst into a 
 torrent of remonstrance, not to say vitupera-
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 39 
 
 tion. Sir Charles endeavoured once or 
 twice to stop it, but it was not to be 
 stopped ; so, at last, he quietly took up his 
 hat to go. 
 
 He was arrested at the door by a rustle 
 and a fall. He turned round, and there 
 was Miss Somerset lying on her back, 
 grinding her white teeth and clutching the 
 air. 
 
 He ran to the bell and rang it violently, 
 then knelt down and did his best to keep 
 her from hurting herself; but, as generally 
 happens in these cases, his interference 
 made her more violent. He had hard 
 work to keep her from battering her head 
 against the floor, and her arms worked like 
 windmills. 
 
 Hearing the bell tugged so violently, a 
 pretty page ran headlong into the room — 
 saw- -and, without an instant's diminution 
 of speed, described a curve and ran head- 
 long out, screaming " Polly ! Polly !" 
 
 The next moment, the housekeeper, an
 
 40 A TERRinLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 elderly woman, trotted in at the door, saw 
 her mistress's condition, and stood stock- 
 still, calling " Polly/' but with the most 
 perfect tranquillity the mind can conceive. 
 
 In ran a strapping housemaid, with black 
 eyes and brown arms, went down on her 
 knees and said firmly, though respectfully, 
 " Give her me, sir." 
 
 She got behind her struggling mistress, 
 pulled her up into her own lap, and pinned 
 her by the wrists with a vigorous grasp. 
 
 The lady struggled, and ground her 
 teeth audibly, and flung her arms abroad. 
 The maid applied all her rustic strength 
 and harder muscle to hold her within 
 bounds. The four arms went to and fro in 
 a magnificent struggle, and neither could 
 the maid hold the mistress still, nor the 
 mistress shake off the maid's grasp, nor 
 strike anything to hurt herself. 
 
 Sir Charles^ thrust out of the play, looked 
 on with pity and anxiety, and the little page 
 at the door — combining art and nature —
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 41 
 
 stuck stock-still in a military attitude, and 
 blubbered aloud. 
 
 As for the housekeeper, she remained in 
 the middle of the room with folded arms, 
 and looked down on the struggle with a 
 singular expression of countenance. There 
 was no agitation whatever, but a sort of 
 thoughtful examination, half cynical, half 
 admiring. 
 
 However, as soon as the boy's sobs 
 reached her ear, she wakened up, and said 
 tenderly, "What is the child crying for? 
 Eun and get a basin of water and fling it 
 all over her : that will bring her to in a 
 minute." 
 
 The page departed swiftly on this bene- 
 volent errand. 
 
 Then the lady gave a deep sigli, and 
 ceased to struggle. 
 
 Next she stared in all their faces, and 
 seemed to return to consciousness. 
 
 Next she spoke, but very feebly. '' Help 
 me up," she sighed.
 
 42 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 Sir Charles and Polly raised her, and 
 now there was a marvellous change. The 
 vigorous vixen was utterly weak, and limp 
 as a wet towel — a woman of jelly. As 
 such they handled her, and deposited her 
 gingerly on the sofa. 
 
 Now the page ran in hastily with the 
 water. Up jumps the poor lax sufferer 
 with flashing eyes : " You dare to come 
 near me with it!" Then to the female 
 servants : " Call yourselves women ? and 
 water my lilac silk, not two hours old ?" 
 Then to the housekeeper : " You old 
 monster, you wanted it for your Polly. 
 Get out of my sight, the hi V 
 
 Then, suddenly remembering how feeble 
 she was, she sank instantly down, and 
 turned piteously and languidly to Sir 
 Charles. " They eat my bread, and rob me, 
 and hate me," said she faintly. " I have 
 but one friend on earth." She leaned 
 tenderly towards Sir Charles as that friend ; 
 but before she quite reached him she started
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 43 
 
 back, her eyes filled with sudden horror. 
 ''And he forsakes me!" she cried; and so 
 turned away from him despairingly, and 
 began to cry bitterly, wdth head averted 
 over the sofa, and one hand hanging by 
 her side for Sir Charles to take and comfort 
 her. He tried to take it. It resisted ; and, 
 under cover of that little disturbance, the 
 other hand dexterously whipped two pins 
 out of her hair. The long brown tresses — 
 all her own — fell over her eyes, and down 
 to her waist ; and the picture of distressed 
 beauty was complete. 
 
 Even so did the women of antiquity 
 conquer male pity — " solutis crinibus.'' 
 
 The females interchanged a meaning 
 glance, and retired ; the boy followed them 
 with his basin, sore perplexed, but learning 
 life in this admirable school. 
 
 Sir Charles then, with the utmost kind- 
 ness, endeavoured to reconcile the weeping 
 and dishevelled fair to that separation which 
 circumstances rendered necessary. But she
 
 44 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 was inconsolable, and he left the house, 
 13erplexed and grieved : not but what it 
 gratified his vanity a little to find himseli 
 beloved all in a moment, and the Somerset 
 unvixened. He could not help thinking 
 how wide must be the circle of his charms, 
 which had won the affections of two beautiful 
 women so opposite in character as Bella 
 Bruce and La Somerset. 
 
 The passion of this latter seemed to 
 grow. She wrote to him every day, and 
 begged him to call on her. 
 
 She called on him — she who had never 
 called on a man before. 
 
 She raged with jealousy ; she melted 
 with grief. She played on him with all a 
 woman's artillery, and, at last, actually 
 wrung from him what she called a reprieve. 
 
 Richard Bassett called on her, but she 
 would not receive him ; so then he wrote 
 to her, urging co-operation, and she re- 
 plied, frankly, that she took no interest in 
 his affairs^ but that she was devoted to Sir
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 45 
 
 Charles, and should keep him for herself. 
 Vanity tempted her to add that he (Sir 
 Charles) was with her every day, and the 
 wedding postponed. 
 
 This last seemed too good to be true, so 
 Richard Bassett set his servant to talk to 
 the servants in Portman Square. He 
 learned that the wedding was now to be on 
 the 15th of June, instead of the 31st of 
 May. 
 
 Convinced that this postponement was 
 only a blind, and that the marriage would 
 never be, he breathed more freely at the 
 news. 
 
 But the fact is, although Sir Charles had 
 yielded so far to dread of scandal, he was 
 ashamed of himself, and his shame became 
 remorse when he detected a furtive tear in 
 tlie dove-like eyes of her he really loved 
 and esteemed. 
 
 He went and told his trouble to Mr. Old- 
 field. " I am afraid she will do something 
 desperate," he said.
 
 46 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield heard him out, and then 
 asked him, had he told Miss Somerset what 
 he was going to settle on her. 
 
 " Not I. She is not in a condition to be 
 influenced by that, at present." 
 
 " Let me try her. The draft is ready. 
 I'll call on her to-morrow." 
 
 He did call, and was told she did not 
 know him. 
 
 '' You tell her I'm a lawyer, and it is 
 very much to her interest to see me," said 
 Mr. Oldfield to the page. 
 
 He was admitted, but not to a tete-a-tete, 
 Polly was kept in the room. The Somerset 
 had peeped, and Oldfield was an old fellow, 
 with white hair ; if he had been a young 
 fellow, with black hair, she might have 
 thought that precaution less necessary. 
 
 " First, madam/' said Oldfield, "' I must 
 beg you to accept my apologies for not 
 coming sooner. Press of business, etc." 
 
 " Why have you come at all ? That is 
 the question," inquired the lady, bluntly.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 47 
 
 " I bring the draft of a deed for your 
 approval. Shall I read it to you ?" 
 
 " Yes, if it is not very long." 
 
 He began to read it. 
 
 The lady interrupted him character- 
 istically : 
 
 " It's a beastly rigmarole. What does it 
 mean — in three words ?" 
 
 " Sir Charles Bassett secures to Rhoda 
 Somerset four hundred pounds a year, 
 while single ; this is reduced to two 
 hundred if you marry. The deed further 
 assigns to you, without reserve, the bene- 
 ficial lease of this house, and all the 
 furniture and effects, plate, linen, wine, 
 etc." 
 
 " 1 see : a bribe." 
 
 " Nothing of the kind, madam. When 
 Sir Charles instructed me to prepare this 
 deed, he expected no opposition on your 
 part to his marriage ; but he thought it 
 due to him and to yourself, to mark his 
 esteem for you, and his recollection of the
 
 48 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 pleasant hours he has spent in your 
 company." 
 
 Miss Somerset's eyes searched the 
 lawyer's face. He stood the battery un- 
 flinchingly. She altered her tone, and 
 asked politely, and almost respectfully, 
 whether she might see that paper. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield gave it her. She took it, 
 and ran her eye over it ; in doing v^hich, 
 she raised it so that she could think behind 
 it unobserved. She handed it back at last, 
 with the remark that Sir Charles w^as a 
 gentleman^ and had done the right thing. 
 
 "He has; and you will do the right 
 thing too, will you not ?" 
 
 " I don't know. I am just beginning to 
 fall in love with him myself." 
 
 " Jealousy, madam, not love," said the 
 old lawyer. " Come, now ! I see you are 
 a young lady of rare good sense ; look the 
 thing in the face : Sir Charles is a landed 
 gentleman, he must marry and have heirs. 
 He is over thirty, and his time has come.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 49 
 
 He has shown himself your friend, why 
 not be his ? He has given you the means 
 to marry a gentleman of moderate income, 
 or to marry beneath you, if you prefer 
 
 it 
 
 " And most of us do " 
 
 " Then why not make his path smooth ? 
 Why distress him with your tears and 
 remonstrances ?" 
 
 He continued in this strain for some 
 time, appealing to her good sense and her 
 better feelings. 
 
 When he had done she said, very 
 quietly, " How about the ponies and my 
 brown mare ? are they down in the deed ?" 
 
 " I think not, but if you will do your 
 part handsomely, I'll guarantee you shall 
 have them." 
 
 " You are a good soul ;" then, after a 
 pause, " Now, just you tell me exactly 
 what you want me to do for all this." 
 
 Oldfield was pleased with this question. 
 He said, ^' I wish you to abstain from 
 
 VOL. L E
 
 50 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 writing to Sir Charles, and him to visit 
 you only once more before his marriage, 
 just to shake hands and part, with mutual 
 friendship and good wishes." 
 
 '^ You are right," said she, softly ; " best 
 for us both, and only fair to the girl." 
 Then, with sudden and eager curiosity, " Is 
 she very pretty ?" 
 
 '' I don't know." 
 
 " What, hasn't he told you ?" 
 
 " He says she is lovely, and every way 
 adorable ; but then he is in love. The 
 chances are she is not half so handsome as 
 yourself." 
 
 " And yet he is in love with her ?" 
 
 ^' Over head and ears." 
 
 " I don't believe it. If he was really in 
 love with one woman^ he couldn't be just 
 to another. / couldn't. He'll be coming 
 back to me in a few months." 
 
 '' God forbid !" 
 
 " Thank you, old gentleman." 
 
 Mr. Oldlield began to stammer excuses.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 51 
 
 She interrupted him : " Oh, bother all 
 that ; I like you none the worse for 
 speaking your mind." Then, after a pause, 
 " Now, excuse me, but suppose Sir Charles 
 should change his mind, and never sign 
 this paper ?" 
 
 " I pledge my professional credit." 
 " That is enough, sir ; I see I can trust 
 you. Well, then, I consent to break oif 
 with Sir Charles, and only see him once 
 more — as a friend. Poor Sir Charles^ I 
 hope he will be happy " (she squeezed out 
 a tear for him) — "happier than I am. 
 And when he does come, he can sign the 
 deed, you know." 
 
 Mr. Oldfield left her, and joined Sir 
 Charles at Long's, as had been previously 
 agreed. 
 
 "It is all right, Sir Charles! she is a 
 sensible girl, and will give you no farther 
 trouble." 
 
 " How did you get over the hysterics ?" 
 " We dispensed with them. She saw at 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF iaiM«<»
 
 52 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 once it was to be business, not sentiment. 
 You are to pay her one more visit, to sign, 
 and part friends. If you please, I'll make 
 that appointment with both parties, as 
 soon as the deed is engrossed. Oh, by-the- 
 by, she did shed a tear or two, but she 
 dried them to ask me for the ponies and 
 the brown mare." 
 
 Sir Charles's vanity was mortified. But 
 he laughed it off, and said she should have 
 them, of course. 
 
 So now his mind was at ease, his 
 conscience was at rest, and he could give 
 his whole time where he had given his 
 heart. 
 
 Richard Bassett learned, through his 
 servant, that the wedding dresses were 
 ordered. He called on Miss Somerset. 
 She was out. 
 
 Polly opened the door, and gave him a 
 look of admiration — due to his fresh colour 
 — that encouraged him to try and enlist 
 her in his service.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 53 
 
 He questioned her, and she told him in 
 a general way how matters were going. 
 " But," said she, " why not come and talk 
 to her yourself? Ten to one but she tells 
 you. She is pretty outspoken." 
 
 " My pretty dear," said Eichard, " she 
 never will receive me." 
 
 " Oh, but I'll make her," said Polly. 
 
 And she did exert her influence as 
 follows : — " Lookee here, the cousin's a 
 coming to-morrow, and I've been and 
 promised he should see you." 
 
 " What did you do that for ?" 
 
 " Why, he's a well-looking chap, and a 
 beautiful colour, fresh from the country, 
 like me. And he's a gentleman, and got 
 an estate belike ; and why not put yourn 
 to hisn, and so marry him, and be a lady ? 
 You might have me about ye all the same, 
 till my turn comes." 
 
 "No, no," said Hhoda ; "that's not 
 the man for me. If ever I marry, it 
 must be one of my own sort, or else a
 
 54 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 fool, like Marsh, that I can make a 
 slave of." 
 
 " Well, any way, you must see him, not 
 to make a fool of me, for I did promise 
 him ; which, now I think on't, 'twas very 
 good of me, for I could find in my heart to 
 ast him down into the kitchen, instead of 
 bringing him upstairs to you." 
 
 All this ended, somehow, in Mr. Bassett 
 being admitted. 
 
 To his anxious inquiry how matters 
 stood, she replied coolly that Sir Charles 
 and herself were parted by mutual consent. 
 
 " What, after all your protestations !" 
 said Bassett, bitterly. 
 
 But Miss Somerset was not in an irascible 
 humour just then. She shrugged her 
 shoulders, and said — 
 
 ''Yes, I remember I put myself in a 
 passion, and said some ridiculous things. 
 But one can't be always a fool. I have 
 come to my senses. This sort of thing 
 always does end, you know. Most of them
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 00 
 
 part enemies, but he and I part friends and 
 well-wishers." 
 
 " And you throw me over as if I was 
 nobody," said Richard, white with anger. 
 
 " Why, what are you to me ?" said the 
 Somerset. " Oh, I see. You thought to 
 make a cat's-paw of me. Well, you won't, 
 then." 
 
 " In other words, you have been bought 
 off." 
 
 " No, I have not. I am not to be bought 
 by anybody — and I am not to be insulted 
 by you, you ruffian. How dare you come 
 here and affront a lady in her own house — 
 a lady whose shoe-strings your betters are 
 ready to tie, you brute ! If you want to 
 be a landed proprietor, go and marry some 
 ugly old hag that's got it, and no eyesight 
 left to see you're no gentleman ; Sir 
 Charles's land you'll never have ; a l}etter 
 man has got it, and means to keep it for 
 him and his. Here, Polly ! Polly ! Polly ! 
 take this man down to the kitchen, and
 
 56 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 teach him manners if you can ; he is not 
 fit for my drawing-room, by a long chalk." 
 
 Polly arrived in time to see the flashing 
 eyes, the swelling veins, and to hear the 
 fair orator's peroration. 
 
 " What, you are in your tantrums 
 again !" said she. '' Come along, sir. 
 Needs must when the devil drives. You'll 
 break a blood-vessel some day, my lady, 
 like your father afore ye." 
 
 And with this homely suggestion, which 
 always sobered Miss Somerset, and indeed 
 frightened her out of her wits, she with- 
 drew the offender. 
 
 She did not take him into the kitchen, 
 but into the dining-room, and there he had 
 a long talk with her, and gave her a 
 sovereign. 
 
 She promised to inform him if anything 
 important should occur. 
 
 He went away, pondering and scowling 
 deeply.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 57 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 Sir Charles Bassett was now living in 
 Elysium. Never was rake more thoroughly 
 transformed. Every day he sat for hours at 
 the feet of Bella Bruce, admiring her soft 
 feminine ways and virgin modesty, even 
 more than her heauty. And her visible 
 blush whenever he appeared suddenly, and 
 the soft commotion and yielding in her 
 lovely frame whenever he drew near, 
 betrayed his magnetic influence, and told 
 all but the blind she adored him. 
 
 She would decline all invitations, to dine 
 with him and her father — a strong-minded 
 old admiral, whose authority was un-
 
 58 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 bounded, only, to Bella's regret, very rarely 
 exerted. Nothing would have pleased her 
 more than to be forbidden this, and com- 
 manded that ; but no ! the admiral was a 
 lion with an enormous paw, only he could 
 not be got to put it into every pie. 
 
 In this charming society the hours glided, 
 and the wedding day drew close. So deeply 
 and sincerely was Sir Charles in love, that, 
 when Mr. Oldfield's letter came, appointing 
 the day and hour to sign Miss Somerset's 
 deed, he was unwilling to go, and wrote 
 back to ask if the deed could not be sent to 
 his house. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield replied that the parties to 
 the deed and the witnesses must meet, and 
 it would be unadvisable, for several reasons, 
 to irritate the lady's susceptibility previous 
 to signature : the appointment having been 
 made at her house, it had better remain so. 
 
 That day soon came. 
 
 Sir Charles, being due in Mayfair at 
 2 P.M., compensated himself for the less
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 59 
 
 agreeable business to come by going earlier 
 than usual to Portman Square. By this 
 means he caught Miss Bruce and two other 
 young ladies inspecting bridal dresses. 
 Bella blushed and looked ashamed, and, to 
 the surprise of her friends, sent the dresses 
 away, and set herself to talk rationally with 
 Sir Charles — as rationally as lovers can . 
 
 The ladies took the cue, and retired in 
 disgust. 
 
 Sir Charles apologised. 
 
 '* This is too bad of me. I come at an 
 unheard-of hour, and frighten away your 
 fair friends ; but the fact is, I have an 
 appointment at two, and I don't know how 
 long they will keep me, so I thought I 
 would make sure of two happy hours at 
 the least." 
 
 And delightful hours they were. Bella 
 Bruce, excited by this little surprise, leaned 
 softly on his shoulder, and prattled her 
 maiden love like some warbling fountain. 
 
 Sir Charles, transfigured by love,
 
 60 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 answered her in kind — three months ago 
 he could not — and they compared pretty 
 little plans of wedded life, and had small 
 differences, and ended by agreeing. 
 
 Complete and prompt accord upon two 
 points : first, they would not have a single 
 quarrel, like other people ; their love should 
 never lose its delicate bloom ; second, they 
 would grow old together, and die the same 
 day ; the same minute if possible ; if not, 
 they must be content with the same day ; 
 but, on that, inexorable. 
 
 But soon after this came a skirmish. 
 Each wanted to obey the other. 
 
 Sir Charles argued that Bella was better 
 than he, and therefore more fit to conduct 
 the pair. 
 
 Bella, who thought him divinely good, 
 pounced on this reason furiously. He 
 defended it. He admitted, with exemplary 
 candour, that he was good now — " awfully 
 good." But he assured her that he had 
 been anything but good until he knew her ;
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 61 
 
 now, she had been always good ; therefore, 
 he argued, as his goodness came originally 
 from her, for her to obey him would be a 
 little too much like the moon commanding 
 the sun. 
 
 "That is too ingenious for me, Charles," 
 said Bella. '' And, for shame ! Nobody 
 was ever so good as you are. I look up to 
 
 you and ■ Now I could stop your 
 
 mouth in a minute ; I have only to remind 
 you that I shall swear at the altar to obey 
 you, and you will not swear to obey me. 
 But I will not crush you under the Prayer- 
 book — no, dearest; but, indeed, to obey is 
 a want of my nature, and I marry you to 
 supply that want — and that's a story, for I 
 marry you because I love, and honour, and 
 worship, and adore you to distraction, my 
 own — own — own !" With this she flung 
 herself passionately, yet modestly, on his 
 shoulder, and, being there, murmured 
 coaxingly, " You will let me obey you, 
 Charles?"
 
 62 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Thereupon Sir Charles felt highly 
 gelatinous, and lost, for the moment, all 
 power of resistance or argument 
 
 " Ah, you will ; and then you will re- 
 mind me of mv dear mother. She knew 
 how to command ; but as for poor dear 
 papa, he is very disappointing. In selecting 
 an admiral for my parent, I made sure of 
 being ordered about. Instead of that — now 
 I'll show you — there he is in the next room, 
 inventing a new system of signals, poor 
 dear," 
 
 She threw the folding doors open. 
 
 " Papa, dear, shall I ask Charles to 
 dinner to-day ?" 
 
 " As you please, my dear." 
 
 " Do you think I had better walk or ride 
 this afternoon ?" 
 
 " Whichever you prefer." 
 
 "There/' said Bella, "I told you so. 
 That is always the way. Papa, dear, 
 you used always to be firing guns at sea. 
 Do, please, fire one in this house — just one
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 63 
 
 — before I leave it, and make the very 
 windows rattle." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Bella ; I never 
 wasted powder at sea. If the convoy sailed 
 well and steered right I never barked at 
 them. You are a modest, sensible girl, and 
 have always steered a good course. AVhy 
 should I hoist a petticoat and play the 
 small tyrant ? Wait till I see you going 
 to do something wrong or silly." 
 
 "Ah, then you would fire a gun, papa ?" 
 
 " Ay, a broadside." 
 
 " Well, that is something," said Bella, as 
 she closed the door softly. 
 
 " No, no ; it amounts to just nothing," 
 said Sir Charles, " for you never will do 
 anything wrong or silly. I'll accommodate 
 you. I have thought of a way. I shall 
 give you some blank cards ; you shall write 
 on them, ' I think I should like to do so and 
 so.' You shall be careless, and leave them 
 about ; I'll find them, and bluster, and say, 
 ' I command you to do so and so, Bella
 
 64 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Bassett' — the very thing on the card, you 
 know." 
 
 Bella coloured to the brow with pleasure 
 and modesty. After a pause, she said, 
 " How sweet ! The worst of it is, I should 
 get my own way. Now what I want is to 
 submit my will to yours. A gentle tyrant 
 — that is what you must be to Bella Bassett. 
 Oh, you sweet, sweet — for calKng me 
 that!" 
 
 These projects were interrupted by a 
 servant announcing luncheon. 
 
 This made Sir Charles look hastily at his 
 watch, and he found it was past two 
 o'clock. 
 
 " How time flies in this house !" said he. 
 '' I must go, dearest ; I am behind my ap- 
 pointment already. What do you do this 
 afternoon ?" 
 
 " Whatever you please, my own." 
 
 " I could get away by four." 
 
 " Then I will stay at home for you." 
 
 He left her reluctantly, and she followed
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 65 
 
 him to the head of the stairs, and hung over 
 the bannisters as if she would Hke to fly 
 after him. 
 
 He turned at the street door, saw that 
 radiant and gentle face beaming after him, 
 and they kissed hands to each other by one 
 impulse, as if they were parting for ever so 
 long. 
 
 He had gone scarcely half an hour, when 
 a letter, addressed to her, was left at the 
 door by a private messenger. 
 
 " Any answer ?" inquired the servant. 
 
 ''No." 
 
 The letter was sent up, and delivered to 
 her on a silver salver. 
 
 She opened it ; it was a thing new to her 
 in her young life — an anonymous letter. 
 
 "• Miss Bruce, 
 
 "./ am almost a stranger to you, hut 1 
 know your character from others, and cannot 
 bear to see you abused. You are said to be 
 about to marry Sir Charles Bassett. 1 think 
 
 VOL. I. F
 
 66 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 you can hardly he aware that he is connected 
 with a lady of doubtful repute, called Somerset, 
 and neither your beauty nor your virtue has 
 prevailed to detach hhn from that connection. 
 
 '•' If, on engaging himself to you, he had 
 abando7ied her, I should not have said a word. 
 But the truth is, he visits her constantly, and I 
 blush to say that when he leaves you this day, 
 it will be to spend the afternoon at her house. 
 
 "/ enclose you her address, and you can 
 learn in ten minutes whether I am a slanderer 
 or, Vjhat I wish to be, 
 
 " A Friend of Injured Innocence."
 
 A TEERIBLE TEMPTATION. 67 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 Sir Charles was behind his time in May- 
 fair ; but the lawyer and his clerk had not 
 arrived, and Miss Somerset was not visible. 
 
 She appeared however, at last, in a 
 superb silk dress, the broad lustre of which 
 would have been beautiful, only the effect 
 was broken and frittered away by six rows 
 of gimp and fringe. But why blame her ? 
 This is a blunder in art as universal as it is 
 amazing, when one considers the amount of 
 apparent thought her sex devotes to dress. 
 They might just as well score a fair plot of 
 velvet turf with rows of box, or tattoo a 
 blooming and downy cheek. 
 
 She held out her hand, like a man, and
 
 68 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 talked to Sir Charles on indifferent topics, 
 till Mr. Oldfield arrived. She then retired 
 into the back-ground, and left the gentlemen 
 to discuss the deed. When appealed to, she 
 evaded direct replies, and put on languid 
 and imperial indifference. When she 
 signed, it was with the air of some princess 
 bestowing a favour upon solicitation. 
 
 But the business concluded, she thawed 
 all in a moment, and invited the gentlemen 
 to luncheon, with charming cordiality. In- 
 deed her genuine bonhomie after her affected 
 indifference was rather comic. Everybody 
 was content. Champagne flowed. The 
 lady, with her good mother-wit, kept con- 
 versation going, till the lawyer was nearly 
 missing his next appointment. He hurried 
 away ; and Sir Charles only lingered, out 
 of good breeding, to bid Miss Somerset 
 good-bye. In the course of leave-taking, 
 he said he was sorry he left her with people 
 about her of whom he had a bad opinion. 
 " Those women have no more feeling for
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 69 
 
 you than stones. When you lay in convul- 
 sions, your housekeeper looked on as philo- 
 sophically, as if you had been two kittens 
 at play, you and Polly." 
 
 '' I saw her." 
 
 " Indeed ! you appeared hardly in a con- 
 dition to see anything." 
 
 " I did, though, and heard the old wretch 
 tell the young monkey to water my lilac 
 dress. That was to get it for her Polly. 
 She knew I'd never wear it afterwards." 
 
 "• Then why don't you turn her off?" 
 
 ** Who'd take such a useless old hag, if 
 I turned her off ?" 
 
 " You carry a charity a long way." 
 
 " I carry everything. What's the use 
 doing things by halves, good or bad ?" 
 
 " Well, but that Polly ! She is young 
 enough to get her living elsewhere ; and 
 she is extremely disrespectful to you." 
 
 "That she is. If I wasn't a lady, I'd 
 have given her a good hiding, this very 
 day, for her cheek."
 
 70 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 " Then why not turn her off this very 
 day, for her cheek ?" 
 
 "• Well, I'll tell you, since you and I are 
 parted for ever. No, I don't like." 
 
 "Oh, come ! no secrets between friends." 
 
 " Well, then, the old hag is — my mother." 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " And the young jade — is my sister." 
 
 ^' Good heavens !" 
 
 *^ And the page — is my little brother." 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha!" 
 
 " What, you are not angry !'• 
 
 " Angry ? no ! Ha, ha, ha !" 
 
 " See what a hornet's nest you have 
 escaped from. My dear friend, those two 
 women rob me through thick and thin. 
 They steal my handkerchiefs and my 
 gloves, and my very linen. They drink 
 my wine, like fishes. They'd take the hair 
 off my head, if it wasn't fast by the roots — 
 for a wonder." 
 
 " Why not give them a ten-pound note, 
 and send them home ?"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 71 
 
 ** They'd pocket the note, and blacken 
 me in our village. That was why I had 
 them up here. First time I went home, 
 after running about with that little scamp, 
 Yandeleur — do you know him ?" 
 
 " I have not the honour." 
 
 " Then your luck beats mine. One 
 thing, he is going to the dogs as fast as he 
 can. Some day he'll come begging to me 
 for a fiver. You mark my words now." 
 
 *^ Well, but you were saying " 
 
 " Yes, I went off about Yan. Polly says 
 I've a mind like running water. Well, 
 then, when I went home the first time — 
 after Yan, mother and Polly raised a vir- 
 tuous howl. * All right,' said I — for of 
 course I know how much virtue there is 
 under their skins. Yirtue of the lower 
 orders ! Tell that to gentlefolks that don't 
 know them. I do. I've been one of 'em. 
 — ' I know all about that,' says I. * You 
 want to share the plunder, that is the sense 
 of your virtuous cry.' So I had 'em up
 
 72 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 here : and then there was no more virtuoias 
 howling, but a deal of virtuous thieving, 
 and modest drinking, and pure-minded 
 selling of my street-door to the highest 
 male bidder. And they will corrupt the 
 boy ; and if they do, I'll cut their black 
 hearts out with my riding- whip. But I 
 suppose I must keep them on ; they are my 
 own flesh and blood, and if I was to be ill 
 and dying, they'd do all they knew to keep 
 me alive — for their own sakes. I'm 
 their milch cow — these country inno- 
 cents." 
 
 Sir Charles groaned aloud, and said, 
 " My poor girl, you deserve a better fate 
 than this. Marry some honest fellow, and 
 cut the whole thing." 
 
 " I'll see about it. You try it first, and 
 let us see how you like it." 
 
 And so they parted gaily. 
 
 In the hall Polly intercepted him, all 
 smiles. He looked at her, smiled in his 
 sleeve, and gave her a handsome present.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 73 
 
 " If you please, sir," said she, " an old 
 gentleman called for you." 
 
 " When r 
 
 " About an hour ago. Leastways he 
 asked if Sir Charles Bassett was there. I 
 said yes, but you wouldn't see no one." 
 
 " Who could it be ? Why, surely you 
 never told anybody I was to be here to- 
 day?" 
 
 " La, no, sir ! how could I ?" said Polly, 
 with a face of brass. 
 
 Sir Charles thought this very odd, and 
 felt even a little uneasy about it. All the 
 way to Portman Square he puzzled over it ; 
 and at last he was driven to the conclusion 
 that Miss Somerset had been weak enough 
 to tell some person, male or female, of the 
 coming interview, and so somebody had 
 called there — doubtless to ask him a fa- 
 vour. 
 
 At five o'clock he reached Portman 
 Square, and was about to enter, as a matter 
 of course ; but the footman stopped him.
 
 74 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATI02>r. 
 
 " I beg pardon, Sir Charles/' said the man, 
 looking pale and agitated ; " but I have 
 strict orders. My young lady is very 
 ill." 
 
 '' 111 ! Let me go to her this instant." 
 
 " I daren't, Sir Charles, I daren't. 
 I know you are a gentleman ; pray don't 
 lose me my place. You would never 
 get to see her. We none of us know 
 the rights, but there's something up. Sorry 
 to say it. Sir Charles, but we have strict 
 orders not to admit you. Haven't you got 
 the Admiral's letter, sir ?" 
 
 " No : what letter ?" 
 
 " He has been after you, sir ; and, when 
 he came back, he sent Eoger off to your 
 house with a letter." 
 
 A cold chill began to run down Sir 
 Charles Bassett. He hailed a passing han- 
 som, and drove to his own house, to get the 
 Admiral's letter ; and, as he went, he asked 
 himself, with chill misgivings, what on 
 earth had happened.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 70 
 
 What had happened shall be told the 
 reader precisely but briefly. 
 
 In the first place, Bella had opened the 
 anonymous letter, and read its contents, to 
 which the reader is referred. 
 
 There are people who pretend to despise 
 anonymous letters. Pure delusion ! They 
 know they ought to, and so fancy they do ; 
 but they don't. The absence of a signa- 
 ture gives weight, if the letter is ably 
 written, and seems true. 
 
 As for poor Bella Bruce, a dove's bosom 
 is no more fit to rebuff a poisoned arrow 
 than she was to combat that foulest and 
 direst of all a miscreant's weapons, an ano- 
 nymous letter. She, in her goodness and 
 innocence, never dreamed that any person 
 she did not know could possibly tell a lie 
 to wound her. The letter fell on her like 
 a cruel revelation from heaven. 
 
 The blow was so savage that, at first, it 
 stunned her. 
 
 She sat pale and stupefied ; but, beneath
 
 76 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 the stupor, were the rising throbs of coming 
 agonies. 
 
 After that horrible stupor, her anguish 
 grew and grew, till it found vent in a 
 miserable cry, rising, and rising, and rising, 
 in agony. 
 
 " Mamma ! mamma ! mamma !" 
 
 Yes ; her mother had been dead these 
 three years, and her father sat in the next 
 room, yet, in her anguish, she cried to her 
 mother — a cry, the which if your mother 
 had heard, she would have expected Bella's 
 to come to her, even from the grave. 
 
 Admiral Bruce heard this fearful cry — 
 the living calling on the dead— and burst 
 through the folding doors in a moment, 
 white as a ghost. 
 
 He found his daughter writhing on the 
 sofa, ghastly, and grinding in her hand 
 the cursed paper that had poisoned her 
 young life. 
 
 "My child! my child !" 
 
 " Oh, papa ! see ! see !" And she tried
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 77 
 
 to open the letter for him, but her hands 
 trembled so, she could not. 
 
 He kneeled down by her side, the stout 
 old warrior, and read the letter, while she 
 clung to him moaning now, and quiver- 
 ing all over from head to foot. 
 
 " Why, there's no signature ! The writer 
 is a coward and, perhaps, a liar. Stop ! he 
 offers a test. I'll put him to it this 
 minute." 
 
 He laid the moaning girl on the sofa, 
 ordered his servants to admit nobody into 
 the house, and drove, at once, to Mayfair. 
 
 He called at Miss Somerset's house, saw 
 Polly, and questioned her. 
 
 He drove home again, and came into the 
 drawing-room, looking as he had been seen 
 to look when fighting his shijo ; but his 
 daughter had never seen him so. " My 
 girl," said he solemnly, " there's nothing 
 for you to do but to be brave, and hide 
 your grief as well as you can ; for the man 
 is unworthy of your love. That coward
 
 78 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 spoke the truth. He is there at this mo- 
 ment." 
 
 " Oh, papa ! papa ! let me die. The 
 world is too wicked for me. Let me die !" 
 
 "Die for an unworthy object? For 
 shame ! Go to your own room, my girl, and 
 pray to your God to help you, since your 
 mother has left us. Oh, how I miss her 
 now ! Go and pray, and let no one else 
 know what we suffer. Be your father's 
 daughter. Fight, and pray." 
 
 Poor Bella had no longer to complain 
 that she was not commanded. She kissed 
 him, and burst into a great passion of weep- 
 ing; but he led her to the door, and she 
 tottered to her own room, a blighted girl. 
 
 The sight of her was harrowing. Under 
 its influence, the Admiral dashed off a letter 
 to Sir Charles, calling him a villain, and 
 inviting him to go to France, and let an 
 indignant father write scoundrel on his 
 carcass. 
 
 But, when he had written this, his good
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. i\) 
 
 sense and dignity prevailed over his fury ; 
 lie burnt the letter, and wrote another. 
 This he sent by hand to Sir Charles's house, 
 and ordered his servants — but that the 
 reader knows. 
 
 Sir Charles found the Admiral's letter 
 in his letter-rack. It ran thus : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " We have learned your connection with 
 a lady named Somerset, and I have ascer- 
 tained that you went from my daughter to her 
 house this very day, 
 
 ^' Miss Bruce and myself withdraw from 
 all connection with you, and I must request 
 you to attempt no communication with her, of 
 any kind. Such an attempt would be an addi- 
 tional insult. 
 
 '' I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, 
 
 '^JoHN Urquhart Bruce." 
 
 At first. Sir Charles Bassett was stunned 
 by this blow. Then his mind resisted the
 
 80 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Admiral's severity, and he was indignant 
 at being dismissed for so common an of- 
 fence. This gave way to deep grief and 
 shame at the thought of Bella and her lost 
 esteem. But soon all other feelings merged 
 for a time in fury at the heartless traitor 
 who had destroyed his happiness, and had 
 dashed the cup of innocent love from his 
 very lips. Boiling over with mortification 
 and rage, he drove at once to that traitor's 
 house. Polly opened the door : he rushed 
 past her^ and burst into the dining-room, 
 breathless and white with passion. 
 
 He found Miss Somerset studying the 
 deed, by which he had made her indepen- 
 dent for life. She started at his strange 
 appearance, and instinctively put both 
 hands flat upon the deed. 
 
 " You vile wretch !" cried Sir Charles. 
 " You heartless monster ! Enjoy your 
 work." And he flung her the Admiral's 
 letter. But he did not wait while she read 
 it ; he heaped reproaches on her ; and, for
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 81 
 
 the first time in her life, she did not reply 
 in kind. 
 
 " Are you mad ?" she faltered. '' What 
 have I done ?" 
 
 " Yon have told Admiral Bruce." 
 
 " That's false." 
 
 '' You told him I was to be here to-day." 
 
 " Charles, I never did. Believe me." 
 
 " You did. Nobody knew it but you : 
 he was here to-day, at the very hour." 
 
 " May I never get up alive off this chair, 
 if I told a soul. Yes, our Polly. I'll ring 
 for her." 
 
 " No, you will not. She is your sister. 
 Do you think I'll take the word of such 
 reptiles_, against the plain fact ? You have 
 parted my love and me — parted us on the 
 very day I had made you independent for 
 life. An innocent love was waiting to 
 bless me, and an honest love was in your 
 power, thanks to me, your kind forgiving- 
 friend and benefactor. I have heaped kind- 
 ness on you from the first moment I had 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 the misfortune to know you. I connived 
 
 at your infidelities " 
 
 " Charles ! Don't say that. I never was'' 
 " I indulged your most expensive whims; 
 and, instead of leaving you with a curse, as 
 all the rest did that ever knew you, and as 
 you deserve, I bought your consent to lead 
 a respectable life and be blessed with a vir- 
 tuous love. You took the bribe, but robbed 
 me of the blessing — viper ! You have de- 
 stroyed me, body and soul — monster ! per- 
 haps blighted her happiness as well ; you 
 she-devils hate an angel, worse than Heaven 
 hates you. But you shall suffer with us : 
 not your heart, for you have none, but your 
 pocket. You have broken faith with me, 
 and sent all my happiness to hell ; I'll send 
 your deed to hell after it !" With this, he 
 flung himself upon the deed, and was going 
 to throw it into the fire. Now, up to that 
 moment she had been overpowered by this 
 man's fury, whom she had never seen the 
 least angry before ; but, when he laid hands
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 83 
 
 on her property, it acted like an electric 
 shock. " No ! no !" she screamed^ and 
 sprang at him like a wild cat. 
 
 Then ensued a violent and unseemly 
 struggle all about the room ; chairs were 
 upset, and vases broken to pieces ; and the 
 man and woman dragged each other to and 
 fro, one fighting for her property, as if it 
 was her life, and the other for revenge. 
 
 Sir Charles, excited by fury, was stronger 
 than himself, and at last shook off one of 
 her hands for a moment, and threw the 
 deed into the fire. She tried to break from 
 him and save it^ but he held her like iron. 
 
 Yet not for long ; whilst he was holding 
 her back, and she straining every nerve to 
 get to the fire, he began to show sudden 
 symptoms of distress. He gasped loudly, 
 and cried, " Oh ! oh ! I'm choking !" and 
 then his clutch relaxed. She tore herself 
 from it, and, plunging forward, rescued the 
 smoking parchment. 
 
 At that moment she heard a great stagger
 
 84 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 behind her, and a pitiful moan ; and Sir 
 Charles fell heavily, striking his head 
 against the edge of the sofa. She looked 
 round as she knelt, and saw him, black in 
 the face, rolling his eyeballs fearfully, while 
 his teeth gnashed awfully, and a jet of 
 foam flew through his lips. 
 
 Then she shrieked with terror, and the 
 blackened deed fell from her hands : at this 
 moment, Polly rushed into the room ; she 
 saw the fearful sight, and echoed her sister's 
 scream. But they were neither of them 
 women to lose their heads, and beat the air 
 with their hands; they got to him, and 
 both of them fought hard with the un- 
 conscious sufferer, whose body, in a fresh 
 convulsion, now bounded away from the 
 sofa, and bade fair to batter itself against 
 the ground. 
 
 They did all they could to hold him with 
 one arm apiece, and to release his swelling 
 throat with the other. Their nimble fingers 
 whipped off his necktie in a moment ; but
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 85 
 
 the distended wind-pipe pressed so against 
 the shirt-button, they could not undo it : 
 then they seized the collar, and, pulling, 
 against each other, wrenched the shirt open 
 so powerfully, that the button flew into 
 the air, and tinkled against a mirror a long 
 way off. 
 
 A few more struggles, somewhat less 
 violent, and then the face, from purple, 
 began to whiten ; the eye-balls fixed ; the 
 pulse went down ; the man lay still. 
 
 " Oh, my God," cried Rhoda Somerset, 
 " he is dying. To the nearest doctor ! 
 There's one three doors off. No bonnet ! 
 It's life and death this moment. Fly !" 
 
 Polly obeyed ; and Dr. Andrews was 
 actually in the room within five minutes. 
 
 He looked grave, and kneeled down by 
 the patient, and felt his pulse anxiously. 
 
 Miss Somerset sat down, and, being from 
 the country, though she did not look it, 
 began to weep bitterly, and rock herself in 
 rustic fashion.
 
 86 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 Tlie doctor questioned her kindly, and 
 she told him, between her sobs, how Sir 
 Charles had been taken. 
 
 The doctor, however, instead of being- 
 alarmed by those frightful symptoms she 
 related, took a more cheerful view directly. 
 " Then do not alarm yourself unnecessarily," 
 he said. " It was only an epileptic fit." 
 
 " Only ?" sobbed Miss Somerset. " Oh, 
 if you had seen him ! And he lies like 
 death." 
 
 " Yes," said Dr. Andrews : '' a severe 
 epileptic fit is really a terrible thing to 
 look at : but it is not dangerous in propor- 
 tion. Is he used to have them ?" 
 
 " Oh, no, doctor — never had one be- 
 fore !" 
 
 Here she was mistaken, I think. 
 
 " You must keep him quiet ; and give 
 him a moderate stimulant, as soon as he 
 can swallow comfortably ; the quietest room 
 in the house ; and don't let him be hungry 
 night or day. Have food by his bedside ;
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 87 
 
 and watch him for a day or two. I'll come 
 again this evening." 
 
 The doctor went to his dinner, tranquil. 
 
 Not so those he left. Miss Somerset re- 
 signed her own luxurious bedroom, and had 
 the patient laid, just as he was, upon her 
 bed. She sent the page out to her groom, 
 and ordered two loads of straw to be laid 
 before the door ; and she watched by the 
 sufferer, with brandy and water by her 
 side. 
 
 Sir Charles now might have seemed to 
 be in a peaceful slumber, but for his eyes ; 
 they were open, and showed more white, 
 and less pupil, than usual. 
 
 However, in time he began to sigh and 
 move, and even mutter ; and, gradually, 
 some little colour came back to his pale 
 cheeks. 
 
 Then Miss Somerset had the good sense 
 to draw back out of his sight, and order 
 Polly to take her place by his side. Polly 
 did so, and, some time afterwards, at a fresh
 
 »» A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 order, put a teaspoonful of brandy to his 
 lips, which were still pale, and even 
 bluish. 
 
 The doctor returned, and brought his 
 assistant. They put the patient to bed. 
 
 " His life is in no danger," said he. " I 
 wish I was as sure about his reason." 
 
 At one o'clock in the morning, as Polly 
 was snoring by the patient's bedside, a 
 hand was laid on her shoulder. It was 
 Rhoda. 
 
 "• Go to bed, Polly : you are no use 
 here." 
 
 " You'd be sleepy if you worked as hard 
 as I do." 
 
 " Yery likely/' said Phoda, with a gentle- 
 ness that struck Polly as very singular, 
 " Good night." 
 
 Rhoda spent the night watching, and 
 thinking harder than she had ever thought 
 before. 
 
 Next morning, early, Polly came into
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 89 
 
 the sick room. There sat her sister watching 
 the patient, out of sight. 
 
 " La, Rhoda ! Have you sat there all 
 night ?" 
 
 '' Yes. Don't speak so loud. Come 
 here. You've set your heart on this lilac silk : 
 I'll give it you for your black merino." 
 
 " Not you, my lady ; you are not so fond 
 of mereeny, nor of me neither." 
 
 " I'm not a liar, like you," said the other, 
 becoming herself for a moment, " and, what 
 I say, I'll do. You put out your merino 
 for me in the dressing room." 
 
 " All right," said Polly joyfully. 
 
 " And bring me two buckets of water, 
 instead of one. I have never closed my 
 eyes." 
 
 " Poor soul ! and now you be going to 
 sluice yourself all the same. Whatever 
 you can see in cold water, to run after it 
 so, I can't think. If I was to flood myself 
 like you, it would soon float me to my long 
 home."
 
 90 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 " How do you know ? You never gave it 
 a trial. Come, no more chat; give me 
 my bath : and then you may wash yourself 
 in a teacup if you like — only don't wash 
 my spoons in the same water, for mercy s 
 saker 
 
 Thus affectionately stimulated in her 
 duties, Polly brought cold water galore, 
 and laid out her new merino dress. In this 
 sober suit, with plain linen collar and cuJBPs, 
 the Somerset dressed herself, and resumed 
 her watching by the bedside. She kept 
 more than ever out of sight ; for the patient 
 was now beginning to mutter incoherently, 
 yet in a way that showed his clouded facul- 
 ties were dwelling on the calamity which 
 had befallen him. 
 
 About noon the bell was rung sharply, 
 and, on Polly entering, Phoda called her to 
 the window and showed her two female 
 figures plodding down the street. " Look," 
 said she ; '' those are the only women I 
 envy. Sisters of charity. Run you after
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 91 
 
 them, and take a good look at those beastly 
 ugly caps : then come and tell me how to 
 make one." 
 
 " Here's a go !" said Polly ; but executed 
 the commission promptly. 
 
 It needed no fashionable milliner to turn 
 a yard of linen into one of those ugly caps, 
 which are beautiful banners of Christian 
 charity and womanly tenderness to the sick 
 and suffering. The monster cap was made 
 in an hour, and Miss Somerset put it on, 
 and a thick veil, and then she no louger 
 thought it necessary to sit out of the 
 patient's sight. 
 
 The consequence was that, in the middle 
 of his ramblings, he broke off, and looked 
 at her. The sister puzzled him. At last 
 he called to her in French, 
 
 She made no reply. 
 
 " Je suis a I'hopital, n'est ce pas, bonne 
 soeur ?" 
 
 " I am English," said she softly.
 
 92 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 " English !" said Sir Charles. " Then tell 
 me, how did I come here ?" Where am 
 I?" 
 
 " You had a fit ; and the doctor ordered 
 you to be kept quiet; and I am here to 
 nurse you." 
 
 ''A fit ! Ay, I remember. That vile 
 woman 1" 
 
 " Don't think of her : give your mind to 
 getting well : remember, there is somebody 
 who would break her heart if you " 
 
 " Oh, my poor Bella ! my sweet, timid, 
 modest, loving Bella !" He was so weak- 
 ened, that he cried like a child.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 93 
 
 Miss Somerset rose, and laid her forehead 
 sadly upon the window-sill. 
 
 " Why do I cry for her, like a great 
 baby ?" muttered Sir Charles. ^' She 
 wouldn't cry for me. She has cast me off 
 in a moment." 
 
 " Not she ; it is her father s doing. 
 Have a little patience. The whole thing 
 shall be explained to them ; and then she 
 will soon soften the old man. It is not as 
 if you were really to blame." 
 
 " No more I was : it is all that vile 
 woman." 
 
 " Oh, don't ! She is so sorry ; she has 
 taken it all to heart. She had once shammed 
 a fit, on the very place ; and, when you had 
 a real fit there — on the very spot — oh, it 
 was so fearful — and lay like one dead, she 
 saw Grod's finger, and it touched her hard 
 heart. Don't say anything more against 
 her just now ; she is trying so hard to 
 be good. And, besides, it is all a mistake : 
 she never told that old Admiral ; she never
 
 94 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 breathed a word out of her own house. 
 Her own people have betrayed her and 
 you. She has made me promise two 
 things : to find out who told the Admiral ; 
 
 and " 
 
 . "Well?" 
 
 " The second thing I have to do — well, 
 that is a secret between me and that un- 
 happy woman. She is bad enough, but 
 not so heartless as you think." 
 
 Sir Charles shook his head incredulously, 
 but said no more; and, soon after, fell 
 asleep. 
 
 In the evening he woke, and found the 
 Sister watching. 
 
 She now turned her head away from 
 him, and asked him quietly to describe 
 Miss Bella Bruce to her. 
 
 He described her in minute and glowing 
 terms. "But oh, Sister," said he, "it is 
 not her beauty only, but the beauty of her 
 mind. So gentle, so modest, so timid, so 
 docile. She would never have had the
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 95 
 
 heart to turn me off. But she will obey 
 her father. She looked forward to obeying 
 me, sweet dove." 
 
 '^ Did she say so ?" 
 
 " Yes, that is her dream of happiness^ to 
 obey.*' 
 
 The Sister still questioned him with 
 averted head, and he told her what had 
 passed between Bella and him the last time 
 he saw her, and all their innocent plans of 
 married happiness. He told her, with the 
 tear in his eye, and she listened, with the 
 tear in hers. " And then," said he, laying 
 his hand on her shoulder^ "is it not hard? 
 I just went to Mayfair, not to please my- 
 self^ but to do an act of justice, of more 
 than justice : and then, for that, to have 
 her door shut in my face. Only two hours 
 between the height of happiness and the 
 depth of misery." 
 
 The Sister said nothings but she hid her 
 face in her hands and thought. 
 
 The next morning, by her order, Polly
 
 96 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 came into the room, and said, " You are to 
 go home. The carriage is at the door." 
 With this she retired, and Sir Charles's 
 valet entered the room soon after to help 
 him to dress. 
 
 " Where am I, James ?" 
 
 " Miss Somerset's house, Sir Charles." 
 
 " Then get me out of it directly." 
 
 " Yes, Sir Charles. The carriage is at 
 the door." 
 
 " Who told you to come, James ?" 
 
 '^ Miss Somerset, Sir Charles." 
 
 '' That is odd.; 
 
 " Yes, Sir Charles." 
 
 When he got home, he found a sofa 
 placed by a fire, with wraps and pillows ; 
 his cigar-case laid out, and a bottle of salts, 
 and also a small glass of old cognac, in case 
 of faintness. 
 
 " Which of you had the gumption to do 
 all this ?"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 97 
 
 " Miss Somerset, Sir Charles." 
 
 " What, has she been hereV 
 
 "Yes, Sir Charles." 
 
 " Curse her !" 
 
 " Yes, Sir Charles." 
 
 VOL. 1. H
 
 98 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 ''loye lies bleedixg." 
 
 Bella Bruce was drinking the bitterest 
 cup a young virgin soul can taste. Illu- 
 sion gone — the wicked world revealed as it 
 is, how unlike what she thought it was — 
 love crushed in her, and not crushed out of 
 her, as it might if she had been either 
 23roud or vain. 
 
 Frail men and women should see what a 
 passionate but virtuous woman can suffer, 
 when a revelation, of which they think but 
 little, comes and blasts her young heart, 
 and bids her dry up in a moment the deep 
 well of her affection, since it flows for an 
 im worthy object, and flows in vain. I tell
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 99 
 
 you that tbe fair head severed from the 
 chaste body is nothing to her compared 
 with this ; the fair body pierced with 
 heathen arrows was nothing to her in the 
 days of old compared with this. 
 
 In a word — for now-a-days we can but 
 amphfy, and so enfeeble, what some old 
 dead master of language, immortal though 
 obscure, has said in words of granite — 
 here 
 
 " Love lay bleeding." 
 
 No fainting ; no vehement weeping ; but 
 oh, such deep desolation ; such weariness of 
 life ; such a pitiable restlessness. Appetite 
 gone ; the taste of food almost lost ; sleep 
 unwilling to come ; and, oh, the torture of 
 waking — for at that horrible moment, all 
 rushed back at once, the joy that had been, 
 the misery that was, the blank that was to 
 come. 
 
 She never stirred out, except when 
 ordered, and then went like an automaton.
 
 100 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Pale, sorrow-stricken, and patient, she 
 moved about the ghost of herself; and lay 
 down a little, and then tried to work a 
 little, and then to read a little ; and could 
 settle to nothing, but sorrow and deep de- 
 spondency. 
 
 Not that she nursed her grief. She had 
 been told to be brave, and she tried. But 
 her grief was her master ; it came well- 
 ing through her eyes in a moment, of its 
 own accord. 
 
 She was deeply mortified too ; but, in 
 her gentle nature, anger could play but a 
 secondary part. Her indignation was weak 
 beside her grief, and did little to bear 
 her up. 
 
 Yet her sense of shame was vivid ; 
 she tried hard not to let her father see 
 how deeply she loved the man, who had 
 gone from her to Miss Somerset. Besides 
 he had ordered her to fight against a love 
 that now could only degrade her ; he had 
 ordered, and it was for her to obev.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 101 
 
 As soon as Sir Charles was better, he 
 wrote her a long humble letter, owning 
 that, before he knew her, he had led a free 
 life ; but assuring her that, ever since that 
 happy time, his heart and his time had 
 been solely hers ; as to his visit to Miss 
 Somerset, it had been one of business 
 merely, and this he could prove, if she 
 would receive him. The Admiral could 
 be present at that interview, and Sir 
 Charles hoped to convince him he had 
 been somewhat hasty and harsh in his 
 decision. 
 
 Now the Admiral had foreseen Sir 
 Charles ^would write to her ; so he had 
 ordered his man to bring all letters to him 
 first. 
 
 He recognised Sir Charles's hand, and 
 brought the letter in to Bella. " Now, my 
 child," said he, " be brave. Here is a 
 letter from that man." 
 
 " Oh, papa ! I thought he would. 1 
 knew he would." And the pale face
 
 102 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 was flushed witli joy and hope, all in a 
 moment. 
 
 " Do what ?" 
 
 " Write and explain." 
 
 '^ Explain ? A thing that is as clear as 
 sunshine. He has written to throw dust in 
 your eyes again. You are evidently in no 
 state to judge. / shall read this letter first.'' 
 
 " Yes, papa," said Bella, faintly. 
 
 He did read it, and she devoured his 
 countenance all the time. 
 
 " There is nothing in it. He offers no 
 real explanation^ but only says he can 
 explain, and asks for an interview — to play 
 upon your weakness. If I give you this 
 letter, it will only make you cry, and 
 render your task more difficult. I must 
 be strong, for your good, and set you an 
 example. I loved this young man too : 
 but, now I know him " — then he actually 
 thrust the letter into the fire. 
 
 But this was too much. Bella shrieked 
 at the act, and put her hand to her heart,
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 103 
 
 and slirieked again. ^' Ah ! you'll kill us, 
 you'll kill us both !" she cried. " Poor 
 Charles ! Poor Bella ! You don't love 
 your child — you have no pity." And, for 
 the first time, her misery was violent. She 
 writhed, and wept, and at last went into 
 violent hysterics, and frightened that stout 
 old warrior more than cannon had ever 
 frightened him ; and presently she became 
 quiet, and wept at his knees, and begged 
 his forgiveness, and said he was wiser than 
 she was, and she would obey him in every- 
 thing, only he must not be angry with her 
 if she could not live. 
 
 Then the stout Admiral mingled his 
 tears with hers, and began to realize what 
 deep waters of affliction his girl was wading 
 in. 
 
 Yet he saw no way out, but firmness. 
 He wrote to Sir Charles, to say that his 
 daughter was too ill to write ; but that no 
 explanation was possible, and no interview 
 could be allowed.
 
 104 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Sir Charles who, after writing, had con- 
 ceived the most sanguine hopes, was now 
 as wretched as Bella ; only, now that he 
 was refused a hearing, he had wounded 
 pride to support him a little under wounded 
 love. 
 
 Admiral. Bruce, fearing for his daughter's 
 health, and even for her life — she pined so 
 visibly — now ordered her to divide her day 
 into several occupations, and exact divisions 
 of time : an hour for this, an hour for that ; 
 an hour, by the clock : and here he showed 
 practical wisdom. Try it, ye that are very 
 unhappy ; and tell me the result. 
 
 As a part of this excellent system, she 
 had to walk round the square from eleven 
 till twelve a.m. : but never alone : he was 
 not going to have Sir Charles surprising 
 her into an interview. He always went 
 with her, and, as he was too stiff to walk 
 briskly, he sat down, and she had to walk 
 in sight. He took a stout stick with him 
 — for Sir Charles. But Sir Charles was
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 105 
 
 proud, and stayed at home with his deep 
 wound. 
 
 One day, walking round the square, with 
 a step of Mercury, and heart of lead, Bella 
 Bruce met a Sister of Charity pacing slow 
 and thoughtful ; their eyes met and drank, 
 in a moment, every feature of each other. 
 
 The Sister, apparently, had seen the 
 settled grief on that fair face ; for, the next 
 time they met, she eyed her with a certain 
 sympathy, which did not escape Bella. 
 
 This subtle interchange took place several 
 times, and Bella could not help feeling a 
 little grateful. " Ah !" she thought to 
 herself, " how kind religious people are ! 
 I should like to speak to her." And, the 
 next time they met, she looked wistfully in 
 the Sister's face. 
 
 She did not meet her again, for she 
 went and rested on a bench, in sight of her 
 father, but at some distance from him. 
 Unconsciously to herself, his refusal even 
 to hear Sir Charles repelled her. That
 
 106 A TEREIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 was so hard on him and her. It looked 
 like throwing away the last chance, the 
 last little chance of happiness. 
 
 By-and-by the Sister came, and sat on 
 the same bench. 
 
 Bella was hardly surprised ; but blushed 
 high ; for she felt that her own eyes had 
 invited the sympathy of a stranger ; and 
 now it seemed to be coming; the timid 
 girl felt uneasy. The Sister saw that, and 
 approached her with tact. " You look 
 unwell," said she, gently, but with no 
 appearance of extravagant interest or 
 curiosity. 
 
 "I am — a little/' said Bella, very re- 
 servedly. 
 
 "Excuse my remarking it. We are 
 professional nurses, and apt to be a little 
 officious, I fear." 
 
 No reply. 
 
 " I saw you were unwell. But I hope it 
 is not serious. I can generally tell when 
 the sick are in danger." A peculiar look.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 107 
 
 " I am glad not to see it in so young and 
 — good a face." 
 
 '^ You are youngs too ; very young, and 
 — (she was going to say " beautiful," but 
 she was too shy) — to be a Sister of Charity. 
 But I am sure you never regret leaving 
 such a world as this is." 
 
 " Never. I have lost the only thing I 
 ever valued in it." 
 
 ^' I have no right to ask you what that 
 was." 
 
 " You shall know without asking. One 
 I loved proved unworthy." 
 
 The Sister sighed deeply, and then, hiding 
 her face with her hands for a moment, rose 
 abruptly and left the square, ashamed, appa- 
 rently, of having been betrayed into such a 
 confession. 
 
 Bella, when she was twenty yards off, 
 put out a timid hand, as if to detain her, 
 but she had not the courage to say any- 
 thing of the kind. 
 
 She never told her father a word. She
 
 108 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 had got somebody now who could sympa- 
 thise with her better than he could. 
 
 Next day the Sister was there, and Bella 
 bowed to her when she met her. 
 
 This time it was the Sister who went and 
 sat on the bench. 
 
 Bella continued her walk for some time, 
 but at last could not resist the temptation. 
 She came and sat down on the bench, and 
 blushed, as much as to say, " I have the 
 courage to come, but not to speak upon a 
 certain subject, which shall be name- 
 less." 
 
 The Sister, as may be imagined, was not 
 so shy ; she opened a conversation. " I 
 committed a fault yesterday ; I spoke to 
 you of myself, and of the past : it is dis- 
 couraged by our rules. We are bound to 
 inquire the griefs of others, not to tell our 
 own." 
 
 This was a fair opening ; but Bella was 
 too delicate to show her wounds to a fresh 
 acquaintance.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 109 
 
 The Sister, having failed at that, tried 
 something very different. 
 
 " But I could tell you a pitiful case about 
 another. Some time ago I nursed a gentle- 
 man whom love had laid on a sick bed." 
 
 " A gentleman ! What, can they love 
 as we do ?" said Bella, bitterly. 
 
 " Not many of them ; but this was an 
 exception. But I don't know whether I 
 ought to tell these secrets to so young a 
 lady." 
 
 " Oh, yes — please — what else is there in 
 this world worth talking about ? Tell me 
 about the poor man, who could love as we 
 can." 
 
 The Sister seemed to hesitate, but, at 
 last, decided to go on. 
 
 " Well, he was a man of the world ; and 
 he had not always been a good man ; but 
 he was trying to be. He had fallen in love 
 with a young lady, and seen the beauty of 
 virtue, and was going to marry her, and 
 lead a good life. But he was a man of
 
 110 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 honour ; and there was a lady for whom he 
 thought it was his duty to provide. He 
 set his lawyer to draw a deed, and his law- 
 yer appointed a day for signing it at her 
 house. The poor man came, because his 
 lawyer told him. Do you think there was 
 any great harm in that ?" 
 
 " No ; of course not." 
 
 " Well, then, he lost his love for that." 
 
 Miss Bruce's colour began to come and 
 go, and her supple figure to crouch a little. 
 She said nothing. 
 
 The Sister continued — '* Some malicious 
 person went and told the young lady's 
 father the gentleman was in the habit of 
 visiting that lady, and would be with her 
 at a certain hour. And so he was ; but it 
 was the lawyer's appointment, you know. 
 You seem agitated." 
 
 " No, no ; not agitated," said Bella, " but 
 astonished : it is so like a story I know. 
 A young lady, a friend of mine, had an 
 anonymous letter, telling her that one she
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. Ill 
 
 loved and esteemed was unworthy. But 
 what you have told me shows me how de- 
 ceitful appearances may be. What was 
 your patient's name ?" 
 
 " It is against our rules to tell that. But 
 you said ' an anonymous letter.' Was your 
 friend so weak as to believe an anonymous 
 letter ? The writer of such a letter is a 
 coward, and a coward is always a liar. 
 Show me your friend's anonymous letter. 
 I may perhaps be able to throw a light 
 on it. 
 
 The conversation was interrupted by 
 Admiral Bruce, who had approached them 
 unobserved. " Excuse me," said he, " but 
 you ladies seem to have hit upon a very 
 interesting theme." 
 
 " Yes, papa," said Bella. " I took the 
 liberty to question this lady as to her expe- 
 riences of sick beds, and she was good 
 enough to give me some of them." 
 
 Having uttered this with a sudden ap- 
 pearance of calmness, that first amazed the
 
 112 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Sister, then made her smile, she took her 
 father's arm, bowed poHtelj and a Httle 
 stiffly to her new friend, and drew the Ad- 
 miral away. 
 
 " Oh !" thought the Sister. " I am not 
 to speak to the old gentleman. He is not 
 in her confidence. Yet she is very fond of 
 him : how she hangs on his arm. Sim- 
 plicity ! — Candour ! — We are all tarred with 
 the same stick, we women." 
 
 That night Bella was a changed girl ; 
 exalted and depressed by turns, and with 
 no visible reason. 
 
 Her father was pleased. Anything better 
 than that deadly languor. 
 
 The next day Bella sat by her father's 
 side in the square, longing to go to the 
 Sister, yet patiently waiting to be ordered. 
 
 At last the Admiral, finding her dull and 
 listless, said, " Why don't you go and talk 
 to the Sister ? She amuses you. I'll join 
 you when I have smoked this cigar." 
 
 The obedient Bella rose, and went to-
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 113 
 
 wards the Sister, as if compelled. But, 
 when she got to her, her whole manner 
 changed ; she took her warmly by the hand, 
 and said, trembling, and blushing, and all 
 on fire, " I have brought you the anony- 
 mous letter." 
 
 The elder actress took it, and ran her 
 eye over it, an eye that now sparkled like 
 a diamond. " Humph !" said she^ and flung 
 off all the dulcet tones of her assumed cha- 
 racter, with mighty little ceremony. " This 
 hand is disguised a little ; but I think I 
 know it. I am sure I do. The dirty little 
 rascal!" 
 
 " Madam !" cried Bella, aghast with sur- 
 prise at this language. 
 
 " I tell you I know the writer, and his 
 rascally motive. You must lend me this 
 for a day or two." 
 
 "Must I?" said Bella. "Excuse me! 
 Papa would be so angry." 
 
 " Yery likely : but you will lend it to 
 me, for all that ; for, with this, I can clear 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 ] 14 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 Miss • Bruce's lover^ and defeat his ene- 
 mies." 
 
 Bella uttered a faint cry, and trembled* 
 and her bosom heaved violently. She 
 looked this way and that, like a frightened 
 deer. " But papa ? His eye is on us." 
 
 " Never . deceive your father!" said the 
 Sister, almost sternly: "but," darting her 
 grey eyes right into those dovelike orbs, 
 " give me five minutes' start — if you 
 
 REALLY LOVE SiR ChaRLES BaSSETT." 
 
 With these words she carried off the 
 letter; and Bella ran, blushing, panting, 
 trembling, to her father, and clung to him. 
 
 He questioned her, but could get nothing 
 from her very intelligible, until the Sister 
 was out of sight, and then she told him all 
 without reserve. 
 
 " 1 was unworthy of him to doubt him. 
 An anonymous slander. I'll never trust 
 appearances again. Poor Charles ! Oh my 
 darling, what he must have suffered, if he 
 loves like me." Then came a shower of
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIONS'. 115 
 
 happy tears : then a shower of happy 
 kisses. 
 
 The Admiral groaned, but, for a long 
 time, he could not get a word in. When 
 he did, it was chilling. "My poor girl," 
 said he, " this unhappy love blinds you. 
 What, don't you see the woman is no nun^ 
 but some sly hussy that man has sent to 
 throw dust in your eyes." 
 
 Nothing she could say prevailed to turn 
 him from this view ; and he acted upon it 
 with resolution : he confined her excursions 
 to a little garden at the back of the house, 
 and forbade her, on any pretence, to cross 
 the threshold. 
 
 Miss Somerset came to the square, in 
 another disguise^ armed with important in- 
 formation. 
 
 But no Bella Bruce appeared to meet 
 her. 
 
 All this time Richard Bassett was happy 
 as a prince.
 
 116 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 So besotted was he with egotism, and so 
 blinded by imaginary wrongs^ that he re- 
 joiced in the lovers' separation^, rejoiced in 
 his cousin's illness. 
 
 Polly, who now regarded him almost as 
 a lover, told him all about it, and already 
 in anticipation he saw himself and his line 
 once more lords of the two manors, Bassett 
 and Huntercombe, on the demise of Sir 
 Charles Bassett, Bart., deceased without 
 issue. 
 
 And, in fact, Sir Charles was utterly de- 
 feated ; he lay torpid. 
 
 But there was a tough opponent in the 
 way ; all the more dangerous that she was 
 not feared. 
 
 One fine day Miss Somerset electrified 
 her groom by ordering her pony carriage 
 to the door at ten a.m. 
 
 She took the reins on the pavement, like 
 a man, jumped in light as a feather, and 
 away rattled the carriage into the City. 
 The ponies were all alive, the drivers eye
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 1L7 
 
 keen as a bird's ; her courage and her judg- 
 ment equal. She wound in and out among 
 the huge vehicles with perfect composure : 
 and on those occasions when, the traffic 
 being interrupted, the oratorical powers 
 were useful to fill up the time, she shone 
 with singular brilliance ; the West End is 
 too often in debt to the City, but, in the 
 matter of chaff, it was not so this day ; for, 
 whenever she took a peck, she returned a 
 bushel ; and so she rattled to the door of 
 Solomon Oldfield, Solicitor, Old Jewry. 
 
 She penetrated into the inner office 
 of that worthy, and told him he must 
 come with her that minute to Portman 
 Square. 
 
 " Impossible, madam !" And, as they 
 say in the law reports, gave his reasons. 
 
 " Certain, sir !" And gave no reasons. 
 
 He still resisted. 
 
 Thereupon she told him she should sit 
 there all day, and chaff his clients one after 
 another, and that his connection with the
 
 118 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 Bassett and Himtercombe estates should 
 end. 
 
 Then he saw he had to do with a terma- 
 gant, and consented with a sigh. 
 
 She drove him westward, wincing every 
 now and then at her close driving, and 
 told him all, and showed him what she was 
 pleased to call her little game. He told 
 her it was too romantic. Said he, " You 
 ladies read nothing but novels ; but the real 
 world is quite different from the world of 
 novels." Having delivered this remon- 
 strance, which was tolerably just, for she 
 never read anything but novels and ser- 
 mons, he submitted like a lamb and received 
 her instructions. 
 
 She drove as fast as she talked, so that 
 by this time they were at Admiral Bruce's 
 door. 
 
 Now Mr. Oldfield took the lead, as per 
 instructions. " Mr. Oldfield, Solicitor, and 
 a lady — on business." 
 
 The porter delivered this to the footman
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 119 
 
 with the accuracy which all who send 
 verbal messages deserve and may count on. 
 " Mr. Oldville and lady." 
 
 The footman, who represented the next 
 step in oral tradition, without which form 
 of history the Heathen world would never 
 have known that Hannibal softened the 
 rocks with vinegar^ nor the Christian world 
 that eleven thousand virgins dwelt in a 
 German town the size of Putney, announced 
 the pair as '' Mr. and Mrs. Hautville !" 
 
 " I don't know them, I think. Well, I 
 will see them." 
 
 They entered, and the Admiral stared a 
 little, and wondered how this couple came 
 together^ the keen but plain old man, with 
 clothes hanging on him, and the dashing 
 beauty, with her dress in the height of the 
 fashion, and her gauntleted hands. How- 
 ever, he bowed ceremoniously, and begged 
 his visitors to be seated. 
 
 Now the folding doors were ajar, and the 
 soi-disant Mrs. Hautville peeped. She saw
 
 120 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION^. 
 
 Bella Bruce at some distance, seated by the 
 fire, in a reverie. 
 
 Judge that young lady's astonishment, 
 when she looked up and observed a large 
 white well-shaped hand, sparkling with 
 diamonds and rubies, beckoning her fur- 
 tively. 
 
 The owner of that sparkling hand soon 
 heard a soft rustle of silk come towards 
 the door ; the very rustle, somehow, was 
 eloquent, and betrayed love and timidity, 
 and something innocent, yet subtle. The 
 jewelled hand went in again, directly.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 121 
 
 CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 Meantime Mr. Oldfield began to tell the 
 Admiral who he was, and that he was come 
 to remove a false impression about a client 
 of his, Sir Charles Bassett. 
 
 " That, sir," said the Admiral, sternly, 
 " is a name we never mention here.'' 
 
 He rose, and went to the folding doors, 
 and deliberately closed them. 
 
 The Somerset, thus defeated, bit her lip, 
 and sat all of a heap, like a cat about to 
 spring, looking sulky and vicious. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield persisted, and, as he took 
 the Admiral's hint and lowered his voice, 
 he was interrupted no more ; but made a
 
 122 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 simple statement of those facts which are 
 known to the reader. 
 
 Admiral Bruce heard them and admitted 
 that the case was not quite so had as he 
 had thought. 
 
 Then Mr. Oldfield proposed that Sir 
 Charles should he re-admitted. 
 
 " No," said the old Admiral firmly ; 
 " turn it how you will, it is too ugly ; the 
 bloom of the thing is gone. Why should 
 my daughter take that woman's leavings ? 
 Why should I give her pure heart to a man 
 about town ?" 
 
 "Because you will break it else," said 
 Miss Somerset, with affected politeness. 
 
 " Grive her credit for more dignity, 
 madam, if you please," replied Admiral 
 Bruce with equal politeness. 
 
 "Oh, bother dignity!" cried the So- 
 merset. 
 
 At this free phrase, from so well-dressed 
 a lady, Admiral Bruce opened his eyes, 
 and inquired of Oldfield, rather satirically.
 
 A TERKIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 123 
 
 who was tliis lady, that did him the honour 
 to interfere in his family affairs. 
 
 Oldfield looked confused ; but Somerset, 
 full of mother-wit, was not to be caught 
 napping. " I'm a by-stander ; and they 
 always see clearer than the folk themselves. 
 You are a man of honour, sir, and you are 
 very clever at sea, no doubt ; and a fighter, 
 and all that; but you are no match for 
 land-sharks : you are being made a dupe 
 and a tool of. Who do you think wrote 
 that anonymous letter to your daughter ? 
 A friend of truth ? a friend of injured 
 innocence ? Nothing of the sort. One 
 Richard Bassett ; Sir Charles's cousin. 
 Here, Mr. Oldfield, please compare those 
 two handwritings closely, and you will see 
 I am right." She put down the anony- 
 mous letter, and Richard Bassett's letter to 
 herself; but she could not wait for Mr. 
 Oldfield to compare the documents, now 
 her tongue was set going. " Yes, gentle- 
 men, this is new to you; but you'll find
 
 124 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 that little scheming rascal wrote them both, 
 and with as base a motive, and as black a 
 heart, as any other anonymous coward's. 
 His game is to make Sir Charles Bassett 
 die childless, and so then this dirty fellow 
 would inherit the estate ; and, owing to 
 you being so green, and swallowing an 
 anonymous letter like pure water from the 
 spring, he very nearly got his way; Sir 
 Charles has been at death's door along of 
 all this." 
 
 ** Hush, madam ! not so loud, please," 
 whispered Admiral Bruce, looking uneasily 
 towards the folding doors. 
 
 " Why not ?" bawled the Somerset. 
 " The truth may be blamed, but it cax't 
 BE shamed. I tell you that your precious 
 letter brought Sir Charles Bassett to the 
 brink of the grave. Soon as ever he got 
 it, he came tearing in his cab to Miss 
 Somerset's house, and accused her of telling 
 the lie, to keep him — and he might have 
 known better, for the jade never did a
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 125 
 
 sneaking thing in her life — but any way 
 he thought it must be her doing, miscalled 
 her like a dog, and raged at her dreadful, 
 and, at last, what with love, and fury, and 
 despair, he had the terriblest fit you ever. 
 Fell down as black as your hat, he did, 
 and his eyes rolled_, and his teeth gnashed, 
 and he foamed at the mouth, and took four 
 to hold him ; and presently as white as a 
 ghost, and given up for dead. No pulse 
 for hours ; and, when his life came back, 
 his reason was gone." 
 
 " Good heavens, madam !" 
 
 " For a time it was : how he did rave : 
 and ' Bella ' the only name on his lips. 
 And now he lies, in his own house, as weak 
 as water. Come, old gentleman, don't you 
 be too hard : you are not a child, like your 
 daughter ; take the world as it is : do you 
 think you will ever find a man of fortune 
 who has not had a lady friend ? Why, 
 every single gentleman in London, that 
 can afford to keep a saddle-horse, has an
 
 126 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 article of tliat sort in some corner or other : 
 and, if he parts with her as soon as his 
 banns are cried, that is all you can expect. 
 Do you think any mother in Belgravia 
 would make a row about that ? They are 
 downier than you are ; they would shrug 
 their aristocratic shoulders, and decline to 
 listen to the past lives of their sons-in-law 
 — unless it was all in the new^spapers, mind 
 you." 
 
 " If Belgravian mothers have mercenary 
 minds, that is no reason why I should, 
 whose cheeks have bronzed in the service 
 of a virtuous Queen, and whose hairs have 
 whitened in honour." 
 
 On receiving this broadside the Somerset 
 altered her tone directly, and said, obse- 
 quiously, " That is true, sir, and I beg your 
 pardon for comparing you to the trash. 
 But brave men are pitiful, you know : then 
 show your pity here. Pity a gentleman 
 that repented his faults as soon as your 
 daughter showed him there was a better
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 127 
 
 love within reach, and now lies stung by 
 an anonymous viper, and almost dying of 
 love and mortification : and pity your own 
 girl, that will soon lose her health, and 
 perhaps her life, if you don't give in." 
 
 " She is not so weak, madam. She is in 
 better spirits already." 
 
 " Ay, but then she didn't know what he 
 had suffered for her. She does now, for I 
 heard her moan, and she will die for him 
 now, or else she will give you twice as 
 many kisses as usual some day, and cry a 
 bucketful over you, and then run away 
 with her lover ; I know women better 
 than you do : I am one of the precious 
 lot." 
 
 The Admiral replied only with a look of 
 superlative scorn : this incensed the So- 
 merset, and that daring woman, whose ear 
 was nearer to the door, and had caught 
 sounds that escaped tlie men, actually 
 turned the handle, and while her eye 
 flashed defiance, her vigorous foot spurned
 
 128 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 the folding doors wide open in half a 
 moment. 
 
 Bella Bruce lay with her head sideways 
 on the table, and her hands extended, 
 moaning and sobbing piteously for poor 
 Sir Charles. 
 
 "For shame, madam, to expose my 
 child !" cried the Admiral, bursting with 
 indignation and grief. He rushed to her, 
 and took her in his arms. 
 
 She scarcely noticed him, for the moment 
 he turned her, she caught sight of Miss 
 Somerset, and recognized her face in a 
 moment. " Ah ! the Sister of Charity !" 
 she cried, and stretched out her hands to 
 her with a look and a gesture so innocent, 
 confiding, and imploring, that the So- 
 merset, already much excited by her own 
 eloquence, took a turn not uncommon with 
 termagants, and began to cry herself 
 
 But she soon stopped that, for she saw 
 her time was come to go, and avoid un- 
 pleasant explanations. She made a dart
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 129 
 
 and secured tlie two letters. " Settle it 
 amongst yourselves," said she, wheeling 
 round and bestowing this advice on the 
 whole party ; then shot a sharp arrow at 
 the Admiral as she fled. " If you must be 
 a tool of Eichard Eassett, don't be a tool 
 and a dupe by halves : he is in love with 
 her too ; marry her to the blackguard, and 
 then you will be sure to kill Sir Charles." 
 
 Having delivered this with such vo- 
 lubility that the words pattered out like a 
 roll of musketry, she flounced out, with red 
 cheeks, and wet eyes, rushed down the 
 stairs, and sprang into her carriage, 
 whipped the ponies, and away at a pace 
 that made the spectators stare. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield muttered some excuses and 
 retired more sedately. 
 
 All this set Bella Bruce trembling and 
 weeping, and her father was some time 
 before he could bring her to anything like 
 composure. Her first words, when she 
 could find breath, were " He is innocent ; 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 he is unhappy. Oh that I could fly to 
 him !" 
 
 " Innocent ! What proof ?" 
 
 " That brave lady said so." 
 
 '' Brave lady ! A bold hussy. Most 
 likely a friend of the woman Somerset, and 
 a bird of the same feather. Sir Charles 
 has done himself no good with me by 
 sending such an emissary." 
 
 "No, papa; it was the lawyer brought 
 her, and then her own good heart made her 
 burst out. Ah ! she is not like me : she has 
 courage. What a noble thing courage is, 
 especially in a woman ?" 
 
 " Pray did you hear the language of this 
 noble lady ?" 
 
 " Every word, nearly ; and I shall never 
 forget them. They were diamonds and 
 pearls." 
 
 " Of the sort you can pick up at Billings- 
 gate." 
 
 " Ah, papa, she pleaded for him as I 
 cannot plead, and yet I love him. It was
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 131 
 
 true eloquence. Oh ! how she made me 
 shudder. Only think ; he had a fit, and 
 lost his reason, and all for me. What shall 
 I do ? What shall I do ?" 
 
 This brought on a fit of Weeping, 
 
 Her father pitied her, and gave her a 
 crumb of sympathy : said he was sorry for 
 Sir Charles. 
 
 " But," said he, " recovering his resolu- 
 tion, " it cannot be helped. He must 
 expiate his vices, like other men. Do pray 
 pluck up a little spirit, and sense ; now try 
 and keep to the point ; this woman came 
 from him ; and you say you heard her lan- 
 guage, and admire it. Quote me some of it." 
 
 " She said he fell down as black as his 
 hat, and his eyes rolled, and his poor teeth 
 gnashed, and, oh my darhng ! my darling ! 
 oh! oh! oh!" 
 
 " There — there — I mean about other 
 things." 
 
 Bella complied, but with a running 
 accompaniment of the sweetest little sobs.
 
 132 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 " She said I must be very green, to 
 swallow an anonymous letter like spring 
 water. Oh! oh!" 
 
 " Green ? There was a word !" 
 
 "Oh! oh! But it is the right word. 
 You can't mend it. Try, and you will 
 see you can't. Of course I was green. 
 Oh ! And she said every gentleman who 
 can afford to keep a saddle-horse has a 
 female friend till his banns are called in 
 church. Oh ! oh !" 
 
 " A pretty statement to come to your 
 ears !" 
 
 " But, if it is the truth ! ' The truth 
 
 MAY BE BLAMED, BUT IT CAN't BE SHAMED.' 
 
 Ah ! I'll not forget that : I'll pray every 
 night I may remember those words of the 
 brave lady. Oh !" 
 
 " Yes ; take her for your oracle." 
 
 " I mean to. I always try to profit by my 
 
 superiors. Slie has courage : I have none. 
 
 I beat about the bush, and don't make myself 
 
 understood : she uses the very word. She
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 133 
 
 said we have been the dupe and the tool of 
 a little scheming rascal, an anonymous 
 coward, with motives as base as his heart 
 is black, oh ! oh ! ay, that is the way to 
 speak of such a man : I can't do it myself, 
 but I reverence the brave lady who can. 
 And she wasn't afraid even of you, dear 
 papa. ' Come, old gentleman ' — ha ! ha ! — 
 ' take the world as it is ; Belgravian mothers 
 would not break both their hearts for what 
 is past and gone. What hard good sense ! 
 a thing I always did admire : because I've 
 got none. But her heart is not hard : after 
 all her words of fire that went so straight, 
 instead of beating the bush, she ended by 
 crying for me. Oh ! oh ! oh ! Bless her ! 
 Bless her ! If ever there was a good 
 woman in the world, that is one. She 
 was not born a lady, I'm afraid ; but that 
 is nothing : she was born a woman, and 
 I mean to make her acquaintance, and 
 take her for my example in all things. 
 No, dear papa, women are not so pitiful
 
 134 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 to women, without cause. She is almost a 
 stranger, yet she cried for me. Can you be 
 harder to me than she is ? No ; pity your 
 poor girl, who will lose her health, and 
 perhaps her life. Pity poor Charles, stung 
 by an anonymous viper, and laid on a bed 
 of sickness for me ; oh ! oh. ! oh !" 
 
 ''I do pity you, Bella. When you cry, 
 like this, my heart bleeds." 
 
 " I'll try not to cry, papa. Oh ! oh !" 
 
 " But, most of all, I pity your infatuation, 
 your blindness. Poor innocent dove, that 
 looks at others by the light of her own 
 goodness ; and so sees all manner of virtues 
 in a brazen hussy. Now answer me one 
 plain question. You called her ' the 
 Sister!' Is she not the same woman that 
 played the Sister of Charity ?" 
 
 Bella blushed to the temples, and said, 
 hesitatingly, she was not quite sure. 
 
 " Come, Bella. I thought you were 
 going to imitate the jade, and not beat 
 about the bush. Yes, or no ?"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOI^. 135 
 
 '' The features are very like." 
 
 " Bella, you know it is the same woman. 
 You recognised her in a moment. That 
 speaks volumes. But she shall find I am 
 not to be made ' a dupe and a tool of ' 
 quite so easily as she thinks. I'll tell you 
 what — this is some professional actress Sir 
 Charles has hired to waylay you. Little 
 simpleton !" 
 
 He said no more at that time ; but, after 
 dinner, he ruminated, and took a very 
 serious, indeed almost a maritime, view 
 of the crisis. " I'm overmatched now," 
 thought he. " They will cut my sloop out 
 under the very guns of the flag-ship, if we 
 stay much longer in this port — a lawyer 
 against me, and a woman too ; there's 
 nothing to be done but heave anchor, hoist 
 sail, and run for it." 
 
 He sent off a foreign telegram, and then 
 went upstairs. " Bella, my dear," said he, 
 " pack up your clothes, for a journey. We 
 start to-morrow."
 
 136 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 '' A journey, papa ! A long one ?" 
 
 " No. We shan't double the Horn this 
 time." 
 
 " Brighton ? Paris ?" 
 
 " Oh, farther than that." 
 
 " The grave : that is the journey I should 
 like to take." 
 
 '' So you shall some day ; but, just now, 
 it is a foreign port you are bound for. Go 
 and pack." 
 
 " I obey." And she was creeping off ; 
 but he called her back, and kissed her, and 
 said, " Now, I'll tell you where you are 
 going ; but you must promise me solemnly 
 not to write one line to Sir Charles." 
 
 She promised ; but cried as soon as she 
 had promised ; whereat the Admiral in- 
 ferred he had done wisely to exact the 
 promise. I 
 
 " Well, my dear," said he. '' We are 
 going to Baden. Your aunt Mohneux is 
 there. She is a woman of great delicacy 
 and prudence, and has daughters of her
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 137 
 
 own all well married, thanks to her motherly 
 care. She will bring you to your senses 
 better than I can." 
 
 Next evening they left England, by the 
 mail ; and the day after, Eichard. Bassett 
 learned this through his servant, and went 
 home triumphant, and, indeed, wondering 
 at his success. He ascribed it, however, to 
 the Nemesis which dogs the heels of those 
 who inherit the estate of another. 
 
 Such was the only moral reflection he 
 made, though the business in general, and 
 particularly his share in it, admitted of 
 several. 
 
 Miss Somerset also heard of it, and 
 told Mr. Oldfield: he told Sir Charles 
 Bassett. 
 
 That l^gentleman sighed deeply, and said 
 nothing. He had lost all hope. 
 
 The whole matter appeared stagnant for 
 about ten days ; and then a delicate hand 
 stirred the dead waters cautiously. Mr.
 
 138 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Oldfield, of all j)eople in the world, received 
 a short letter from Bella Bruce. 
 
 '' Konigsherg Hotels Baden. 
 
 " Miss Bruce presents her compliments to 
 Mr. Oldjield, and will feel much obliged if he 
 will send her the name and address of the 
 brave lady who accompanied him to her 
 father s house, 
 
 " Miss Bruce desires to thank that lady, 
 personally, for her noble defence of one with 
 whom it would be improper for her to com- 
 municate: but she can never be indifferent to 
 his welfare, nor hear of his sufferings without 
 deep sorrow.''^ 
 
 " Confound it !" said Solomon Oldfield, 
 " What am I to do ? I mustn t tell her it 
 is Miss Somerset." So the wary lawyer had 
 a copy of the letter made, and sent to Miss 
 Somerset for instructions. 
 
 Miss Somerset sent for Mr. Marsh, who 
 was now more at her heck and call than
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 139 
 
 ever ; and told him she had a tickHsh 
 letter to write. "I can talk with the 
 best/' said she ; " but the moment I sit 
 down [and take up a pen, something cold 
 runs up my shoulder, and then down my 
 back-bone, and I'm palsied : now you are 
 always writing, and can't say ' Bo ' to a 
 goose, in company. Let us mix ourselves ; 
 I'll walk about_, and speak my mind ; and 
 then you put down the cream, and send it." 
 From this ingenious process resulted the 
 following composition : — 
 
 " She whom Miss Bruce is good enough to 
 call ' the brave lady' happened to know the 
 truth, and that tempted her to try and baffle an 
 anonymous slanderer, who was ruining the 
 happiness of a lady and gentleman. Being a 
 person of warm impulses, she went great 
 lengths ,* but she now wishes to retire into the 
 shade. She is flattered by Miss Bruce' s 
 desire to know Iter, and some day, perliaps, 
 may remind her of it; but, at 2?resent, she
 
 140 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 must deny herself that honour. If her reasons 
 loere known ^ Miss Bruce would not he offended^ 
 nor hurt ,* she would entirely approve them!' 
 
 Soon after this, as Sir Charles Bassett sat 
 by the fire, disconsolate, his servant told 
 him a lady wanted to see him. 
 
 " Who is it ?" 
 
 " Don't know, Sir Charles ; but it is a 
 kind of a sort of a nun, Sir Charles." 
 
 " Oh, a Sister of Charity ! Perhaps the 
 one that nursed me. Admit her, by all 
 means. The Sister came in. She had a 
 large veil on. Sir Charles received her 
 with profound respect, and thanked her, 
 with some little hesitation, for her kind 
 attention to him. She stopped him by 
 saying that was merely her duty. " But," 
 said she, softly, '' words fell from you, on 
 the bed of sickness, that touched my heart ; 
 and, besides, I happen to know the lady." 
 
 " You know my Bella !" cried Sir 
 Charles. " Ah, then no wonder you
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 141 
 
 speak so kindly : you can feel what I 
 have lost. She has left England to avoid 
 me. 
 
 " All the better. Where she is, the door 
 cannot be closed in your face. She is at 
 Baden. Follow her there. She has heard 
 the truth from Mr. Oldfield, and she knows 
 who wrote the anonymous letter." 
 
 ^^And whodid?" 
 
 " Mr. Richard Bassett." 
 
 This amazed Sir Charles. 
 
 " The scoundrel !" said he, after a long 
 silence. 
 
 ^'Well, then, why let that fellow de- 
 feat you, for his own ends ? I would go, 
 at once, to Baden. Your leaving England 
 would be one more proof to her that she 
 has no rival. Stick to her like a man, sir, 
 and you will win her I tell you." 
 
 These words from a nun amazed and 
 fired him. He rose from his chair, flushed 
 with sudden hope and ardour. " I'll leave 
 for Baden to-morrow morning."
 
 142 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 The Sister rose to retire. 
 
 '• No, no," cried Sir Charles. " I have 
 not thanked you. I ought to go down on 
 my knees and bless you for all this. To 
 whom am I so indebted ?" 
 
 " No matter, sir." 
 
 "But it does matter. You nursed me, 
 and perhaps saved my life, and now you 
 give me back the hopes that make life 
 sweet. You will not trust me with your 
 name ?" 
 
 " We have no name." 
 
 " Your voice at times sounds very like — 
 no, I will not affront you by such a com- 
 parison." 
 
 " I'm her sister," said she, like light- 
 ning. 
 
 This announcement staggered Sir Charles, 
 and he was silent and uncomfortable. It 
 gave him a chill. 
 
 The Sister watched him keenly, but said 
 nothing. 
 
 Sir Charles did not know what to say, so
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 143 
 
 he asked to see her face. " It must be as 
 beautiful as your heart." 
 
 The Sister shook her head. " My face 
 has been disfigured by a frightful dis- 
 order." 
 
 Sir Charles uttered an ejaculation of 
 regret and pity. 
 
 " I could not bear to show it to one who 
 esteems me as you seem to do. But per- 
 haps it will not always be so." 
 
 '^I hope not. You are young, and 
 Heaven is good. Can I do nothing for 
 you ? who have done so much for me ?" 
 
 " Nothing — unless," — said she, feigning 
 vast timidity, " you could spare me that 
 ring of yours, as a remembrance of the part 
 I have played in this affair." 
 
 Sir Charles coloured. It was a ruby of 
 the purest water, and had been two 
 centuries in his family. He coloured, but 
 was too fine a gentleman to hesitate. He 
 said, " By all means : but it is a poor thing 
 to offer you,"
 
 144 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 " I shall value it very much." 
 
 " Say no more. I am fortunate in 
 having anything you deign to accept." 
 
 And so the ring changed hands. 
 
 The Sister now put it on her middle 
 finger, and held up her hand, and her 
 bright eyes glanced at it, through her veil, 
 with that delight which her sex in general 
 feel at the possession of a new bauble. She 
 recovered herself, however, and told him, 
 soberly, the ring should return to his 
 family at her death, if not before. 
 
 '' I will give you a piece of advice for 
 it," said she. " Miss Bruce has foxy hair : 
 and she is very timid. Don't you take her 
 advice, about commanding her. She would 
 like to be your slave : don't let her. Coax 
 her to speak her mind. Make a friend of 
 her. Don't you put her to this — that she 
 must displease you, or else deceive you. 
 She might choose wrong, especially with 
 that coloured hair." 
 
 " It is not in her nature to deceive."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 145 
 
 " It is not in her nature to displease. 
 Excuse me ; I am too fanciful, and look at 
 women too close. But I know your happi- 
 ness depends on her : all your eggs are in 
 that one basket. Well, I have told you 
 how to carry the basket. Good-bye." 
 
 Sir Charles saw her out, and bowed re- 
 spectfully to her in the hall, while his 
 servant opened the street door. He did 
 her this homage as his benefactress. 
 
 When the Admiral and Miss Bruce 
 reached Baden, Mrs. Molineux was away 
 on a visit ; and this disappointed Admiral 
 Bruce, who had counted on her assistance 
 to manage and comfort Bella. Bella needed 
 the latter very much ; a glance at her 
 pale, pensive, lovely face, was enough to 
 show that sorrow was rooted at her heart. 
 She was subjected to no restraint, but kept 
 the house of her own accord, thinking, as 
 persons of her age are apt to do, that her 
 whole history must be written in her face. 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Still, of course, she did go out sometimes, 
 and one cold, but bright, afternoon, she 
 was strolling languidly on the parade, 
 when all in a moment she met Sir Charles 
 Bassett face to face. 
 
 She gave an eloquent scream, and turned 
 pale a moment, and then the hot blood 
 came rushing, and then it retired, and she 
 stood at bay, with heaving bosom, and 
 great eyes. 
 
 Sir Charles held out both hands patheti- 
 cally. " Don't you be afraid of me." 
 
 When she found he was so afraid of 
 offending her, she became more courageous. 
 " How dare you come here ?" said she, but 
 with more curiosity than violence^ for it 
 had been her dream of hope he would 
 come. 
 
 " How could I keep away, when I heard 
 you were here ?" 
 
 " You must not speak to me, sir ; I am 
 forbidden." 
 
 " Pray do not condemn me, unheard."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 147 
 
 " If I listen to you, I shall believe you. 
 I won't hear a word. Gentlemen can do 
 things that ladies cannot even speak about. 
 Talk to my Aunt Molineux : our fate de- 
 pends on her. This will teach you not to 
 be so wicked. What business have gentle- 
 men to be so wicked? Ladies are not. 
 No, it is no use, I will not hear a syllable. 
 I am ashamed to be seen speaking to you ; 
 you are a bad character. Oh, Charles, is 
 it true you had a fit ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And have you been very ill ? You 
 look ill." 
 
 " I am better now, dearest." 
 
 " ' Dearest !' Don't call me names. How- 
 dare you keep speaking to me, when I re- 
 quest you not ?" 
 
 " But I can't excuse myself, and obtain 
 my pardon, and recover your love, unless 
 I am allowed to speak." 
 
 " Oh, you can speak to my Aunt Moh'- 
 neux, and she will read you a fine lesson."
 
 148 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 " Where is she ?" 
 
 " Nobody knows. But there is her 
 house, the one with the iron gate. Get 
 her ear first, if you really love me ; and 
 don't you ever waylay me again. If you 
 do, I shall say something rude to you, sir. 
 Oh, I'm so happy !" 
 
 Having let this out, she hid her face 
 with her hands, and fled like the very wind. 
 
 At dinner time she was in high spirits. 
 
 The Admiral congratulated her. '^ Brava, 
 Bell ! Youth, and health, and a foreign 
 air, will soon cure you of that folly." 
 
 Bella blushed deeply^ and said nothing. 
 The truth struggled within her too, but 
 she shrank from giving pain, and receiving 
 expostulation. 
 
 She kept the house, though, for two 
 days, partly out of modesty, partly out of 
 an honest and pious desire to obey her 
 father as much as she could. 
 
 The third day, Mrs. Molineux ariived, 
 and sent over to the Admiral.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 149 
 
 He invited Bella to come with liim. She 
 consented eagerly ; but was so long in dress- 
 ing that he threatened to go without her. 
 She implored him not to do that ; and, after 
 a monstrous delay, the motive of which the 
 reader may perhaps divine, father and 
 daughter called on Mrs. Molineux. She 
 received them very affectionately. But, 
 when the Admiral, with some hesitation, 
 began to enter on the great subject, she 
 said, quietly, " Bella, my dear, go for a walk, 
 and come back to me in half an hour." 
 
 " Aunt Molineux !" said Bella, extending 
 both her hands imploringly to that lady. 
 
 Mrs. Molineux was proof against this 
 blandishment, and Bella had to go. 
 
 When she was gone, this lady, who both 
 as wife and mother, was literally a model, 
 rather astonished her brother, the Admiral. 
 She said, " I am sorry to tell you, that you 
 have conducted this matter with perfect 
 impropriety, both you and Bella. She had 
 no business to show you that anonymous
 
 150 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 letter ; and^ when she did show it you, you 
 should have taken it from her, and told 
 her not to believe a word of it." 
 
 "And married my daughter to a libertine ! 
 Why, Charlotte, I am ashamed of you." 
 
 Mrs. Molineux coloured high ; but she 
 kept her temper ; and ignored the inter- 
 ruption. " Then, if you decided to go 
 into so indelicate a question at all (and 
 really you were not bound to do so on 
 anonymous information), why then you 
 should have sent for Sir Charles, and given 
 him the letter, and put him on his honour 
 to tell you the truth. He would have told 
 you the fact, instead of a garbled version ; 
 and the fact is that, before he knew Bella, 
 he had a connection, which he prepared to 
 dissolve, on terms very honourable to 
 himself, as soon as he engaged himself to 
 your daughter. What is there in that ? 
 Why, it is common, universal, amongst 
 men of fashion. I am so vexed it ever 
 came to Bella's knowledge : really it is
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 151 
 
 dreadful to me, as a mother, that such a 
 thing should have been discussed before 
 that child. Complete innocence means 
 complete ignorance : and that is how all 
 my girls went to their husbands. How- 
 ever, what we must do now is to tell her 
 Sir Charles has satisfied me he was not to 
 blame ; and, after that, the subject must 
 never be recurred to. Sir Charles has 
 promised me never to mention it, and no 
 more shall Bella. And now, my dear 
 John, let me congratulate you. Your 
 daughter has a high-minded lover, who 
 adores her, with a fine estate : he has been 
 crying to me, poor fellow, as men will to 
 a woman of my age ; and, if you have any 
 respect for my judgment — ask him to 
 dinner." ■ 
 
 She added that it might be as well if, 
 after dinner, he were to take a little nap. 
 
 Admiral Bruce did not fall into these 
 views without discussion. I sj)are the 
 reader the dialogue, since he yielded at
 
 152 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 last, only he stipulated that his sister 
 should do the dinner, and the subsequent 
 siesta. 
 
 Bella returned, looking very wistful and 
 anxious. 
 
 " Come, here, niece," said Mrs. Molineux. 
 *' Kneel you at my knee. Now look me 
 in the face. Sir Charles has loved you, 
 and you only, from the day he first saw 
 you. He loves you now, as much as ever. 
 Do you love him ?" 
 
 " Oh, aunt ! aunt !" A shower of kisses, 
 and a tear or two. 
 
 " That is enough. Then dry your eyes, 
 and dress your beautiful hair a little 
 better than that ; for he dines with me to- 
 day." 
 
 Who so bright and happy now, as Bella 
 Bruce ? 
 
 The dreaded aunt did not stop there. 
 She held that, after the peep into real life 
 Bella Bruce had obtained, for want of a
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 153 
 
 mother's vigilance, she ought to be a wife 
 as soon as possible. So she gave Sir 
 Charles a hint that Baden was a very good 
 place to be married in : and, from that 
 moment, Sir Charles gave Bella and her 
 father no rest till they consented. 
 
 Little did Richard Bassett in England 
 dream what was going on at Baden. He 
 now surveyed the chimneys of Hunter- 
 combe Hall with resignation^ and even 
 with growing complacency, as chimneys 
 that would one day be his, since their 
 owner would not be in a hurry to love 
 again. He shot Sir Charles's pheasants 
 whenever they strayed into his hedge-rows, 
 and he lived moderately, and studied health. 
 In a word, content with the result of his 
 anonymous letter, he confined himself now 
 to cannily outliving the wrongful heir, his 
 cousin. 
 
 One fine frosty day, the chimneys of 
 Huntercombe began to show signs of life ; 
 vertical columns of blue smoke rose in
 
 154 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 the air, one after another, till at last there 
 were about forty going. 
 
 Old servants flowed down from London. 
 New ones trickled in with their boxes from 
 the country. Carriages were drawn out 
 into the stable-yard, horses exercised, 
 and a whisper ran that Sir Charles was 
 coming to live on his estates, and not 
 alone. 
 
 Eichard Bassett went about^ inquiring 
 cautiously. 
 
 The rumour spread, and was confirmed 
 by some little facts. 
 
 At last, one fine day, when the chimneys 
 were all smoking, the church bells began to 
 peal. 
 
 Richard Bassett heard, and went out, 
 scowling deeply. He found the village 
 all agog with expectation. 
 
 Presently there was a loud cheer from 
 the steeple, and a flag floated from the top 
 of Huntercombe House. Murmurs. Dis- 
 tant cheers. Approaching cheers. The
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 155 
 
 clatter of horses' feet. The roll of wheels. 
 Huntercombe gates flung wide open, by a 
 cluster of grooms and keepers. 
 
 Then on came two outriders, ushered by 
 loud hurrahs, and followed by a carriage 
 and four that dashed through the village, 
 amidst peals of delight from the villagers. 
 The carriage was open, and in it sat Sir 
 Charles, and Bella Bassett : she was lovelier 
 than ever : she dazzled the very air with 
 her beauty, and her glorious hair : the 
 hurrahs of the villagers made her heart 
 beat; she pressed Sir Charles's hand ten- 
 derly, and literally shone with joy and 
 pride : and so she swept past Richard 
 Bassett ; she saw him directly, shuddered 
 a moment, and half clung to her husband : 
 then on again, and passed through the 
 open gates amidst loud cheers. She alighted 
 in her own hall, and walked, nodding and 
 smiling sunnily, through two files of domes- 
 tics and retainers ; and thought no more of 
 Richard Bassett, than some bright bird that
 
 ]56 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 has flown over a rattlesnake and glanced 
 down at him. 
 
 But a gorgeous bird cannot always be 
 flying. A snake can sometimes creep 
 under her perch, and glare, and keep hiss- 
 ing, till she shudders, and droops, and lays 
 her plumage in the dust.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 157 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 Generally deliberate crimes are followed 
 by some great punishment ; but they are 
 also often attended in their course by briefer 
 chastisements, single strokes from the whip 
 that holds the round dozen in reserve. 
 These precursors of the grand expiation 
 are sharp but kindly lashes; for they tend 
 to whip the man out of the wrong road. 
 
 Such a stroke fell on Richard Bassett : 
 he saw Bella Bruce sweep past him, cling- 
 ing to her husband, and shuddering at him- 
 self. For this, then, he had plotted, and 
 intrigued, and written an anonymous letter. 
 The only woman he had ever loved at all
 
 158 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 went past him with a look of aversion, and 
 was his enemy's wife, and would soon be 
 the mother of that enemy's children, and 
 blot him for ever out of the coveted in- 
 heritance. 
 
 The man crept home, and sat by his little 
 fireside, crushed. Indeed from that hour 
 he disappeared, and drank his bitter cup 
 alone. 
 
 After a while it transpired in the village 
 that he was very ill. The clergyman went 
 to visit him ; but was not admitted. The 
 only person, who got to see him, was his 
 friend Wheeler, a small but sharp attorney, 
 by whose advice he acted in country mat- 
 ters. This "Wheeler was very fond of shoot- 
 ing, and could not get a crack at a pheasant, 
 except on Highmore ; and that was a bond 
 between him and its proprietor. It was 
 Wheeler who had first told Bassett not to 
 despair of possessing the estates, since they 
 had inserted Sir Charles's heir-at-law in the 
 entail.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 159 
 
 This Wheeler found him now so shrunk 
 in body, so pale and haggard in face, and 
 dejected in mind, that he was really shocked, 
 and asked leave to send a doctor from the 
 neighbouring town. 
 
 " What to do ?" said Eichard, moodily. 
 " It's my mind; it's not my body. Ah, 
 Wheeler, it is all over. I and mine shall 
 never have Huntercombe now." 
 
 " I'll tell you what it is," said Wheeler, 
 almost angrily, " you will have six feet by 
 two of it before long if you go on this 
 way. Was ever such folly ! to fret your- 
 self out of this jolly world, because you 
 can't get one particular slice of its upper 
 crust : why, one bit of land is as good as 
 another ; and I'll show you how to get 
 land — in this neighbourhood too : ay, right 
 under Sir Charles's nose." 
 
 " Show me that," said Bassett, gloomily 
 and incredulously. 
 
 " Leave off moping, then, and I will. I 
 advise the Bank, you know, and ' Splat-
 
 160 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 chett's' farm is mortgaged up to the eyes. 
 It is not the only one. I go to the village 
 inns, and pick up all the gossip I hear 
 there." 
 
 " How am I to find money to buy land ?" 
 
 '' I'll put you up to that too ; but you 
 must leave off moping. Hang it, man, 
 never say die. There are plenty of chances 
 on the cards. Get your colour back, and 
 marry a girl with money, and turn that 
 into land. The first thing is to leave off 
 grizzling. Why, you are playing the 
 enemy's game : that can't be right ; can 
 it?" 
 
 This remark was the first that really 
 roused the sick man. 
 
 Wheeler had too few clients to lose one. 
 He now visited Bassett almost daily, and, 
 being himself full of schemes and inven- 
 tions, he got Bassett, by degrees, out of 
 his lethargy ; and he emerged into day- 
 light again ; but he looked thin, and yellow 
 as a guinea, and he had turned miser. lie
 
 A TEKRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 161 
 
 kept but one servant, and fed her and him- 
 self at Sir Charles Bassett's expense. He 
 wired that gentleman's hares and rabbits 
 in his own hedges. He went out with his 
 gun every sunny afternoon, and shot a 
 brace or two of pheasants, without disturb- 
 ing the rest ; for he took no dog with him 
 to run and yelp, but a little boy, who 
 quietly tapped the hedge-rows and walked 
 the sunny banks and shaws. They never 
 came home empty-handed. 
 
 But, on^ those rarer occasions, when Sir 
 Charles and his friends beat the Bassett 
 woods, Richard was sure to make a large 
 bag ; for he was a cool unerring shot, and 
 flushed the birds in hedge-rows, slips of 
 underwood, etc., to which the fairer sports- 
 men had driven them. 
 
 These birds, and the surplus hares, he 
 always sold in the market town, and put 
 the money into a box. The rabbits he ate, 
 and also squirrels, and, above all, young 
 hedge-hogs ; a gipsy taught him how to 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 cook them,Viz. : by enclosing them in clay, 
 and baking them in wood embers ; then the 
 bristles adhere to the burnt clay, and the 
 meat is juicy. He was his own gardener, 
 and vegetables cost him next to nothing. 
 
 So he went on through all the winter 
 months, and by the spring his health and 
 strength were restored ; then he turned 
 woodman ; cut down every stick of timber 
 in a little wood near his house, and sold it -, 
 and then set to work 'to grub up the roots 
 for fires, and cleared it for tillage. The 
 sum he received for the wood was much 
 more than he expected, and this he made 
 a note of. 
 
 He had a strong body, that could work 
 hard all day ; a big hate, and a mania for 
 the possession of land ; and so he led a truly 
 Spartan life, and everybody in the village 
 said he was mad. 
 
 ' Whilst he led this hard life. Sir Charles 
 and Lady Bassett were the gayest of the 
 gSij, She was the beauty and the bride.
 
 A TEREIBLE TEMPTATION. ibo 
 
 Visits and invitations poured in from every 
 part of the country. Sir Charles, flattered 
 by the homage paid to his beloved, made 
 himself younger and less fastidious, to in- 
 dulge her ; and the happy pair often drove 
 twelve miles to dinner, and twenty to dine 
 and sleep — an excellent custom in that 
 county, one of whose favourite toasts is 
 worth recording — " May you dine where 
 
 YOU PLEASE^ AND SLEEP WHERE YOU DINE." 
 
 They were at every ball, and gave one 
 or two themselves. 
 
 Above all, they enjoyed society in that 
 delightful form which is confined to large 
 houses. They would have numerous and 
 well-assorted visitors staying at the house 
 for a week or so, and all dining at a huge 
 round table. But two o'clock p.m. was the 
 time to see how hosts and guests enjoyed 
 themselves : the hall door of Huntercombe 
 was approached by a flight of stone steps, 
 easy of ascent, and about twenty-four feet 
 wide ; at the riding hour the county ladies
 
 164 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 used to come, one after another, holding up 
 their riding habits with one hand, and 
 perch about this gigantic flight of steps, 
 like peacocks, and chatter like jays, while 
 the servants walked their horses about the 
 gravel esplanade, and the four-in-hand 
 waited a little in the rear. A fine champ- 
 ing of bits and fidgeting of thorough-breds 
 there was, till all were ready ; then the 
 ladies would each put out her little foot 
 with charming nonchalance, to the nearest 
 gentleman or groom, with a slight pre- 
 ference for the grooms, who were more 
 practised : the man lifted, the lady sprang 
 at the same time, and into her saddle like a 
 bird — Lady Bassett on a very quiet pony, 
 or in the carriage to please some dowager 
 — and away they clattered in high spirits, 
 a regular cavalcade. It was a hunting 
 county, and the ladies rode w^ell ; square 
 seat, light hand on the snaffle, the curb 
 reserved for cases of necessity ; and, when 
 they had patted the horse on the neck at
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 165 
 
 starting, as all these coaxing creatures 
 must, they rode him with that well-bred 
 ease and unconsciousness of being on a 
 horse, which distinguishes ladies who have 
 ridden all their lives from the gawky snob- 
 besses in Hyde Park, who ride, if riding 
 it can be called, with their elbows uncouthly 
 fastened to their sides as if by a rope, their 
 hands at the pit of their stomachs, and both 
 those hands, as heavy as a housemaid's, 
 sawing the poor horse with curb and snaffle 
 at once ; while the whole body breathes 
 pretension and affectation, and seems to 
 say " Look at me ; I am on horseback ! 
 Be startled at that — as I am ! and I have 
 had lessons from a riding-master ; he has 
 taught me how a lady should ride — in his 
 opinion, poor devil." 
 
 The champing, the pawing, the mounting, 
 and the clattering of these bright caval- 
 cades, with the music of the women excited 
 by motion, furnished a picture of wealth, 
 and gaiety, and happy country life, that
 
 166 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 cheered the whole neighbourhood, and con- 
 trasted strangely with the stern Spartan 
 life of him, who had persuaded himself he 
 w^as the rightful owner of Huntercombe 
 Hall. 
 
 Sir Charles Bassett was a magistrate, and 
 soon found himself a bad one. One day he 
 made a little mistake, which, owing to his 
 popularity, was very gently handled by the 
 Bench at their weekly meeting ; but still 
 Sir Charles was ashamed and mortified. 
 He wrote directly to Oldfield for law books, 
 and that gentlemen sent him an excellent 
 selection, bound in smooth calf. 
 
 Sir Charles now studied three hours 
 every day, except hunting days, when no 
 squire can work ; and, as his study was 
 his justice-room, he took care to find an 
 authority before he acted. He was naturally 
 humane, and rustic offenders, especially 
 poachers and run-away farm servants, used 
 to think themselves fortunate if they were 
 taken before him, and not before Squire
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 167 
 
 Powys, who was sure to give them the 
 sharp edge of the law. So now Sir Charles 
 was useful as well as ornamental. 
 
 Thus passed fourteen months of happi- 
 ness, with only one little cloud ; there was 
 no sign yet of a son and heir. But, let a 
 man be ever so powerful, it is an awkward 
 thing to have a bitter inveterate enemy at 
 his door watching for a chance : Sir Charles 
 began to realise this in the sixteenth month 
 of his wedded bliss. A small estate called 
 " Splatchett's " lay on his north side, and a 
 marginal strip of this property ran right 
 into a wood of his. This strip was wretched 
 land, and the owner, unable to raise any 
 white crop on it, had planted it with 
 larches. 
 
 Sir Charles had made him a liberal offer 
 for " Splatchett's " about six years ago ; but 
 he had refused point blank, being then in 
 good circumstances. 
 
 Sir Charles now received a hint from 
 one of his own game-keepers, that the
 
 168 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 old farmer was in a bad way, and talked 
 of selling. So Sir Charles called on liim, 
 and asked him if he would sell "Splatchett's" 
 now. " Why, I can't sell it twice," said 
 the old man, testily. " You ha' got it, 
 han't ye ?" It turned out that Eichard 
 Bassett had been beforehand. The bank 
 had pressed for their money, and threatened 
 foreclosure ; then Bassett had stepped in 
 with a good price ; and, although the con- 
 veyance was not signed, a stamped agree- 
 ment was, and neither vendor nor purchaser 
 could go back. What made it more galling, 
 the proprietor was not aw^are of the feud 
 between the Basset ts, and had thought to 
 please Sir Charles, by selling to one of his 
 name. 
 
 Sir Charles Bassett went home seriously 
 vexed ; he did not mean to tell his wife ; 
 but love's eye read his face, love's arm went 
 round his neck, and love's soft voice, and 
 wistful eyes, soon coaxed it out of him. 
 " Dear Charles," said she, " never mind.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 169 
 
 It is mortifying : but think how much you 
 have, and how httle that wicked man has. 
 Let him have that farm : he has lost his 
 self-respect, and that is worth a great many 
 farms. For my part, I pity the poor wretch. 
 Let him try to annoy you ; your wife will 
 try, against him, to make you happy, my 
 own beloved ; and I think I may prove as 
 strong as Mr. Bassett," said she, with a 
 look of inspiration. 
 
 Her sweet and tender sympathy soon 
 healed so slight a scratch. 
 
 But they had not done with " Splatchett's" 
 yet. Just after Christmas Sir Charles in- 
 vited three gentlemen to beat his more 
 distant preserves. Their guns bellowed in 
 quick succession through the woods, and at 
 last they reached North Wood. Here they 
 expected splendid shooting, as a great many 
 cock pheasants had already been seen run- 
 ning ahead. 
 
 But, when they got to the end of the 
 wood, they found Lawyer Wheeler standing
 
 170 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 against a tree just within " Splatchett's " 
 boundary; and one of their own beaters 
 reported that two boys were stationed in 
 the road, each tapping two sticks together 
 to confine the pheasants to that strip of 
 land, on which the low larches and high 
 grass afforded a strong covert. 
 
 Sir Charles halted on his side of the 
 boundary. 
 
 Then Wheeler told his man to beat, and 
 up got the cock-pheasants, one after another. 
 Whenever a pheasant whirred up the man 
 left off beating. 
 
 The lawyer knocked down four brace in 
 no time, and those that escaped him, and 
 turned back for the wood, were brought 
 down by Bassett, firing from the hard road. 
 Only those were spared that flew north- 
 wards into " Splatchett's." It was a 
 veritable slaughter, planned with judgment, 
 and carried out in a most ungentlemanlike 
 and unsportsmanlike manner. 
 
 It goaded Sir Charles beyond his patience.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 171 
 
 After several vain efforts to restrain himself, 
 he shouldered his gun, and^ followed by his 
 friends, went bursting through the larches 
 to Richard Bassett. 
 
 " Mr. Bassett," said he, " this is most 
 ungentlemanly conduct." 
 
 " What is the matter, sir ? Am I on 
 your ground ?" 
 
 " No ; but you are taking a mean advan- 
 tage of our being out. Who ever heard of 
 a gentleman beating his boundaries the very 
 day a neighbour was out shooting and 
 filling them with his game ?" 
 
 '' Oh, that is it, is it ? When justice is 
 against you, you can talk of law ; and when 
 law is against you, you appeal to justice. 
 Let us be in one story or the other, please. 
 The Hunterscombe estates belong to me, by 
 birth. You have got them by legal trickery. 
 Keep them, whilst you live. They icill 
 come to me one day^ you know. Meantime, 
 leave me my little estate of ' Splatchetf s.' 
 For shame, sir ; you have robbed me of my
 
 172 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 inheritance and my sweetheart ; do you 
 grudge me a few cock-pheasants? Why, 
 you have made me so poor they are an 
 object to me now." 
 
 "Oh!" said Sir Charles, ^' if you are 
 steaHng my game to keep body and soul 
 together, I pity you. In that case, perhaps 
 you will let my friends help you fill your 
 larder." 
 
 Eichard Bassett hesitated a moment ; but 
 Wheeler, who had drawn near at the sound 
 of the raised voices, made him a signal to 
 assent. 
 
 " By all means," said he, adroitly. " Mr. 
 Markham, your father often shot with mine 
 over the Bassett estates. You are welcome 
 to poor little ' Splatchett's.' Keep your 
 men off, Sir Charles ; they are noisy bun- 
 glers, and do more harm than good. Here, 
 Tom ! Bill ! beat for the gentlemen. They 
 shall have the sport. I only want the 
 birds." 
 
 Sir Charles drew back, and saw pheasant
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 173 
 
 after pheasant thunder and whiz into the 
 air, then collapse at a report, and fall like 
 lead, followed by a shower of feathers. 
 
 His friends seemed to be deserting him 
 for Eichard Bassett. He left them in 
 charge of his keepers, and went slowly 
 home. 
 
 He said nothing to Lady Bassett till 
 night, and then she got it all from him. 
 She was very indignant at many of the 
 things; but as for Sir Charles, all his 
 cousin's arrows glided off that high-minded 
 gentleman, except one, and that quivered 
 in his heart. " Yes, Bella," said he, " he 
 told me he should inherit these estates. 
 That is because we are not blessed wath 
 children." 
 
 Lady Bassett sighed. " But we shall be, 
 some day. Shall we not ?" 
 
 " God knows," said Sir Charles, gloomily. 
 " I wonder whether there was really any- 
 thing unfair done on our side, when the 
 entail was cut off?"
 
 174 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 " Is that likely, dearest ; why ?" 
 " Heaven seems to be on his side." 
 " On the side of a wicked man ?" 
 " But he may be the father of innocent 
 children." 
 
 " Why, he is not even married." 
 " He will marry. He will not throw a 
 chance away. It makes my head dizzy, 
 and my heart sick. Bella, now I can 
 understand two enemies meeting alone in 
 some solitary place, and one killing the 
 other in a moment of rage ; for, when this 
 scoundrel insulted me, I remembered his 
 anonymous letter, and all his relentless 
 malice — Bella, I could have raised my gun 
 and shot him like a weasel." 
 
 Lady Bassett screamed faintly, and flung 
 her arms round his neck. " Oh, Charles^ 
 pray to Grod against such thoughts. You 
 shall never go near that man again. Don't 
 think of our one disappointment : think of 
 all the blessings we enjoy. I^ever mind 
 that wretched man's hate. Think of your
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 175 
 
 wife's love. Have I not more power to 
 make you happy than he has to afflict you, 
 my adored?" These sweet words were 
 accompanied by a wife's divine caresses, 
 with the honey of her voice, and the hquid 
 sunshine of her loving eyes. Sir Charles 
 slept peacefully that night, and forgot his 
 one grief, and his one enemy, for a time. 
 
 Not so Lady Bassett. She lay awake 
 all night and thought deeply of Eichard 
 Bassett and " his unrelenting, impenitent 
 malice." Women of her fine fibre, when 
 they think long and earnestly on one thing, 
 have often divinations. The dark Future 
 seems to be lit a moment at a time by 
 flashes of lightning, and they discern the 
 indistinct forms of events to come. And 
 so it was with Lady Bassett : in the stilly 
 night, a terror of the future, and of Richard 
 Bassett, crept over her ; a terror dispropor- 
 tioned to his past acts, and apparent power. 
 Perhaps she was oppressed by having an 
 enemy — she, who was born to be loved : at
 
 176 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 all events, slie was full of feminine divina- 
 tions, and forebodings, and saw, by Hashes, 
 many a poisoned arrow fly from that quiver, 
 and strike the beloved breast. It had 
 already discharged one that had parted 
 them for a time_, and nearly killed Sir 
 Charles. 
 
 Daylight cleared away much of this dark 
 terror, but left a sober dread, and a strange 
 resolution. This timid creature, stimulated 
 by love, determined to watch the foe, and 
 defend her husband with all her little 
 power. All manner of devices passed 
 through her head, but were rejected, be- 
 cause, if Love said " Do wonders," Timidity 
 said " Do nothing that you have not seen 
 other wives do." So she remained, scheming, 
 and longing, and fearing, and passive, all 
 day. But the next day she conceived a 
 vague idea, and^ all in a heat, rang for her 
 maid. While the maid was coming, she 
 fell to blushing at her own boldness, and, 
 just as the maid opened the door, her
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 177 
 
 thermometer fell so low that — she sent her 
 up-stairs for a piece of work. Oh lame and 
 impotent conclusion ! 
 
 Just before luncheon, she chanced to 
 look through a window, and to see the head 
 gamekeeper crossing the park, and coming 
 to the house. Now this was the very man 
 she wanted to speak to. The sudden tempta- 
 tion surprised her out of her timidity. She 
 rang the bell again, and sent for the 
 man. 
 
 That Colossus wondered in his mind, and 
 felt uneasy at an invitation so novel. 
 However he clattered into the morning 
 room, in his velveteen coat, and leathern 
 gaiters up to his thigh, pulled his front 
 hair, bobbed his head, and then stood firm 
 in body as him of Rhodes, but in mind 
 much abashed at finding himself in her 
 ladyship's presence. 
 
 The lady, however, did not prove so 
 very terrible. " May I inquire your name, 
 sir ?" said she, very respectfully. 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 178 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATJOX. 
 
 '^ Moses Moss, my lady." 
 
 " Mr. Moss, I wish to ask you a question 
 or two. May I ?" 
 
 " That you may, my lady." 
 
 " I want you to explain — if you will be 
 so good — how the proprietor of ' Splat- 
 chett's ' can shoot all Sir Charles's phea- 
 sants." 
 
 " Lord ! my lady, we ain't come down to 
 that. But he do shoot more than his share, 
 that's sure an' sartain. Well, my lady — 
 if you please — game is just like Christians, 
 it will make for sunny spots. Highmore 
 have got a many of them there, with 
 good cover, so we breeds for he. As for 
 ' Splatchett's,' that don't hurt we, my lady : 
 it is all arable land and dead hedges with 
 no bottom ; only there's one little tongue of 
 it runs into North Wood, and planted with 
 larch ; and, if you please, my lady, there is 
 always a kind of coarse grass grows under 
 young larches, and makes a strong cover 
 for game. So, beat North Wood which
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 179 
 
 way you will, them artful old cocks will 
 run a-head of ye, or double back into them 
 larches ; and you see Mr. Bassett is not a 
 gentleman like Sir Charles ; he is always a 
 mouching about, and the biggest poacher 
 in the parish ; and so he drops on to 'em 
 out of bounds." 
 
 " Is there no way of stopping all this, 
 sir r 
 
 " We might station a dozen beaters 
 a-head : they would most likely get shot ; 
 but I don't think as they'd mind that much, 
 if you had set your heart on it, my lady. 
 "Dall'difl would, for one." 
 
 "Oh, Mr. Moss! Heaven forbid that 
 any man should be shot for me. No, not 
 all the pheasants in the world. I'll try and 
 think of some other way. I should like to 
 see the place. May I ?" 
 
 " Yes, my lady, and welcome." 
 
 " How shall I get to it, sir ?" 
 
 ''You can ride to the 'Woodman's 
 Rest,' my lady, and it is scarce a stone's-
 
 180 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 throw from there ; but 'tis baddish travel- 
 h'ng for the likes of you." 
 
 She appointed an hour, rode, with her 
 groom, to the pubHc-house, and thence was 
 conducted through bush, through briar, to 
 the place where her husband had been so 
 annoyed. 
 
 Moss's comments became very intelli- 
 gible to her the moment she saw the place. 
 She said very little, however, and rode 
 home. 
 
 Next day she blushed high, and asked 
 Sir Charles for a hundred pounds to spend 
 upon herself. 
 
 Sir Charles smiled, well pleased, and gave 
 it her, and a kiss into the bargain. 
 
 " Ah ! but," said she, " that is not all." 
 " I am glad of it. You spend too little 
 money on yourself — a great deal too 
 little." 
 
 " That is a complaint you won't have 
 long to make. I want to cut down a few 
 trees. May I ?"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 181 
 
 '' Going to build ?" 
 
 " Don't ask me. It is for myself." 
 
 '' That is enough. Cut down every stick 
 on the estate^ if you like. The barer it 
 leaves us, the better." 
 
 " Ah, Charles, you promised me not. I 
 shall cut with great discretion, I assure 
 you." 
 
 " As you please," said Sir Charles. If 
 you want to make me happy^ deny your- 
 self nothing. Mind, I shall be angry if 
 you do," 
 
 Soon after this, a gaping quidnunc came 
 to Sir Charles, and told him Lady Bassett 
 was felling trees in North Wood. 
 
 " And pray who has a better right to fell 
 trees in any wood of mine ?" 
 
 " But she is building a wall." 
 
 " And who has a better right to build a 
 wall ?" With the delicacy of a gentleman 
 he would not go near the place after this, 
 till she asked him ; and that was not long. 
 She came into his study, all beaming, and
 
 182 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 invited him to a ride. She took him into 
 North Wood, and showed him her work. 
 Eichard Bassett's plantation, hitherto 
 divided from North Wood only by a boun- 
 dary scarcely visible, was now shut off by 
 a brick wall : on Sir Charles's side of that 
 wall every stack of timber was felled and 
 removed, for a distance of fifty yards, and, 
 about twenty yards from the wall, a belt 
 of larches was planted, a little higher than 
 cabbages. 
 
 Sir Charles looked amazed, at first ; but 
 soon observed how thoroughly his enemy 
 was defeated. " My poor Bella," said he, 
 " to think of your taking all this trouble 
 
 about such a thing " He stopped to 
 
 kiss her very tenderly, and she shone with 
 joy and innocent pride. '' And I never 
 thought of this ! You astonish me, Bella." 
 
 " Ay," said she, in high spirits now ; 
 " and, what is more, I have astonished Mr. 
 Moss. He said ' I wish I had your head- 
 piece, my lady.' I could have told him
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 183 
 
 Love sharpens a woman's wits ; but I re- 
 served that little adage for you." 
 
 '^ It is all mighty fine^ fair lady, but you 
 have told me a fib. You said it was to be 
 all for yourself, and got a hundred pounds 
 out of me." 
 
 *' And so it was for myself, you silly 
 thing. Are you not myself? and the part 
 of myself I love the best." And her supple 
 wrist was round his neck in a moment. 
 
 They rode home together, like lovers, 
 and comforted each other. 
 
 Kichard Bassett, with Wheeler's assist- 
 ance, had borrowed money on Highmore to 
 buy " Splatchett's :" he now borrowed 
 money on "Splatchett's," and bought 
 Dean's Wood, a wood, with patches of 
 grass, that lay on the east of Sir Charles's 
 boundary. He gave seventeen hundred 
 pounds for it, and sold two thousand 
 pound's worth of timber off it the first year. 
 This sounds incredible ; but, owing to the
 
 1S4 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 custom of felling only ripe trees, landed 
 proprietors had no sure clue to the value 
 of all the timber on an acre. Richard 
 Bassett had found this out, and bought 
 Dean's Wood upon the above terms : i.e., 
 the vendor gave him the soil, and three 
 hundred pounds, gratis. He grubbed the 
 roots, and sold them for fuel, and planted 
 larches to catch the overflow of Sir 
 Charles's game ; the grass grew beautifully, 
 now the trees were down, and he let it for 
 pasture. 
 
 He then, still under Wheeler's advice, 
 came out into the world again, improved 
 his dress, and called on several county 
 families, with a view to marrying 
 money. 
 
 Now, in the country they do not despise 
 a poor gentleman of good lineage, and Bas- 
 sett was one of the oldest names in the 
 county ; so every door was open to him ; 
 and, indeed, his late hermit life had stimu- 
 lated some curiosity. This he soon turned
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 185 
 
 to sympathy, by telling them that he was 
 proud, but poor ; robbed of the vast estates 
 that belonged to him by birth, he had been 
 unwilling to take a lower position. How- 
 ever, Heaven had prospered him ; the 
 wrongful heir was childless ; he was the 
 heir-at-law, and felt he owed it to the 
 estate, which must return to his line, to 
 assume a little more public importance than 
 he had done. 
 
 Wherever he was received he was sure 
 to enlarge upon his wrongs ; and he was 
 believed ; for he was notoriously the direct 
 heir to Bassett and Huntercombe, but the 
 family arrangement, by which his father 
 had been bought out, was known only to a 
 few. He readily obtained sympathy, and 
 many persons were disgusted at Sir 
 Charles's illiberality in not making him 
 some compensation. To use the homely 
 expression of Govett, a small proprietor, 
 the baronet might as well have given him 
 back one pig out of his own farrow : i.e.,
 
 186 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 one of the many farms comprised in that 
 large estate. 
 
 Sir Charles learned that Richard was 
 undermining him in the county, but was 
 too proud to interfere ; he told Lady Bas- 
 sett he should say nothing until some 
 gentleman should endorse Mr. Bassett's false- 
 hoods. 
 
 One day, Sir Charles and Lady Bassett 
 were invited to dine and sleep at Mr. Hard- 
 wicke's, distant fifteen miles : they went, 
 and found Richard Bassett dining there, by 
 Mrs. Hardwicke's invitation, who was one 
 of those ninnies that fling guests together 
 with no discrimination. 
 
 Richard had expected this to happen 
 sooner or later, so he was comparatively 
 prepared, and bowed stifily to Sir Charles. 
 Sir Charles stared at him in return. This 
 was observed : people were uncomfortable, 
 especially Mrs. Hardwicke, whose thought- 
 lessness was to blame for it all. 
 
 At a very early hour Sir Charles ordered
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 187 
 
 his carriage^ and drove home, instead ol 
 staying all night. 
 
 Mrs. Hardwicke, being a fool, must make 
 a little more mischief. She blubbered to 
 her husband, and he wrote Sir Charles a 
 remonstrance. 
 
 Sir Charles replied that he was the only 
 person aggrieved : Mr. Hardwicke ought 
 not to have invited a blackguard to meet 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke replied that he had never 
 heard a Bassett called a blackguard before, 
 and had seen nothing in Mr. Bassett to 
 justify an epithet so unusual amongst gen- 
 tlemen. " And, to be frank with you. Sir 
 Charles," said he, " I think this bitterness 
 against a poor gentleman, whose estates 
 you are so fortunate as to possess, is not 
 consistent with your general character, and 
 is indeed unworthy of you," 
 
 To this. Sir Charles Bassett replied : —
 
 188 a terrible temptation. 
 
 "Dear Mr. Hardwicke^ — 
 
 " You have applied some remarks to me, 
 which I will endeavour to forget, as they were 
 written in entire ignorance of the truth. But, 
 if we are to remain friends, I expect you to 
 believe me, when I tell you that Mr. Richard 
 Bassett has never been wronged by me or mine, 
 but has wronged me and Lady Bassett deeply. 
 He is a dishonourable scoundrel, not entitled 
 to be received in society : and if after this 
 assurance, you receive him, I shall never 
 darken your doors again. So please let me 
 know your decision. 
 
 " / remain, 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 "Charles Dyke Bassett." 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke chafed under this : but 
 Prudence stepped in : he was one of the 
 county members, and Sir Charles could 
 command three hundred votes. 
 
 He wrote back to say he had received 
 Sir Charles's letter with pain, but of course
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 189 
 
 he could not disbelieve him, and therefore 
 he should invite Mr. Bassett no more till 
 the matter was cleared. 
 
 But Mr. Hardwicke, thus brought to 
 book, was nettled at his own meanness, so 
 he sent Sir Charles's letter to Mr. Richard 
 Bassett. 
 
 Bassett foamed with rage, and wrote a 
 long lettter, raving with insults, to Sir 
 Charles. 
 
 He was in the act of directing it, when 
 Wheeler called on him. Bassett showed 
 him Sir Charles's letter. Wheeler read it. 
 
 '^ Now read what I say to him, in 
 reply." 
 
 Wheeler read Bassett's letter, threw it 
 into the fire, and kept it there with the 
 poker. 
 
 " Lucky I called," said he drily. " Saved 
 you a thousand pounds or so. You must 
 not write a letter without me." 
 
 ** What, am I to sit still, and be insulted ? 
 You're a pretty friend."
 
 190 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 " I am a wise friend. This is a more 
 serious matter than you seem to think." 
 
 '* Libel?" 
 
 " Of course. Why, if Sir Charles had 
 consulted me, I could not have dictated a 
 better letter. It closes every chink a de- 
 fendant in libel can creep out by. Now 
 take your pen and write to Mr. Hard- 
 wicke." 
 
 " Dear Sir — 
 
 " I have received your letter, containing a 
 libel written hy Sir Charles Bassett. My 
 reply will he public. 
 
 '' Yours very truly, 
 
 " Richard Bassett." 
 
 '' Is that all r 
 
 " Every syllable. Now mind : you never 
 go to Hardwicke House again; Sir Charles 
 has got you banished from that house; 
 special damage ! There never was a 
 prettier case for a jury; the rightful heir
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 191 
 
 foully slandered by the possessor of his 
 hereditary estates." 
 
 This picture excited Bassett, and he 
 walked about raving with malice_, and 
 longing for the time when he should stand 
 in the witness-box and denounce his enemy. 
 " No, no," said Wheeler, " leave that to 
 counsel ; you must play the mild victim in 
 the witness-box. Who is the defendant's 
 solicitor ? We ought to serve the writ on 
 him at once." 
 
 " No, no ; serve it on himself." 
 " What for ? Much better proceed like 
 gentlemen." 
 
 Bassett got in a passion, at being con- 
 tradicted in everything. *'I tell you," said 
 he, " the more I can irritate and exasperate 
 this villain, the better. Besides, he slan- 
 dered me behind my back; and I'll have 
 the writ served upon himself. Til do 
 everything I can to take him down. If a 
 man wants to be my lawyer, he must enter 
 into my feelings a little."
 
 192 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Wheeler, to whom he was more vahiable 
 than ever now, consented somewhat reluct- 
 antly ; and called at Huntercombe Hall 
 next day, with the writ, and sent in his 
 card. 
 
 Lady Bassett heard of this, and asked if 
 it was Mr. Bassett's friend. 
 
 The butler said he thought it was. 
 
 Lady Bassett went to Sir Charles in his 
 study. ** Oh my dear," said she, " here is 
 Mr. Bassett's lawyer." 
 
 ''Well?" 
 
 " Why does he come here ?" 
 
 " I don't know." 
 
 " Don't see him." 
 
 " Why not ?" 
 
 " I am so afraid of Mr. Bassett. He is 
 our evil genius. Let me see this person, 
 instead of you. Maj/ I ?" 
 
 " Certainly not." 
 
 " Might I see him Jirst, love ?" 
 
 " You will not see him at all." 
 
 " Charles !"
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. L\)6 
 
 "No, Bella; I cannot have these animals 
 talking to my wife." 
 
 " But^ dear love, I am so full of fore- 
 bodings. You know, Charles, I don't 
 often presume to meddle ; but I am in 
 torture about this man. If you receive 
 him, may I be with you ? Then we shall 
 be two to one." 
 
 " No, no/' said Sir Charles, testily : then, 
 seeing her beautiful eyes fill at the refusal 
 and the unusual tone, he relented. *'You 
 may be in hearing, if you like. Open that 
 door, and sit in the little room." 
 
 "Oh, thank you!" 
 
 She stepped into the room, a very small 
 sitting-room. She had never been in it 
 before, and, while she was examining it, 
 and thinking how she could improve its 
 appearance, Mr. Wheeler was shown into 
 the study. Sir Charles received him stand- 
 ing, to intimate that the interview must be 
 brief. This, and the time he had been kept 
 waiting in the hall, roused Wheeler's 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 194 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 bile, and he entered on his subject more 
 brusquely than he had intended. 
 
 " Sir Charles Bassett, you wrote a letter 
 to Mr. Hardwicke, reflecting on my client, 
 Mr. Bassett — a most unjustifiable letter." 
 
 " Keep your opinion to yourself, sir. I 
 wrote a letter, calling him what he is." 
 
 " No, sir, that letter is a libel." 
 
 " It is the truth." 
 
 " It is a malicious libel, sir ; and we 
 shall punish you for it. I hereby serve 
 you with this copy of a writ. Damages 
 five thousand pounds." 
 
 A sigh from the next room passed un- 
 noticed by the men, for their voices were 
 now raised in anger. 
 
 " And so that is what you came here for. 
 Why did you not go to my solicitor ? You 
 must be as great a blackguard as your 
 client, to serve your paltry writs on me in 
 my own house." 
 
 " Not blackguard enough to insult a 
 gentleman in my own house. If you had
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 195 
 
 been civil, I might have accommodated 
 matters ; but now I'll make you smart — 
 ugh !" 
 
 Nothing provokes a high-spirited man 
 more than a menace. Sir Charles, threat- 
 ened in his wife's hearing, shot out his 
 right arm with surprising force and ra- 
 pidity, and knocked Wheeler down in a 
 moment. 
 
 In came Lady Bassett, with a scream^ 
 and saw the attorney lying doubled up, 
 and Sir Charles standing over him, blowing 
 like a grampus, with rage and excite- 
 ment. 
 
 But the next moment he staggered and 
 gasped, and she had to support him to a 
 seat. She rang the bell for aid, then 
 kneeled, and took his throbbing temples to 
 her wifely bosom. 
 
 Wheeler picked himself up, and, seated 
 on his hams, eyed the pair with concen- 
 trated fury. 
 
 " Aha ! You have hurt yourself more
 
 196 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 than me. Two suits against you now, 
 instead of one." 
 
 "Conduct this person from the house," 
 said Lady Bassett, to a servant who entered 
 at that moment. 
 
 " All right, my lady," said Wheeler ; 
 " I'll remind you of that word, when this 
 house belongs to us."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION 197 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 With this bitter reply Wheeler retired 
 precipitately ; the shaft pierced but one 
 bosom ; for the devoted wife, with the swift 
 ingenuity of woman's love^ had put both 
 her hands right over her husband's ears, 
 that he might hear no more insults. 
 
 Sir Charles very nearly had a fit ; but 
 his wife loosened his neck-cloth, caressed 
 his throbbing head, and applied eau-de- 
 Cologne to his nostrils : he got better, but 
 felt dizzy for about an hour. She made 
 him come into her room and lie down : she 
 hung over him curling as a vine, and light 
 as a bird, and her kisses lit softly as down
 
 198 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIO^^. 
 
 upon his eyes, and her words of love and 
 pity murmured music in his ears, till he 
 slept, and that danger passed. 
 
 For a day or two after this, both Sir 
 Charles and Lady Bassett avoided the un- 
 pleasant subject. But it had to be faced ; 
 so Mr. Oldfield was summoned to Hunter- 
 combe, and all engagements given up for 
 the day, that he might dine alone with 
 them, and talk the matter over. 
 
 Sir Charles thought he could justify ; 
 but, when it came to the point, he could 
 only prove that Richard had done several 
 ungentlemanlike things, of a nature a stout 
 jury would consider trifles. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield said of course they must 
 enter an appearance; and, this done, the 
 wisest course would be to let him see 
 Wheeler, and try to compromise the suit. 
 '^ It will cost you a thousand pounds, Sir 
 Charles, I dare say ; but if it teaches you 
 never to write of an enemy, or to an 
 enemy, without showing your lawyer the
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 199 
 
 letter iSrst, the lesson will be cheap. Some- 
 body in the Bible says ' Oh that mine 
 enemy would write a book !' I say ' Oh 
 that he would write a letter — without con- 
 sulting his solicitor.' " 
 
 It was Lady Bassett's cue now to make 
 light of troubles. " What does it matter, 
 Mr, Oldfield ? All they want is money. 
 Yes, offer them a thousand pounds, to 
 leave him in peace." 
 
 So next day Mr. Oldfield called on 
 Wheeler, all smiles and civility, and 
 asked him if he did not think it a pity 
 cousins should quarrel before the whole 
 county. 
 
 " A great pity," said Wheeler. " But 
 my client has no alternative. No gentle- 
 man in the county would speak to him, if 
 he sat quiet under such contumely." 
 
 After beating about the bush the usual 
 time, Oldfield said that Sir Charles was 
 hungry for litigation, but that Lady Bassett 
 was averse to it. " In short, Mr. Wheeler,
 
 200 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 I will try and get Mr. Basse tt a thousand 
 pounds, to forego this scandal." 
 
 " I will consult him, and let you know," 
 said Wheeler. " He happens to be in the 
 town." 
 
 Oldfield called again in an hour. 
 Wheeler told him a thousand pounds 
 would be accepted, with a written apology. 
 
 Oldfield shook his head. " Sir Charles 
 will never write an apology ; right or 
 wrong, he is too sincere in his convic- 
 tion." 
 
 " He will never get a jury to share it." 
 
 "• You must not be too sure of that. 
 You don't know the defence." 
 
 Oldfield said this with a gravity which 
 did him credit. 
 
 "Do you know it yourself?" said the 
 other keen hand. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield smiled haughtily, but said 
 nothing. Wheeler had hit the mark. 
 
 " By-the-by," said the latter, there is 
 another little matter. Sir Charles assaulted
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 201 
 
 me, for doing'' my duty to my client. I 
 mean to sue him. Here is the writ; will 
 you accept service ?" 
 
 " Oh, certainly, Mr. Wheeler, and I am 
 glad to find you do not make a habit of 
 serving writs on gentlemen in person." 
 
 " Of course not. I did it on a single 
 occasion, contrary to my own- wish ; and 
 went in person — to soften the blow — in- 
 stead of sending my clerk." 
 
 After this little spar, the two artists in 
 law bade each other farewell with every 
 demonstration of civility. 
 
 Sir Charles would not apologise. 
 
 The Plaintiff filed his declaration. 
 
 The Defendant pleaded not guilty ; but 
 did not disclose his defence. The law allows 
 a Defendant in libel this advantage. 
 
 Plaintiff joined issue, and the trial was 
 set down for the next assizes. 
 
 Sir Charles was irritated, but nothing 
 more. Lady Bassett, with a woman's 
 natural shrinking from publicity, felt it
 
 202 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 more deeply. She would have given 
 thousands of her own money, to keep the 
 matter out of court. But her very terror 
 of Eichard Bassett restrained her. She 
 was always thinking about him, and had 
 convinced herself he was the ablest villain 
 in the wide world; and she thought to 
 herself, ''If, with his small means, he 
 annoys Charles so, what would he do if I 
 were to enrich him ? He would crush 
 us." 
 
 As the trial drew near, she began to 
 hover about Sir Charles in his study, like 
 an anxious hen. The maternal yearnings 
 were awakened in her by marriage; and 
 she had no child ; so her Charles in trouble 
 was husband and child. 
 
 Sometimes she would come in and just 
 kiss his forehead, and run out again, 
 casting back a celestial look of love at the 
 door, and, though it was her husband she 
 had kissed, she blushed divinely. At last 
 one day she crept in and said, very timidly
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 203 
 
 " CharleSj dear, the anonymous letter, is 
 not that an excuse for libelling him — as 
 they call telling the truth ?" 
 
 " Why, of course it is. Have you 
 got it?" 
 
 " Dearest, the brave lady took it away." 
 
 '' The brave lady ! Who is that ?" 
 
 ^* Why, the lady that came with Mr. 
 Oldfield, and pleaded your cause with 
 papa ; oh, so eloquently. Sometimes, when 
 I think of it now I feel almost jealous. 
 Who is she r 
 
 " From what you have always told me, I 
 think it was the Sister of Charity who 
 nursed me." 
 
 " You silly thing, she was no Sister of 
 Charity, that was only put on. Charles, 
 tell me the truth. What does it matter 
 now ? It was some lady who loved you." 
 
 " Loved me, and set her wits to work to 
 marry me to you ?" 
 
 " Women's love is so disinterested — 
 sometimes."
 
 204 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 '' No, no ; she told me she was a sister 
 of and no doubt that is the truth." 
 
 " A sister of whom ?" 
 
 " No matter : don't remind me of the 
 past^ it is odious to me ; and, on second 
 thoughts, rather than stir up all that mud, 
 it would be better not to use the anony- 
 mous letter, even if you could get it 
 again." 
 
 Lady Bassett begged him to take advice 
 on that; meantime she would try to get 
 the letter, and also the evidence that 
 Richard Bassett wrote it. 
 
 " I see no harm in that," said Sir 
 Charles, " only confine your communica- 
 tion to Mr. Oldfield. I will not have you 
 speaking or writing to a woman I don't 
 know ; and the more I think of her con- 
 duct the less I understand it." 
 
 "There are people who do good by 
 stealth," suggested Bella, timidly. 
 
 " Fiddlededee !" replied Sir Charles, 
 "you are a goose — I mean an angel."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 205 
 
 Lady Bassett complied with the letter, 
 but, goose or not, evaded the spirit of 
 Sir Charles's command with considerable 
 dexterity. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Oldfield, 
 
 " You may guess what trouble I am m. 
 Sir Charles will soon have to appear in open 
 court, and he talked against by some great 
 orator. That anonymous letter Mr, Bassett 
 wrote me teas very base, and is surely some 
 justification of the violent epithets my dear 
 husband^ in an unhappy moment of irritation, 
 has applied to him. The brave lady has it, 
 I am sure she will not refuse to send it me. I 
 wish I dare ash her to give it me with her own 
 hand; hut I must not, I suppose. Pray tell 
 her how unhappy I am., and perhaps she will 
 favour us with a word of advice as well as the 
 letter, 
 
 " / remain, 
 
 *' Yours faithfully^ 
 " Bella Bassett."
 
 206 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 This letter was written at the brave lady ; 
 and Mr. Oldfield did what was expected, he 
 sent Miss Somerset a copy of Lady Bassett's 
 letter, and some lines in his own hand, 
 describing Sir Charles's difficulty in a more 
 business-like way. 
 
 In due course Miss Somerset wrote him 
 back, that she was in the country, hunting, 
 at no very great distance from Huntercombe 
 Hall ; she would send up to town for her 
 desk ; the letter would be there, if she had 
 kept it at all. 
 
 Oldfield groaned at this cool conjecture, 
 and wrote back directly, urging expedition. 
 
 This produced an effect that he had not 
 anticipated. 
 
 One morning Lord Harrowdale's fox- 
 hounds met at a large covert, about five 
 miles from Huntercombe, and Sir Charles 
 told Lady Bassett she must ride to cover. 
 
 " Yes, dear. — Charles, love, I have no 
 spirit to appear in public. We shall soon 
 have publicity enough."
 
 A TERHIBLE TEMPTATION". 207 
 
 " That is my reason. I have not done, 
 nor said, anything I am ashamed of, and 
 you will meet the county on this and on 
 every public occasion." 
 
 " I obey," said Bella. 
 
 " And look your best." 
 
 " I will, dearest." 
 
 " And be in good spirits," 
 
 " Must I ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " I will try. Oh !— oh !— oh !" 
 
 " Why, you poor-spirited little goose ! 
 Dry your eyes this moment." 
 
 "There. Oh!" 
 
 " And kiss me." 
 
 " There. Ah ! kissing you is a great 
 comfort." 
 
 " It is one you are particularly welcome 
 to. Now run away, and put on your habit. 
 I'll have two grooms out ; one with a fresh 
 horse for me, and one to look after you." 
 
 ''Oh, Charles! Pray don't make me 
 hunt."
 
 208 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 " No, no. Not so tyrannical as that ; 
 hang it all !" 
 
 " Do you know what I do whilst you are 
 hunting? I pray all the time that you 
 may not get a fall and be hurt ; and I pray 
 Grod to forgive you and all the gentlemen 
 for your cruelty in galloping with all those 
 dogs after one poor little, inoffensive thing, 
 to hunt it, and kill it — kill it twice, indeed, 
 once with terror, and then over again with 
 mangling its poor little body." 
 
 " This is cheerful," said Sir Charles, 
 rather ruefully. " We cannot all be angels, 
 like you. It is a glorious excitement. 
 There, you are too good for this world ; 
 I'll let you off going." 
 
 " Oh, no, dear. I won't be let off, now 
 I know your wish. Only I beg to ride 
 home as soon as the poor thing runs away. 
 You wouldn't get me out of the thick covers, 
 if I were a fox. I'd run round and round, 
 and call on all my acquaintances to set 
 them running."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 209 
 
 As she said this, her eyes turned towards 
 each other in a pecuHar way, and she 
 looked extremely foxy ; but the look melted 
 away directly. 
 
 The hounds met, and Lady Basse tt, who 
 was still the beauty of the county, was sur- 
 rounded by riders, at first ; but, as the 
 hounds began to work, and every now and 
 then a young hound uttered a note, tliey 
 cantered about, and took up different posts, 
 as experience suggested. 
 
 At last, a fox was found at the other end 
 of the cover, and away galloped the hunters 
 in that direction, all but four persons, Lady 
 Bassett, and her groom, who kej)t respect- 
 fully aloof, and a lady and gentleman who 
 had reined their horses up on a rising- 
 ground about a furlong distant. 
 
 Lady Bassett, thus left alone, happened 
 to look round, and saw the lady level an 
 opera-glass towards her and look through 
 it. 
 
 As a result of this inspection, the lady 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 210 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 cantered towards her. She was on a chest- 
 nut gelding of great height and bone, and 
 rode him as if they were one, so smoothly 
 did she move in concert with his easy mag- 
 nificent strides. 
 
 When she came near Lady Bassett, she 
 made a little sweep, and drew up Leside her 
 on the grass. 
 
 There was no mistaking that tall figure 
 and commanding face. It was the brave 
 lady. Her eyes sparkled, lier cheek was 
 slightly coloured with excitement ; she 
 looked healthier and handsomer than ever, 
 and also more feminine, for a reason the 
 sagacious reader may perhaps discern, if he 
 attends to the dialogue. 
 
 " So^' said she, without bowing or any 
 other ceremony, " that little rascal is 
 troubling you again." 
 
 Lady Bassett coloured, and panted, and 
 looked lovingly at her, before she could 
 speak. At last she said, " Yes ; and you 
 have come to help us again."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 211 
 
 " Well, the lawyer said there was no time 
 to lose ; so I have brought you the anony- 
 mous letter." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, madam, thank you !" 
 "But I'm afraid it will be of no use, 
 unless you can prove Mr. Bassett wrote it. 
 It is in a disguised hand." 
 
 " But you found him out, by means of 
 another letter." 
 
 " Yes, but I can't give you that other 
 letter, to have it read in a court of law, 
 because, do you see that gentleman there ?" 
 " Yes." 
 
 " That is Marsh." 
 " Oh, is it ?" 
 
 '* He is a fool ; but I am going to marry 
 him. I have been very ill since I saw you, 
 and poor Marsh nursed me. Talk of women 
 nurses ! If ever you are ill in earnest, as 
 I was, write to me, and I'll send you Marsh. 
 Oh, I have no words to tell you his pa- 
 tience^ his forbearance, his watchfulness, his 
 tenderness to a sick woman. It is no use,
 
 212 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 I must marry him ; and I could have 
 no letter published that would give him 
 pain." 
 
 " Of course not. Oh, madam, do you 
 think I am capable of doing anything that 
 would give you pain, or dear Mr. Marsh 
 either ?" 
 
 " No, no, you are a good woman." 
 
 " Not half so good as you are." 
 
 " You don't know what you are saying." 
 
 " Oh, yes, I do." 
 
 " Then I say no more ; it is rude to con- 
 tradict. Good-bye, Lady Bassett." 
 
 " Must you leave me so soon ? Will you 
 not visit us ? May I not know the name 
 of so good a friend ?" 
 
 " Next week I shall be Mrs. Marsh'' 
 
 " And you will give me the great plea- 
 sure of having you at my house, you and 
 your husband ?" 
 
 The lady showed some agitation at this, 
 an unusual thing for her. She faltered, 
 " Some day, perhaps, if I make him as good
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 213 
 
 a wife as I hope to. What a lady you are ! 
 Vulgar people are ashamed to be grateful ; 
 but you are a born lady. Good-bye, before 
 I make a fool of myself; and they are all 
 coming this way, by the dogs' music." 
 
 " Won't you kiss me, after bringing me 
 this ?" 
 
 " Kiss you ?" and she opened her eyes. 
 
 " If you please," said Lady Bassett, 
 bending towards her, with eyes full of 
 gratitude and tenderness. 
 
 Then the other woman took her by the 
 shoulders, and plunged her great grey orbs 
 into Bella's. 
 
 They kissed each other. 
 
 At that contact the stranger seemed to 
 change her character all in a moment. 
 She strained Bella to her bosom, and kissed 
 her passionately, and sobbed out wildly, 
 " Oh, Grod, you are good to sinners. This 
 is the happiest hour of my life — it is a fore- 
 runner. Bless you, sweet dove of innocence ! 
 You will be none the worse, and I am all
 
 214 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 the better Ah! Sir Charles! Not 
 
 one word about me to him." 
 
 And with these words, uttered with 
 sudden energy, she spurred her great horse, 
 leaped the ditch, and burst through the 
 dead hedge into the wood, and winded out 
 of sight amongst the trees. 
 
 Sir Charles came up astonished. '' Why, 
 who was that ?" 
 
 Bella's eyes began to rove, as I have 
 before described ; but she replied pretty 
 promptly, "The brave lady herself; she 
 brought me the anonymous letter for your 
 defence." 
 
 " Why, how came she to know about 
 it?" 
 
 " She did not tell me that. She was 
 in a great hurry. Her fiance was waiting 
 for her." 
 
 " Was it necessary to kiss her in the 
 hunting-field ?" said Sir Charles, with some- 
 thing very like a frown. 
 
 '' I'd kiss the whole field, grooms and all,
 
 A TERETBLE TEMPTATIOX. 215 
 
 if they did you a great service, as that dear 
 lady has," said Bella. The words were 
 brave, but the accent piteous. 
 
 "You are excited, Bella. You had 
 better ride home," said Sir Charles, gently 
 enough, but moodily. 
 
 '* Thank you, Charles," said Bella, glad 
 to escape further examination about this 
 mysterious lady. She rode home accord- 
 ingly. There she found Mr. Oldfield, and 
 showed him the anonymous letter. 
 
 He read it, and said it was a defence, but 
 a disagreeable one. '' Suppose he says he 
 wrote it, and the facts were true ?" 
 
 "But I don't think he will confess it. 
 He is not a gentleman. He is very un- 
 truthful. Can we not make this a trap to 
 catch him, sir ? He has no scruples." 
 
 Oldfield looked at her, in some surprise 
 at her depth. 
 
 " We must get hold of his handwriting," 
 said he. " We must ransack the local 
 banks ; find his correspondents."
 
 216 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 '' Leave all that to me," said Lady Bassett, 
 in a low voice. 
 
 Mr. Oldfield thought he might as well 
 please a beautiful and loving woman^ if he 
 could ; so he gave her something to do for 
 her husband. " Yery well, collect all the 
 materials of comparison you can, letters, 
 receipts, etc. Meantime I will retain the 
 tw^o principal experts in London, and we 
 will submit your materials to them the 
 night before the trial." 
 
 Lady Bassett, thus instructed, drove to 
 all the banks, but found no clerk acquainted 
 with Mr. Bassett's handwriting. He did 
 not bank with anybody in the county. 
 
 She called on several persons she thought 
 likely to 23ossess letters or other writings of 
 Richard Bassett. Xot a scrap. 
 
 Then she began to fear. The case looked 
 desperate. 
 
 Then she began to think. And she 
 thought very hard indeed, especially at 
 night.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 217 
 
 In the dead of night she had an idea. 
 She got up, and stole from her husband's 
 side, and studied the anonymous letter. 
 
 Next day, she sat down, with the anony- 
 mous letter on her desk, and blushed, and 
 trembled, and looked about like some wild 
 animal scared. She selected from the 
 anonymous letter several words, " character, 
 abused, Sir, Charles, Bassett, lady, aban- 
 doned, friend, whether, ten, slanderer," etc., 
 and wrote them on a slip of paper. Then 
 she locked up the anonymous letter. Then 
 she locked the door. Then she sat down 
 to a sheet of paper, and, after some more 
 wild and furtive glances all around, she 
 gave her whole mind to writing a letter. 
 
 And to whom did she write, think you ? 
 
 To Richard Bassett.
 
 218 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 '' Mr. Bassett, — 
 
 " / am sure both yourself and my hus- 
 band will suffer in public estimation, unless 
 some friend comes betiveen you, and this 
 unhappy lawsuit is given up. 
 
 *' Do not think me blind, 72or presumptuous ; 
 Sir Charles, when he wrote that letter, had 
 reason to believe you had done him a deep 
 injury by unfair means. Many will share 
 that opinion, if this cause is tried. You are 
 his cousin, and his heir-at-law. I dread to 
 see an unhappy feud inflamed by a vublic 
 trial. Is there no personal sacrifice by which 
 I can compensate the affront you have received,
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 219 
 
 without compromising Sir Charles Bassetfs 
 veracity, who is the soul of honaar ? 
 ''' I am, 
 
 *' Yours obediently, 
 
 " Bella Bassett." 
 
 She posted this letter, and Richard Bas- 
 sett had no sooner received it than he 
 mounted his horse, and rode to Wheeler's 
 with it. 
 
 That worthy's eyes sparkled. " Capital !" 
 said he. " We must draw her on, and 
 write an answer that will read well in 
 court." 
 
 He concocted an epistle just the opposite 
 of what Richard Bassett, left to himself, 
 would have written. Bassett copied, and 
 sent it as his own. 
 
 " Lady Bassett, — 
 
 ^' I thank you for vjriting to me at this 
 moment y when I am iteighed down by slander. 
 Your own character stands so high, that you
 
 220 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 would not deign to ivrite to me if you believed 
 the abuse that has been lavished on me. With 
 you I deplore this family feud. It is not 
 of my seeking ; and as for this laivsuit, it is 
 one in which the Plaintiff is really the De- 
 fendant, Sir Charles has written a defamatory 
 letter, which has closed every house in this 
 
 county to his victim. If, as I now feel sure, 
 you disapprove the libel, pray persuade him to 
 retract it. The rest our lawyers can settle, 
 '' Yours very respectfully, 
 
 '' Richard Bassett." 
 
 When Lady Bassett read this, she saw 
 she had an adroit opjDonent. Yet she 
 wrote again. 
 
 " Mr. Bassett^ — 
 
 " There are limits to my influence with 
 Sir Charles, I have no power to make him 
 say one word against his convictions, 
 
 '' But my lawyer tells me you seek pecuniary 
 compensation for an affront, I offer you, out
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 221 
 
 of my own means, which are ample, that 
 which you seek — offer it freely and heartily ; 
 and I honestly think you had better receive it 
 from me, than expose yourself to the risks and 
 mortifications of a public trial. 
 
 " I am. 
 
 " Yours obediently, 
 
 ^' Bella Bassett." 
 
 *' Lady Bassett^ — 
 
 " You have fallen into a very natural 
 error. It is true I sue Sir Charles Bassett for 
 money ; but that is only because the law allows 
 me my remedy in no other form. What really 
 brings me into court is the defence of my in- 
 jured honour. How do you meet me ? You 
 say, virtually, ''Never mind your character: 
 here is money'. Permit me to decline it, on 
 such terms, 
 
 *^ A public insult cannot be cured in private, 
 ^' Strong in my innocence, and my wrongs, 
 I court what you call the risks of a public 
 trial.
 
 222 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 ^' Whatever the result^ you have played the 
 honourable and womanly part of peacemaker ; 
 and it is unfortunate for your husband, that 
 your gentle influence is limited by his vanity, 
 which perseveres in a cruel slander, instead of 
 retracting it, uihile there is yet time, 
 " I am, Madam, 
 
 " Yours obediently, 
 
 "Richard Bassett." 
 
 " Mr. Bassett, — 
 
 '*/ retire from a correspondence which 
 appears to be useless, and might, if prolonged, 
 draw some bitter remark from me, as it has 
 froon you. 
 
 "After the trial, which you court, and 
 I deprecate, you will perhaps review my 
 letters with a more friendly eye, 
 " I am, 
 
 " Yours obediently, 
 
 "Bella Bassett." 
 
 In this fencing match between a lawyer
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 223 
 
 and a lady, each gained an advantage. 
 The lawyer's letters, as might have 
 b^en expected, were the best adapted to 
 be read to a jury : but the lady, subtler 
 in her way, obtained at a small sacrifice 
 what she wanted, and that without raising 
 the slightest suspicion of her true motive in 
 the correspondence. 
 
 She announced her success to Mr. Old- 
 field ; but, in the midst of it, she quaked 
 with terror at the thought of what Sir 
 Charles would say to her for writing to 
 Mr. Bassett at all. 
 
 She now, with the changeableness of her 
 sex, hoped and prayed Mr. Bassett would 
 admit the anonymous letter, and so all her 
 subtlety and pains prove superfluous. 
 
 Quaking secretly, but with a lovely face, 
 and serene front, she took her place at the 
 Assizes, before the judge, and got as near 
 him as she could. 
 
 The court was crowded, and many ladies 
 present.
 
 224 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Bassett v. Bassett was called in a loud 
 voice ; there was a hum of excitement, then 
 a silence of expectation, and the Plaintiff's 
 counsel rose to address the jury.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 225 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " May it please your Lordship : Gentlemen 
 of the Jury ; the Plaintiff in this case is 
 Richard Bassett, Esquire, the direct and 
 lineal representative of that old and honour- 
 able family, whose monuments are to be 
 seen in several churches in this county, and 
 whose estates are the largest, I believe, in 
 the county. He would have succeeded, as 
 a matter of course, to those estates, but for 
 an arrangement made only a year before he 
 was born ; by which, contrary to nature 
 and justice, he was denuded of those estates, 
 and they passed to the defendant. The 
 defendant is nowise to^ blame for that piece 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 of injustice ; but lie profits by it, and it 
 might be expected that his good fortune 
 would soften his heart towards his unfortu- 
 nate relative. I say that, if uncommon 
 tenderness might be expected to be shown 
 by anybody to this deserving and unfortu- 
 nate gentleman, it would be by Sir Charles 
 Bassett, who enjoys his cousin's ancestral 
 estates, and can so well appreciate what 
 that cousin has lost by no fault of his own." 
 " Hear! hear !" 
 "Silence in the Court!" 
 The Judge. — " I must request that there 
 may be no manifestation of feeling." 
 
 Counsel. — " I will endeavour to provoke 
 none, my lord. It is a very simple case, 
 and I shall not occupy you long. Well, 
 gentlemen, Mr. Bassett is a jDoor man, by 
 no fault of his ; but, if he is poor, he is 
 proud and honourable. He has met the 
 frowns of fortune_, like a gentleman — like a 
 man. He has not solicited Government for 
 a place. He has not whined, nor lamented.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 227 
 
 He has dignified unmerited poverty by 
 prudence and self-denial ; and, unable to 
 forget that he is a Bassett, he has put by a 
 little money every year, and bought a 
 small estate or two, and had even applied 
 to the Lord Lieutenant to make him a 
 justice of the peace, when a most severe 
 and unexpected blow fell upon him. 
 Amongst those large proprietors, who re- 
 spected him in spite of his humbler circum- 
 stances, was Mr. Hardwicke, one of the 
 county members ; well, gentlemen, on the 
 21st of last May, Mr. Bassett, received a 
 letter from Mr. Hardwicke, enclosing one 
 purporting to be from Sir Charles Bassett — " 
 
 The Judge, — " Does Sir Charles Bassett 
 admit the letter ?" 
 
 Defendant's Counsel. — (After a word with 
 Oldfield) " Yes, my lord." 
 
 Plaintiff' s Counsel, — ''A letter admitted 
 to be written by Sir Charles Bassett. That 
 letter shall be read to you.'* 
 
 The letter was then read.
 
 228 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 The counsel resumed, " Conceive, if you 
 can, the effect of this blow, just as my 
 unhappy and most deserving client was 
 rising a little in the world. I shall prove 
 that it excluded him from Mr. Hardwicke's 
 house, and other houses too. He is a man 
 of too much importance, to risk affronts : 
 he has never entered the door of any 
 gentleman in this county, since his power- 
 ful relative published this cruel libel. He 
 has drawn his Spartan cloak around him ; 
 and he awaits your verdict, to resume that 
 place amongst you, which is due to him in 
 every way, due to him as the heir in direct 
 line to the wealth, and, above all, to the 
 honour of the Bassetts ; due to him as Sir 
 Charles Bassett's heir-at-law ; and due to 
 him on account of the decency and fortitude, 
 with which he has borne adversity, and with 
 which he now repels foul-mouthed slander." 
 
 " Hear ! hear !" 
 
 " Silence in the Court !" 
 
 "I have done, gentlemen, for the pre-
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 229 
 
 sent. Indeed eloquence, even if I possessed 
 it, would be superfluous ; tlie facts speak for 
 themselves. — Call James Hardwicke, Esq." 
 
 Mr. Hardwicke proved the receipt of the 
 letter from Sir Charles, and that he had 
 sent it to Mr. Bassett : and that Mr. Bas- 
 sett had not entered his house since then, 
 nor had he invited him. 
 
 Mr. Bassett was then called, and, being 
 duly trained by Wheeler, abstained from 
 all heat, and wore an air of dignified dejec- 
 tion. His counsel examined him, and his 
 replies bore out the opening statement. 
 Everybody thought him sure of a ver- 
 dict. 
 
 He was then cross-examined. Defend- 
 ant's counsel pressed him about his unfair 
 way of shooting. The judge interfered, 
 and said that was trifling, If there was no 
 substantial defence, why not settle the 
 matter ? 
 
 " There is a defence, my lord." 
 
 " Then it is time you disclosed it."
 
 230 A TEERIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 " Yery well, my lord. Mr. Bassett — 
 did you ever write an anonymous letter ?" 
 
 " Not that I remember." 
 
 " Oil, that appears to you a trifle. It is 
 not so considered." 
 
 The Judge.—'' Be more particular in your 
 question." 
 
 '* I will, my lord. Did you ever write 
 an anonymous letter, to make mischief 
 between Sir Charles and Lady Bassett?" 
 
 '^ Never," said the witness : but he turned 
 pale. 
 
 " Do you mean to say you did not write 
 this letter to Miss Bruce? Look at the 
 letter, Mr. Bassett, before you reply." 
 
 Bassett cast one swift glance of agony at 
 Wheeler ; then braced himself like iron. He 
 examined the letter attentively, turned it over, 
 lived an age, and said it was not his writing. 
 
 "Do you swear that ?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 Defendanfs Counsel. — " I shall ask your 
 lordship to take down that reply. If
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 231 
 
 persisted in, my client will indict the wit- 
 ness for perjury." 
 
 Plaintiff's Counsel. — '^ Don't threaten the 
 witness, as well as insult him, please." 
 
 The Judge. — " He is an educated man, and 
 knows the duty he owes to Grod and the 
 defendant. Take time, Mr. Bassett, and 
 recollect. Did you write that letter ?" 
 
 " No, my lord." 
 
 Counsel waited for the judge to note the 
 reply, then proceeded. 
 
 " You have lately corresponded with 
 Lady Bassett, I think ?" 
 
 "Yes. Her ladyship opened a corre- 
 spondence with me." 
 
 " It's a lie !" roared Sir Charles Bassett 
 from the door of the grand jury room. 
 
 " Silence in the Court !" 
 
 The Judge. — " Who made that unseemly 
 remark ?" 
 
 Sir Charles. — "I did, my lord. My wife 
 never corresponded with the cur." 
 
 Tlie Plaintiff. — '' It is only one insult
 
 232 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 more, gentlemen, and as false as the rest. 
 Permit me, my lord. My own counsel 
 would never have put the question. I 
 would not, for the world, give Lady Bas- 
 sett pain ; but Sir Charles and his counsel 
 have extorted the truth from me. Her 
 ladyship did open a correspondence with 
 me, and a friendly one." 
 
 The Plaintiffs Counsel, — " Will your 
 lordship ask whether that was after the 
 defendant had written the libel ?" 
 
 The question was put, and answered in 
 the affirmative. 
 
 Lady Bassett hid her face in her hands. 
 Sir Charles saw the movement, and groaned 
 aloud. 
 
 The Judge. — " I beg the case may not be 
 encumbered with irrelevant matter." 
 
 Counsel replied that the correspondence 
 would be made evidence in the case. ( To 
 the witness), " You wrote this letter to Lady 
 Bassett ?" 
 
 " Yes."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 233 
 
 " And every word in it ?" 
 
 " And every word in it," faltered Bassett, 
 now ashy pale, for he began to see the 
 trap. 
 
 " Then you wrote this word ' character,' 
 and this word ' injured,' and this word 
 
 TJie Judge (peevishly). — '' He tells you he 
 wrote every word in those letters to Lady 
 Bassett. What more would you have ?" 
 
 Counsel. — " If your lordship will be good 
 enough to examine the correspondence, and 
 compare those words in it I have under- 
 lined, with the same words in the anony- 
 mous letter, you will perhaps find I know 
 my business better than you seem to think." 
 (The counsel who ventured on this remon- 
 strance was a Serjeant.) 
 
 " Brother Wordsworth," said the judge, 
 with a charming manner, " you satisfied me 
 of that, to my cost, long ago, whenever I 
 had you against me in a case. Please hand 
 me the letters." 
 
 While the judge was making a keen
 
 234 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 comparison, counsel continued the cross- 
 examination. 
 
 '' You are aware that this letter caused 
 a separation between Sir Charles Bassett 
 and the lady he was engaged to ?" 
 
 " I know nothing about it." 
 
 " Indeed ! Well, were you acquainted 
 with the Miss Somerset mentioned in this 
 letter ?" 
 
 " Shghtly." 
 
 " You have been at her house ?" 
 
 " Once or twice." 
 
 ** Which ? Twice is double as often as 
 once, you know." 
 
 " Twice." 
 
 '' No more ?" 
 
 " Not that I recollect." 
 
 " You wrote to her ?" 
 
 " I may have." 
 
 '' Did you, or did you not ?" 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " What was the purport of that letter ?" 
 
 " I can't recollect at this distance of time."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 235 
 
 " On your oath, sir, did you not write, 
 urging her to co-operate with you to keep 
 Sir Charles Bassett from marrying his 
 affianced, Miss Bella Bruce, to whom that 
 anonymous letter was written with the 
 same object ?" 
 
 The perspiration now rolled in visible 
 drops down the tortured liar's face. Yet 
 still, by a gigantic effort^ he stood firm, and 
 even planted a blow. 
 
 " I did not write the anonymous letter. 
 But I believe I told Miss Somerset I loved 
 Miss Bruce, and that her lover was robbing 
 me of mine^ as he had robbed me of every- 
 thing else." 
 
 "And that was all you said — on your 
 oath ?" 
 
 "All I can recollect." With this the 
 strong man, cowed, terrified, expecting his 
 letter to Somerset to be produced, and so 
 the iron chain of evidence completed, 
 gasped out, " Man, you tear open all my 
 wounds at once !" and, with this, burst out
 
 236 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 sobbing, and lamenting aloud that he had 
 ever been born. 
 
 Counsel waited calmly till he should 
 be in a condition to receive another 
 dose. 
 
 " Oh, will nobody stop this cruel trial ?" 
 said Lady Bassett, with the tears trickling 
 down her face. 
 
 The judge heard this remark, without 
 seeming to do so. 
 
 He said to defendant's counsel, " What- 
 ever the truth may be, you have proved 
 enough to show Sir Charles Bassett might 
 well have an honest conviction that Mr. 
 Bassett had done a dastardly act. Whether 
 a jury would ever agree on a question of 
 handwriting must always be doubtful. 
 Looking at the relationship of the parties, 
 is it advisable to carry this matter farther ? 
 If I might advise the gentlemen, they 
 would each consent to withdraw a juror." 
 
 Upon this suggestion the counsel for both 
 parties put their heads together in animated
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 237 
 
 whispers ; and, during this, the judge made 
 a remark to the jury, intended for the 
 public : " Since Lady Bassett's name has 
 been drawn into this, I must say that I 
 have read her letters to Mr. Bassett, and 
 they are such as she could write without in 
 the least compromising her husband. In- 
 deed, now the defence is shown, they ap- 
 pear to me to be wise and kindly letters, 
 such as only a good wife, a high-bred lady, 
 and a true Christian could write in so deli- 
 cate a matter." 
 
 Plaintiffs Counsel. — " My lord, we are 
 agreed to withdraw a juror." 
 
 Defendant's Counsel. — "Out of respect for 
 your lordship's advice, and not from any 
 doubt of the result, on our part." 
 
 The Crier. — " Wage v. Haliburton !" 
 
 And so the car of justice rolled on, till 
 it came to Wheeler v. Bassett. 
 
 This case was soon disposed of. 
 
 Sir Charles Bassett was dignified and 
 calm in the witness-box, and treated the
 
 238 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 whole matter with high-bred nonchalance, 
 as one unworthy of the attention the Court 
 was good enough to bestow on it. The 
 judge disapproved the assault, but said the 
 plaintiff had drawn it on himself, by unpro- 
 fessional conduct, and by threatening a 
 gentleman in his own house. Yerdict for 
 the plaintiff — 40^. The judge refused to 
 certify for costs. 
 
 Lady Bassett, her throat parched with 
 excitement, drove home, and awaited her 
 husband's return with no little anxiety. As 
 soon as she heard him in his dressing- 
 room, she glided in, and went down on her 
 knees to him. " Pray, pray, don't scold 
 me ; I couldn't bear you to be defeated, 
 Charles."' Sir Charles raised her, but did 
 not kiss her. " You think only of me," 
 said he, rather sadly. " It is a sorry vic- 
 tory, too dearly bought." 
 
 Then she began to cry. 
 
 Sir Charles begged her not to cry ; but 
 still he did not kiss her, nor conceal his
 
 A TEERIBLE TEMPTATION. 239 
 
 mortification : he hardly spoke to her for 
 several days. 
 
 She accepted her disgrace pensively and 
 patiently. She thought it all over, and felt 
 her husband was right, and loved her like 
 a man. But she thought, also, that she was 
 not very wrong to love him in her way. 
 Wrong or not, she felt she could not sit 
 idle, and see his enemy defeat him. 
 
 The coolness died away by degrees, with 
 so much humility on one side, and so much 
 love on both : but the subject was inter- 
 dicted for ever. 
 
 A week after the trial Lady Bassett wrote 
 to Mrs. Marsh, under cover to Mr. Oldfield, 
 and told her how the trial had gone, and, 
 with many expressions of gratitude, invited 
 her and her husband to Huntercombe Hall. 
 She told Sir Charles what she had done, 
 and he wore a very strange look. " Might 
 I suggest that we have them alone ?" said 
 he drily. 
 
 " By all means," said Lady Bassett. " I
 
 240 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 don't want to share my paragon with any- 
 body." 
 
 In due course a reply came ; Mr. and 
 Mrs. Marsh would avail themselves some 
 day of Lady Bassett's kindness : at present 
 they were going abroad. The letter was 
 written by a man's hand. 
 
 About this time Oldfield sent Sir Charles 
 Miss Somerset's deed, cancelled, and told 
 him she had married a man of fortune, who 
 was devoted to her, and preferred to take 
 her without any dowry. 
 
 Bassett and Wheeler went home crest- 
 fallen, and dined together. They discussed 
 the two trials ; and each blamed the other. 
 They quarrelled, and parted : and Wheeler 
 sent in an enormous bill, extending over 
 five years. Eighty-five items began thus — 
 " Attending you at your house for several 
 hours, on which occasion you asked my 
 advice as to whether — " etc. 
 
 Now, as a great many of these attend-
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 241 
 
 ances had been really to shoot game, and 
 dme on rabbits, at Bassett's expense, he 
 thought it hard the conversations should be 
 charged and the rabbits not. 
 
 Disgusted with his defeat, and resolved 
 to evade this bill, he discharged his servant, 
 and put a retired soldier into his house, 
 armed him with a blunderbuss, and ordered 
 him to keep all doors closed, and present 
 the weapon aforesaid at all rate collectors, 
 tax collectors, debt collectors, and applicants 
 for money to build churches, or convert the 
 heathen ; but not to fire at anybody except 
 his friend Wheeler, nor at him unless he 
 should try to shove a writ in at some chink 
 of the building. 
 
 This done, he went on his travels, third 
 class, with his eyes always open, and his 
 heart full of bitterness. 
 
 Nothing happened to Eichard Bassett on 
 his travels, that I need relate, until one 
 evening when he alighted at a small com- 
 mercial inn, in the city of York, and there 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 A TEKRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 met a person, whose influence on the events 
 I am about to relate seems at this moment 
 incredible to me, though it is simple fact. 
 
 He found the commercial room empty, 
 and rang the bell. In came the waiter, a 
 strapping girl, with coal-black eyes, and 
 brows to match, and a brown skin, but 
 glowing cheeks. 
 
 They both started at sight of each other. 
 It was Polly Somerset. 
 
 " Why, Polly ! How d'ye do ? How do 
 you come here ?" 
 
 " It's along of you I'm here, young man," 
 said Polly, and began to whimper. She 
 told him her sister had found out from the 
 page she had been colloguing with him, 
 and had never treated her like a sister after 
 that. " And, when she married a gentle- 
 man, she wouldn't have me aside her, for 
 all I could say, but she did pack me off into 
 service, and here I be." 
 
 The girl was handsome, and had a liking 
 for him. Bassett was idle, and time hung
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION^. 243 
 
 heavy on his hands : he stayed at the inn a 
 fortnight, more for Polly's company than 
 anything : and, at last, offered to put her 
 into a vacant cottage on his own little 
 estate of Highmore. But the girl was 
 shrewd, and had seen a great deal of life 
 this last three years ; she liked Richard in 
 her way, but she saw he was all self, and 
 she would not trust him. " Nay/' said she, 
 " I'll not break with Rhoda for any young 
 man in Britain. If I leave service, she 
 will never own me at all ; she is as hard as 
 iron." 
 
 " Well, but you might come and take 
 service near me, and then we could often 
 get a word together." 
 
 " Oh, I'm agreeable to that : you find me 
 a good place. I like an inn best ; one sees 
 fresh faces." 
 
 Bassett promised to manage that for her. 
 On reaching home he found a conciliatory 
 letter from Wheeler, coupled with his per- 
 mission to tax the bill, according to his
 
 244 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 
 
 own notion of justice. This, and other let- 
 ter.s, were in an outhouse ; the old soldier 
 had not permitted them to penetrate the 
 fortress. He had entered into the spirit of 
 his instructions, and to him a letter was a 
 probable hand-grenade. 
 
 Bassett sent for Wheeler; the bill was 
 reduced, and a small payment made; the 
 rest postponed till better times. Wheeler 
 was then consulted about Polly, and he told 
 his client the landlady of the " Lamb " 
 wanted a good active waitress ; he thought 
 he could arrange that little affair. 
 
 In due course, thanks to this artist, Mary 
 Wells, hitherto known as Polly Somerset, 
 lauded with her box at the " Lamb ;" and, 
 with her quick foot, her black eyes, and 
 ready tongue, soon added to the popularity 
 of the inn. Eichard Bassett, Esq., for one, 
 used to sup there now and then with his 
 friend Wheeler, and even sleep there after 
 supper. 
 
 By-and-by the vicar of Huntercombe
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 245 
 
 wanted a servant, and offered to engage 
 Mary Wells. 
 
 She thought twice about that. She could 
 neither write nor read, and therefore was 
 dreadfully dull without company ; the 
 bustle of an inn, and people coming and 
 going, amused her. However, it was a 
 temptation to be near Richard Bassett ; so 
 she accepted at last. Unable to write, she 
 could not consult him ; and she made sure 
 he would be delighted. 
 
 But, when she got into the village, the 
 prudent Mr. Bassett drew in his horns, and 
 avoided her. She was mortified, and very 
 angry. She revenged herself on her em- 
 ployer ; broke double her wages. The 
 vicar had never been able to convert a 
 smasher ; so he parted with her very readily 
 to Lady Bassett, with a hint that she was 
 rather unfortunate in glass and china. 
 
 In that large house her spirits rose, and, 
 having a hearty manner, and a clapper 
 tongue, she became a general favourite.
 
 246 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 One day she met Mr. Bassett in the 
 village, and he seemed delighted at the 
 sight of her, and begged her to meet him 
 that night at a certain place, where Sir 
 Charles's garden was divided from his owm 
 by a ha-ha. It was a very secluded spot, 
 shut out from view, even in daylight, by 
 the trees and shrubs and the winding nature 
 of the walk that led to it ; yet it was 
 scarcely a hundred yards from Hunter- 
 combe Hall. 
 
 Mary Wells came to the tryst, but in no 
 amorous mood. She came merely to tell 
 Mr. Bassett her mind ; viz., that he was a 
 shabby fellow, and she had had her cry, 
 and didn't care a straw for him now. And 
 she did tell him so, in a loud voice, and 
 wdth a flushed cheek. 
 
 But he set to work, humbly and patiently, 
 to pacify her ; he represented that, in a 
 small house like the vicarage, everything 
 is known ; he should have ruined her 
 character if he had not held aloof. " But
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 247 
 
 it is differ en t now," said lie. " You can 
 run out of Huntercombe House, and meet 
 me here, and nobody be any the wiser." 
 
 " Not I," said Mary Wells, with a toss. 
 " The worst thing a girl can do is to keep 
 company with a gentleman : she must meet 
 him in holes and corners ; and be flung off 
 like an old glove, when she has served his 
 turn." 
 
 " That will never happen to you, Polly, 
 dear. We must be prudent for the present ; 
 but I shall be more my own master some 
 day, and then you will see how I love 
 you." 
 
 '' Seeing is believing," said the girl, 
 sullenly. " You be too fond of yourself to 
 love the likes o' me." 
 
 Such was the warning her natural shrewd- 
 ness gave her. But perseverance under- 
 mined it ; Bassett so often threw out hints 
 of what he would do some day, mixed with 
 warm protestations of love, that she began 
 almost to hope he would marry her. She
 
 248 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 really liked him: his fine figure and his 
 colour pleased her eye^ and he had a 
 plausible tongue to boot. 
 
 As for him, her rustic beauty and health 
 pleased his senses ; but for his heart, she 
 had little place in that. What he courted 
 her for just now was to keep him informed 
 of all that passed in Huntercombe Hall. 
 His morbid soul hung about that place, and 
 he listened greedily to Mary Wells's gossip. 
 He had counted on her volubility ; it did 
 not disappoint him : she never met him 
 without a budget, one half of it lies or 
 exaggerations. She was a born liar. One 
 night she came in high spirits, and greeted 
 him thus — ^' What d'ye think ? I'm riz ! 
 Mrs. Eden, that dresses my lady's hair, she 
 took ill yesterday, and I told the house- 
 keeper I was used to dress hair, and she 
 told my lady. If you didn't please our 
 Rhoda at that, 'twas as much as your life 
 was worth ; you mustn't be thinking of 
 your young man, with her hair in your
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 249 
 
 hand, or she'd rouse you with a good crack 
 on the crown with a hair brush. So I dressed 
 my lady's hair, and handled it like old 
 chaney ; by the same token she is so pleased 
 with me you can't think. She is a real 
 lady ; not like our Rhoda ; speaks as civil 
 to me as if I was one of her own sort ; and, 
 says she, 'I should like to have you about 
 me, if I might.' I had it on my tongue to 
 tell her she was mistress ; but I was a little 
 sheared at her at first, you know. But she 
 will have me about her ; I see it in her 
 eye. 
 
 Bassett was delighted at this new^s ; but 
 he did not speak his mind all at once ; the 
 time was not come. He let the gipsy rattle 
 on, and bided his time. He flattered her, and 
 said he envied Lady Bassett to have such a 
 beautiful girl about her. " I'll let my hair 
 grow," said he. 
 
 " Ay, do," said she, " and then I'll pull 
 it for you." 
 
 This challenge ended in a little struggle
 
 250 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 for a kiss, the sincerity of which was doubtful. 
 Polly resisted vigorously, to be sure, but 
 briefly, and, having given in, returned it. 
 
 One day she told him Sir Charles had 
 met her plump, and had given a great start. 
 
 This made Bassett very uneasy. " Con- 
 found it, he will turn you away. He will 
 say, ' This girl knows too much.' " 
 
 " How simple you be !" said the girl. 
 " D'ye think I let him know ? Says he, ' I 
 think I have seen you before.' ' Yes, sir,' 
 says I, ' I was housemaid here, before my 
 lady had me to dress her.' ' No,' says he, 
 ' I mean in London — in Mayfair, you know.' 
 I declare you might ha' knocked me down 
 wi' a feather. So I looks in his face, as 
 cool as marble, and I says, ' No, sir ; I 
 never had the luck to see London, sir,' says 
 I. ' All the better for you,' says he, and 
 he swallowed it like spring water, as sister 
 Rhoda used to say when she told one and 
 they believed it." 
 
 " You are a clever girl," said Bassett.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 251 
 
 " He would have turned you out of the 
 house, if he had known who you were." 
 
 She disappointed him in one thing ; she 
 was bad at answering questions. Morally 
 she was not quite so great an egotist as 
 himself, but intellectually a greater. Her 
 volubility was all egotism. She could 
 scarcely say ten words, except about her- 
 self. So when Bassett questioned her about 
 Sir Charles and Lady Bassett, she said 
 " Yes," or " No," or " I don't know," and 
 was off at a tangent to her own sayings and 
 doings. 
 
 Bassett, however, by great patience and 
 tact, extracted from her at last, that Sir 
 Charles and Lady Bassett were both sore at 
 not having children, and that Lady Bassett 
 bore the blame. 
 
 " That is a good joke," said he. " The 
 smoke-dried rake ! Polly, you might do 
 me a good turn. You have got her ear ; 
 open her eyes for me. What might not 
 happen ?" His eyes shone fiendishly.
 
 252 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 The young woman shook her head. " Me 
 meddle between man and wife ! I'm too 
 fond of my place." 
 
 " Ah, you don't love me as I love you. 
 You think only of yourself." 
 
 "And what do you think of? Do you 
 love me well enough to find me a better 
 place, if you get me turned out of Hunter- 
 combe Hall ?" 
 
 " Yes, I will ; a much better." 
 
 " That is a bargain." 
 
 Mary Wells was silly in some things, but 
 she was very cunning too ; and she knew 
 Richard Bassett's hobby. She told him to 
 mind himself, as well as Sir Charles, or 
 perhaps he would die a bachelor, and so 
 his flesh and blood would never inherit 
 Huntercombe. This remark entered his 
 mind. The trial, though apparently a 
 drawn battle, had been fatal to him — he 
 was cut; he dared not pay his addresses 
 to any lady in the county, and he often felt 
 very lonely now. So everything combined
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 253 
 
 to draw him towards Mary Wells — her 
 swarthy beauty, which shone out at church 
 like a black diamond among the other 
 women ; his own loneliness ; and the plea- 
 sure these stolen meetings gave him. Cus- 
 tom itself is pleasant, and the company of 
 this handsome chatterbox became a habit, 
 and an agreeable one. The young woman 
 herself employed a woman's arts ; she was 
 cold and loving by turns, till, at last, he 
 gave her what she was working for, a 
 downright promise of marriage. She pre- 
 tended not to believe him, and so led him 
 further ; he swore he would marry her. 
 
 He made one stipulation, however. She 
 really must learn to read and write first. 
 
 When he had sworn this, Mary became 
 more uniformly affectionate ; and as women 
 who have been in service learn great^ self- 
 government, and can generally please so 
 long as it serves their turn, she made her- 
 self so agreeable to him, that he began 
 really to have a downright liking for her,
 
 254 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 a likiDg bounded, of course, by his incurable 
 selfishness ; but, as for his hobby, that was 
 on her side. 
 
 Now learning to read and write was 
 wormwood to Mary Wells ; but the prize 
 was so great ; she knew all about the 
 Huntercombe estates, partly from her sister, 
 partly from Bassett himself. (He must 
 tell his wrongs even to this girl.) So she 
 resolved to pursue matrimony, even on the 
 severe condition of becoming a scholar. 
 She set about it as follows : — One day that 
 she was doing Lady Bassett's hair, she 
 sighed several times. This was to attract 
 the lady's attention, and it succeeded. 
 
 " Is there anything the matter, Mary ?" 
 
 " No, my lady." 
 
 " I think there is." 
 
 " Well, my lady, I am in a little trouble ; 
 but it is my own people's fault, for not 
 sending of me to school. I might be mar- 
 ried to-morrow, if I could only read and 
 write."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 255 
 
 *' And can you not ?" 
 
 " No, my lady." 
 
 " Dear me, I thouglit everybody could 
 read and write now-a-days." 
 
 " La, no, my lady ! not half of them in 
 our village." 
 
 " Your parents are much to blame, my 
 poor girl. Well, but it is not too late. 
 Now I think of it, there is an adult school 
 in the village. Shall I arrange for you to 
 go to it ?" 
 
 " Thank you, my lady. But then " 
 
 '^ Well ?" 
 
 " All my fellow-servants would have a 
 laugh against me." 
 
 " The person you are engaged to, will he 
 not instruct you ?" 
 
 " Oh, he have no time to teach me. 
 Besides I don't want him to know, either. 
 But I won't be his wife to shame him." 
 (Another sigh.) 
 
 "Mary," said Lady Bassett, in the in- 
 nocence of her heart, "you shall not be
 
 256 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 mortified, and you shall not lose a good 
 marriage. I will try and teach you 
 myself." 
 
 Mary was profuse in thanks. Lady 
 Bassett received them rather coldly. She 
 gave her a few minutes' instruction in her 
 dressing-room every day ; and Mary, who 
 could not have done anything intellectual 
 for half an hour at a stretch, gave her 
 whole mind for those few minutes. She 
 was quick, and learned very fast. In two 
 months she could read a great deal more 
 than she could understand, and could write 
 slowly, but very clearly. 
 
 Now, by this time, Lady Bassett had 
 become so interested in her pupil, that she 
 made her read letters and newspapers to 
 her, at those parts of the toilette when her 
 services were not required. 
 
 Mary Wells, though a great chatterbox, 
 was the closest girl in England. Limpet 
 never stuck to a rock as she could stick to 
 a lie. She never said one word to Bassett
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 257 
 
 about Lady Bassett's lessons. She kept 
 strict silence, till she could write a letter, 
 and then she sent him a line to say she had 
 learned to write for love of him, and she 
 hoped he would keep his promise. 
 
 Bassett's vanity was flattered by this. 
 But, on reflection, he suspected it was a 
 falsehood. He asked her suddenly, at their 
 next meeting, who had written that note for 
 her. 
 
 " You shall see me write the fellow to it 
 when you like," was the reply. 
 
 Bassett resolved to submit the matter to 
 that test some day. At present^ however, 
 he took her word for it, and asked her who 
 had taught her. 
 
 " I had to teach myself. Nobody cares 
 enough for me to teach me. Well, I'll 
 forgive you, if you will write me a nice 
 letter for mine." 
 
 " What ! when we can meet here and 
 say everything ?" 
 
 " No matter ; 1 have written to you ; and 
 
 VOL. I. s
 
 258 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 you might write to me. They all get 
 letters, except me ; and the jades hold 'em 
 up to me : they see I never get one. When 
 you are out, post me a letter now and then. 
 It will only cost you a penny. I'm sure 
 I don't ask you for much." 
 
 Bassett humoured her in this, and in one 
 of his letters called her his wife that was to 
 be. 
 
 This pleased her so much, that, the next 
 time they met, she hung round his neck 
 with a good deal of feminine grace. 
 
 Eichard Bassett was a man who now 
 lived in the future. Everybody in the 
 county believed he had written that anony- 
 mous letter, and he had no hope of shining 
 by his own light. It was bitter to resign 
 his personal hopes ; but he did, and sullenly 
 resolved to be obscure himself, but the 
 father of the future heirs of Huntercombe. 
 He would marry Mary Wells, and lay the 
 blame of the match upon Sir Charles, who 
 had blackened him in the county, and
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 259 
 
 put it out of his power to win a lady's 
 hand. 
 
 He told Wheeler he was determined to 
 marry ; but he had not the courage to tell 
 him all at once what a wife he had se- 
 lected. 
 
 The consequence of this half-confession 
 was, that Wheeler went to work to find 
 him a girl with money, and not under 
 county influence. 
 
 One of Wheeler's clients was a retired 
 citizen, living in a pretty villa near the 
 market- town. Mr. Wright employed him 
 in little matters, and found him active and 
 attentive. There was a Miss Wright, a 
 meek little girl, palish, on whom her father 
 doted. Wheeler talked to this girl of his 
 friend Bassett, his virtues, and his wrongs, 
 and interested the young lady in him. 
 This done, he brought him to the house, 
 and the girl, being slight and delicate, 
 gazed with gentle but undisguised admira- 
 tion on Bassett's torso. Wheeler had told
 
 260 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIO?^. 
 
 Richard Miss Wright was to have seven 
 thousand pounds on her wedding day ; and 
 that excited a corresponding admiration in 
 the athletic gentleman. 
 
 After that, Bassett ofteu called by him- 
 self, and the father encouraged the inti- 
 macy. He was old, and wished to see his 
 daughter married before he left her; and 
 this seemed an eligible match, though not a 
 brilliant one : a bit of land and a good name 
 on one side ; a smart bit of money on the 
 other. The thing went on wheels. Richard 
 Bassett was engaged to Jane Wright almost 
 before he was aware. 
 
 Now he felt uneasy about Mary Wells, 
 very uneasy ; but it was only the uneasi- 
 ness of selfishness. 
 
 He began to try and prepare ; he affected 
 business-visits to distant places, etc., in 
 order to break off by degrees. By this 
 means their meetings were comparatively 
 few. When they did meet (which was now 
 generally by written appointment), he tried
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION". 261 
 
 to prepare by telling her he had encoan- 
 tered losses, and feared that to marry her 
 would be a bad job for her, as well as for 
 him, especially if she should have children. 
 
 Mary replied she had been used to work, 
 and would rather work for a husband than 
 any other master. 
 
 On another occasion she asked him 
 quietly whether a gentleman ever broke 
 his oath. 
 
 " Never," said Richard. 
 
 In short, she gave him no opening. She 
 would not quarrel. She adhered to him, as 
 she had never adhered to anything but a lie 
 before. 
 
 Then he gave up all hope of smoothing 
 the matter. He coolly cut her ; never came 
 to the trysting-place ; did not answer her 
 letters ; and being a reckless egotist, married 
 Jane Wright all in a hurry, by special 
 licence. 
 
 He sent forward to the clerk of Hunter- 
 combe church, and engaged the ringers to
 
 262 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 ring the church bells from six o'clock till 
 sundown. This was for Sir Charles's 
 ears. 
 
 It was a balmy evening in May. Lady 
 Bassett was commencing her toilette in an 
 indolent way, with Mary Wells in attend- 
 ance, when the church bells of Hunter- 
 combe struck up a merry peal. 
 
 " Ah !" said Lady Bassett. " What is 
 that for? Do you know, Mary ?" 
 
 "No, my lady. Shall I ask?" 
 
 " No : I dare say it is a village wed- 
 ding." 
 
 " No, my lady : there's nobody been 
 married here this six weeks. Our kitchen- 
 maid and the baker was the last, you know. 
 I'll send and know what it is for." 
 
 Mary went out, and despatched the first 
 housemaid she caught for intelligence. The 
 girl ran into the stable to her sweetheart, 
 and he told her directly. 
 
 Meantime Lady Bassett moralised upon 
 church bells.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 263 
 
 " They are always sad, saddest when they 
 seem to be merriest. Poor things ! they 
 are trying hard to be merry now ; but they 
 sound very sad to me, sadder than usual, 
 somehow." 
 
 The girl knocked at the door. Mary 
 half opened it, and the news shot in — 
 " 'Tis for Squire Bassett — he is bringing 
 of his bride home to Highmore to-day." 
 
 " Mr. Bassett — married — that is sudden. 
 Who could he find to marry him ?'* 
 
 There was no reply. The housemaid had 
 flown off to circulate the news, and Mary 
 Wells was supporting herself by clutching 
 the door, sick with the sudden blow. 
 
 Close as she was, her distress could not 
 have escaped another woman's eye : but 
 Lady Bassett never looked at her. After 
 the first surprise she had gone into a reverie, 
 and was conjuring up the future to the 
 sound of those church bells. She requested 
 Mary to go and tell Sir Charles ; but she
 
 264 A TEERIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 did not lift her head, even to give this 
 order. 
 
 Mary crept away, and knocked at Sir 
 Charles's dressing-room. 
 
 " Come in," said Sir Charles, thinking, of 
 course, it was his valet. 
 
 Mary Wells just opened the door, and 
 held it ajar. " My lady bids me tell you, 
 sir, the bells are ringing for Mr. Bassett ; 
 he's married, and brings her home to- 
 night." 
 
 A dead silence marked the effect of this 
 announcement on Sir Charles. Mary Wells 
 waited. 
 
 " May Heaven's curse light on that mar- 
 riage, and no child of theirs ever take my 
 place in this house !" 
 
 " A-a-men !" said Mary Wells. 
 
 " Thank you, sir !" said Sir Charles. He 
 took her voice for a man's, so deep and 
 guttural was her " A-a-men " with concen- 
 trated passion.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 265 
 
 She closed the door, and crept back to 
 her mistress. 
 
 Lady Bassett was seated at her glass, 
 with her hair down, and her shoulders bare. 
 Mary clenched her teeth, and set about her 
 usual work, but very soon Lady Bassett 
 gave a start, and stared into the glass. 
 " Mary !" said she, " what is the matter ? 
 You look ghastly, and your hands are as 
 cold as ice. Are you faint ?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Then you are ill ; very ill." 
 
 " I have taken a chill," said Mary, dog- 
 gedly. 
 
 " Go instantly to the still-room maid, and 
 get a large glass of spirits and hot water — 
 quite hot." 
 
 Mary, who wanted to be out of the room, 
 fastened her mistress's back hair with 
 dogged patience, and then moved towards 
 the door. 
 
 " Mary," said Lady Bassett, in a half 
 apologetic tone.
 
 266 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 " My lady." 
 
 " I should like to hear what the bride is 
 like." 
 
 " I'll know that to-night," said Mary, 
 grinding her teeth. 
 
 " I shall not require you again till bed- 
 time." 
 
 Mary left the room and went, not to the 
 still-room, but to her own garret, and there 
 she gave way. She flung herself, with a 
 wild cry, upon her little bed, and clutched 
 her own hair and the bed-clothes, and 
 writhed all about the bed like a wild cat 
 wounded. 
 
 In this anguish she passed an hour she 
 never forgot nor forgave. She got up at 
 last, and started at her own image in the 
 glass. Hair like a savage's, cheek pale, 
 eyes bloodshot. 
 
 She smoothed her hair, washed her face, 
 and prepared to go down-stairs ; but now 
 she was seized with a faintness, and had to 
 sit down and moan. She got the better of
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPT ATIOX. 267 
 
 that, and went to the still-room, and got 
 some spirits; but she drank them neat, 
 gulped them down like water. They sent 
 the devil into her black eye, but no colour 
 into her pale cheek. She had a little 
 scarlet shawl : she put it over her head, 
 and went into the village.- She found it 
 astir with expectation. 
 
 Mr. Bassett's house stood near the high- 
 way, but the entrance to the premises 
 was private, and through a long white 
 gate. 
 
 By this gate was a heap of stones, and 
 Mary Wells got on that heap and waited. 
 
 When she had been there about half 
 an hour, Eichard Bassett drove up in a 
 hired carriage, with his pale little wife 
 beside him. At his own gate his eye en- 
 countered Mary Wells, and he started. 
 She stood above him, with her arms folded 
 grandly ; her cheek, so swarthy and ruddy, 
 was now pale ; and her black eyes glittered 
 like basilisks at him and his bride. The
 
 268 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 whole woman seemed lifted out of her 
 low condition, and dignified by wrong. 
 
 He had to sustain her look for a few 
 seconds, while the gate was being opened, 
 and it seemed an age. He felt his first 
 pang of remorse when he saw that swarthy, 
 ruddy cheek so pale. Then came admira- 
 tion of her beauty, and disgust at the 
 woman for whom he had jilted her ; and 
 that gave way to fear : the hater looked 
 into those glittering eyes, and saw he 
 had roused a hate as unrelenting as his 
 own.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 269 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 For the first few days Richard Bassett 
 expected some annoyance from Mary 
 Wells : but none came, and he began to 
 flatter himself she was too fond of him to 
 give him pain. 
 
 This impression was shaken about ten 
 days after the little scene I have described : 
 he received a short note from her, as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 '^ Vou must meet me to-night^ at the same 
 place, eight o'clock. If you do not come^ it 
 will he the worse for you. 
 
 '^ M. W."
 
 270 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Richard Basse tt's inclination was to treat 
 this summons with contempt ; but he 
 thought it would be wiser to go, and see 
 whether the girl had any hostile intentions. 
 Accordingly he went to the tryste. He 
 waited for some time, and at last he heard 
 a quick firm foot, and Mary Wells appeared. 
 She was hooded with her scarlet shawl that 
 contrasted admirably with her coal-black 
 hair ; and out of this scarlet frame her 
 dark eyes glittered. She stood before him 
 in silence. 
 
 He said nothing. 
 
 She was silent too for some time. But 
 she spoke first. 
 
 '' Well^ sir, you promised one, and you 
 have married another. Now what are you 
 going to do for me ?" 
 
 "What can I do, Mary? I'm not the 
 first that wanted to marry for love, but 
 money came in his way and tempted him." 
 
 " No, you are not the first. But that's 
 neither here nor there, sir. That chalk-
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 271 
 
 faced girl has bought you away from me 
 with her money, and now I mean to have 
 my share on't." 
 
 " Oh, if that is all," said Richard, '- we 
 can soon settle it : I was afraid you were 
 going to talk about a broken heart, and all 
 that stuff. You are a good sensible girl ; 
 and too beautiful to want a husband long. 
 I'll give you fifty pounds to forgive me." 
 
 *' Fifty pounds!" said Mary Wells, con- 
 temptuously. " What, when you promised 
 me I should be your wife to-day, and lady 
 of Huntercombe Hall by-and-by? Fifty 
 pounds ! No ; not ^yq fifties." 
 
 " Well, I'll give you seventy-five, and, if 
 that won't do, you must go to law, and see 
 what you can get." 
 
 " What, han't you had your bellyful of 
 law? Mind, it is an unked thing to for- 
 swear yourself, and that is what you done 
 at the 'sizes : I have seen what you did 
 swear about your letter to my sister ; Sir 
 Charles have got it all wrote down in liis
 
 272 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 study ; and you swore a lie to the judge, as 
 you swore a lie to me here under heaven, 
 you villain !" She raised her voice very 
 loud. " Don't you gainsay me, or I'll soon 
 have you by the heels in gaol, for your 
 lies. You'll do as I bids you, and very 
 lucky to be let off so cheap. You was to 
 be my master — but you chose her instead — 
 well then you shall be my servant. You 
 shall come here every Saturday, at eight 
 o'clock, and bring me a sovereign, which I 
 never could keep a lump o' money, and I 
 have had one or two from Ehoda ; so I'll 
 take it a sovereign a week, till I get a 
 husband of my own sort, and then you'll 
 have to come down handsome once for all." 
 Bassett knitted his brows, and thought 
 hard. His natural impulse was to defy 
 her ; but it struck him that a great many 
 things might happen in a few months ; so 
 at last he said humbly, " I consent : I have 
 been to blame. Only I'd rather pay you 
 this money in some other way."
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 273 
 
 " My way, or none." 
 
 " Very well, then, I will bring it you as 
 you say." 
 
 " Mind you do, then," said Mary Wells, 
 and turned haughtily on her heel. 
 
 Bassett never ventured to absent himself 
 at the hour ; and, at first, the black mail 
 was delivered and received with scarcely a 
 word ; but by-and-by old habits so far 
 revived, that some little conversation took 
 place. 
 
 Then, after a while, Bassett used to tell 
 her he was unhappy, and she used to reply 
 she was glad of it. 
 
 Then he began to speak slightingly of 
 his wife, and say what a fool he had been 
 to marry a poor silly nonentity, when he 
 might have wedded a beauty. 
 
 Mary Wells, being intensely vain, lis- 
 tened with complacency to this, although 
 she replied coldly and harshly. 
 
 By-and-by her natural volubility over- 
 powered her, and she talked to Bassett 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 about herself, and Huntercombe House, but 
 always witb a secret reserve. 
 
 Later, such is the force of habit, each 
 used to look forward, with satisfaction, to 
 the Saturday meeting, although each dis- 
 trusted and feared the other at bottom. 
 
 Later still, that came to pass, which 
 Mary Wells had planned from the first 
 with deep malice, and that shrewd insight 
 into human nature which many a low 
 woman has — the cooler she was, the 
 warmer did Eichard Bassett grow, till, at 
 last, contrasting his pale, meek little wife 
 with this glowing Hebe, he conceived an 
 unholy liking for the latter. She met it, 
 sometimes with coldness and reproaches, 
 sometimes with affected alarm, sometimes 
 with a half-yielding manner, and so tor- 
 mented him to her heart's content, and 
 undermined his affection for his wife. 
 Thus she revenged herself on them both 
 to her heart's content. 
 
 But malice so perverse is apt to recoil
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOJf. 275 
 
 on itself; and women, in particular, should 
 not undertake a long and subtle revenge of 
 this sort; since the strongest have their 
 hours of weakness, and are surprised into 
 things they never intended. The sub- 
 sequent history of Mary Wells will ex- 
 emplify this. Meantime, however, meek 
 little Mrs. Bassett was no match for the 
 beauty and low cunning of her rival. 
 
 Yet a time came when she defended 
 herself unconsciously. She did something 
 that made her husband most solicitous for 
 her welfare and happiness ; he began to 
 watch her health with maternal care, to 
 shield her from draughts, to take care of 
 her diet_, to indulge her in all her whims 
 instead of snubbing her, and to pet her, till 
 she was the happiest wife in England for a 
 time. She deserved this at his hands, for 
 she assisted him there where his heart was 
 fixed ; she aided his hobby ; did more for 
 it than any other creature in England 
 could.
 
 276 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 To return to Huntercombe Hall ; the 
 loving couple that owned it were no longer 
 happy. The hope of offspring was now 
 deserting them, and the disappointment 
 was cruel. They suffered deeply, with this 
 difference, that Lady Bassett pined, and 
 Sir Charles Bassett fretted. 
 
 The woman's grief was more pure and 
 profound than the man's. If there had 
 been no Eichard Bassett in the world, still 
 her bosom would have yearned and pined, 
 and the great cry of Nature, " Give me 
 children, or I die," would have been in her 
 heart, though it would never have risen to 
 her lips. 
 
 Sir Charles had of course less of this 
 profound instinct than his wife, but he had 
 it too ; only, in him, the feeling was 
 adulterated and at the same time em- 
 bittered, by one less simple and noble. 
 An enemy sat at his gate ; that enemy, 
 whose enduring malice had at last 
 begotten equal hostility in the child-
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 2 i / 
 
 less baronet, was now married, and 
 would probably have heirs ; and, if so, 
 that hateful brood, the spawn of an 
 anonymous letter-writer, would surely in- 
 herit Bassett and Huntercombe, succeeding 
 to Sir Charles Bassett, deceased without 
 issue. This chafed the childless man, and 
 gradually undermined a temper habitually 
 sweet, though subject, as we have seen, 
 to violent ebullitions where the provoca- 
 tion was intolerable. Sir Charles then, 
 smarting under his wound, spoke now and 
 then rather unkindly to the wife he loved 
 so devotedly : that is to say, his manner 
 sometimes implied that he blamed her for 
 their joint calamity. 
 
 Lady Bassett submitted to these stings 
 in silence. They were rare, and speedily 
 followed by touching regrets ; and, even 
 had it not been so, she would have borne 
 them with resignation ; for this motherless 
 wife loved her husband with all a wife's 
 devotion, and a mother's unselfish patience.
 
 278 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Let this be remembered to her credit ; it is 
 the truth, and she may need it. 
 
 Her own yearning was too deep and sad 
 for fretfulness: yet, though, unHke her 
 husband's, it never broke out in anger, the 
 day was gone by when she could keep it 
 always silent. It welled out of her at 
 times in ways that were truly womanly and 
 touching. 
 
 When she called on a wife, the lady was 
 sure to parade her children ; the boasted 
 tact of women — a quality, the narrow com- 
 pass of which has escaped their undis- 
 criminating eulogists — was always swept 
 away by maternal egotism ; and then poor 
 Lady Bassett would admire the children 
 loudly, and kiss them, to please the cruel 
 egotist, and hide the tears that rose to her 
 own eyes : bat she would shorten her visit. 
 
 When a child died in the village, Mary 
 AVells was sure to be sent with words of 
 comfort, and substantial marks of sym- 
 pathy.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 279 
 
 Scarcely a day passed that sometliing or 
 other did not happen to make the wound 
 bleed ; but I will confine myself to two 
 occasions, on each of which her heart's 
 agony spoke out, and so revealed how much 
 it must have endured in silence. 
 
 Since the day when Sir Charles allowed 
 her to sit in a little room close to his study 
 while he received Mr. Wheeler's visits she 
 had fitted up that room, and often sat there, 
 to be near Sir Charles ; and he would 
 sometimes call her in, and tell her his 
 justice cases. One day she was there, 
 when the constable brought in a prisoner, 
 and several witnesses. The accused was a 
 stout, florid girl, with plump cheeks, and 
 pale grey eyes : she seemed all health, 
 stupidity, and simplicity. She carried a 
 child on her left arm. No dweller in cities 
 could suspect this face of crime. As well 
 indict a calf. 
 
 Yet the witnesses proved beyond a doubt, 
 that she had been seen with her baby in
 
 280 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 the neighbourhood of a certain old well, on 
 a certain day at noon : that soon after noon 
 she had been seen on the road without her 
 baby, and, being asked what had become of 
 it, had said she had left it with her aunt, 
 ten miles off: and that about an hour after 
 that, a faint cry had been heard at the 
 bottom of the old well — it was ninety feet 
 deep — people had assembled, and a brave 
 farmer's boy had been lowered in the bight 
 of a cart-rope, and had brought up a dead 
 hen, and a live child bleeding at the cheek, 
 having fallen on a heap of faggots at the 
 bottom of the well. Which child was the 
 prisoner's. 
 
 Sir Charles had the evidence written 
 down, and then told the accused she might 
 make a counter-statement if she chose, but 
 it would be wiser to say nothing at all. 
 
 Thereupon the accused dropped him a 
 little short curtsy, looked him steadily in 
 the face with her pale grey eyes, and 
 delivered herself as follows : —
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 281 
 
 ''If you please, sir, I was a sitting by th' 
 old well, with baby in my arms : and I was 
 mortal tired I was, wi' earring of him ; he 
 be uncommon heavy for his age : and, if 
 you please, sir, he is uncommon resolute ; 
 and, whilst I was so, he give a leap right 
 out of my arms, and fell down th' old well. 
 I screams, and runs away to tell my bro- 
 ther's wife, as lives at top of the hill ; 
 but she was gone into North Wood for dry 
 sticks to light her oven ; and, when I comes 
 back, they had got him out of the well, and 
 I claims him directly ; and the constable 
 said we must come before you, sir : so here 
 we be." 
 
 This she delivered very glibly, without 
 tremulousness, hesitation, or the shadow of 
 a blush, and dropped another little curtsy 
 at the end to Sir Charles. 
 
 Thereupon, he said not one word to her, 
 but committed her for trial, and gave the 
 farmer's boy a sovereign. 
 
 The people were no sooner gone, than
 
 282 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 Lady Bassett came in, with the tears 
 streaming, and threw herself at her hus- 
 band's knees. " Oh, Charles ! can such 
 things be ? Does Grod give a child to a 
 woman, that has the heart to kill it ; and 
 refuse one to me, who would give my 
 heart's blood to save a hair of its little 
 head ? Oh, what have we done, that he 
 singles us out to be so cruel to us ?" 
 
 Then Sir Charles tried to comfort her, 
 but could not, and the childless ones wept 
 together. 
 
 It began to be whispered that Mrs. 
 Bassett was in the family way. Neither 
 Sir Charles nor Lady Bassett mentioned 
 this rumour. It would have been like 
 rubbing vitriol into their own wounds. 
 But this reserve was broken through one 
 day. It was a sunny afternoon in June, 
 just thirteen months after Mr. Bassett's 
 wedding; Lady Bassett was with her 
 husband in his study, settling invitations
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 283 
 
 for a ball, and writing them ; when the 
 church bells struck up a merry peal. They 
 both left off, and looked at each other 
 eloquently. Lady Bassett went out, but 
 soon returned, looking pale and wild. 
 
 " YesT said she, with forced calmness; 
 then, suddenly losing her self-command, 
 she broke out, pointing through the 
 window, at Highmore — '• He has got a 
 fine boy — to take our place here. Kill me, 
 Charles ! Send me to heaven, to pray for 
 you ; and take another wife that will love 
 you less, but be like other wives. That 
 villain has married a fruitful vine, and " 
 (lifting both arms to heaven with a gesture 
 unspeakably piteous, poetic, and touching) 
 " I am a barren stock."
 
 284 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 Of all the fools Nature produces with the 
 help of Society, fathers of first-borns are 
 about the most offensive. 
 
 The mothers of ditto are bores too, 
 flinging their cherubic dumplings at every 
 head ; but, considering the tortures they 
 have suffered, and the anguish the little 
 egotistical viper they have just hatched 
 will most likely give them, and considering 
 further that their love of their first-born is 
 greater than their pride^ and their pride 
 unstained by vanity, one must make allow- 
 ances for them. 
 
 But the male parent is not so excusable.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 285 
 
 His fussy vanity is an inferior article to the 
 mother's silly, but amiable pride. His 
 obtrusive affection is two-thirds of it 
 egotism, and blindish egotism, too; for if, 
 at the very commencement of the wife's 
 pregnancy, the husband is sent to India, or 
 hanged, the little angel, as they call it — 
 Lord forgive them ! — is nurtured from a 
 speck to a mature infant by the other 
 parent, and finally brought into the world 
 by her just as effectually, as if her male 
 confederate had been tied to her apron- 
 strings all the time, instead of expatriated, 
 or hanged. 
 
 Therefore, the Law — for want, I suppose, 
 of studying Medicine — is a little incon- 
 siderate in giving children to fathers, and 
 taking them by force from such mothers 
 as can support them; and therefore let 
 Gallina go on clucking over her first-born, 
 but Gallus be quiet, or sing a little 
 smaller. 
 
 With these preliminary remarks, let me
 
 286 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOJ^. 
 
 introduce to you a character new in fiction, 
 but terribly old in history — 
 
 THE CLUCKING COCK. 
 
 Upon the birth of a son and heir Mr. 
 Richard Bassett was inflated almost to 
 bursting. He became suddenly hospitable, 
 collected all his few friends about him, and 
 showed them all the Boy at great length, 
 and talked Boy and little else. He went 
 out into the world, and made calls on 
 people, merely to remind them he had a 
 son and heir. 
 
 His self-gratulation took a dozen forms ; 
 perhaps the most amusing, and the richest 
 food for satire, was the mock-querulous 
 style, of which he showed himself a 
 master. 
 
 " Don't you ever marry," said he to 
 Wheeler and others. " Look at me ; do 
 you think I am the master of my own 
 house ? Not I ; I am a regular slave. 
 First, there is a monthly nurse, who orders
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 287 
 
 me out of my wife's presence, or graciously 
 lets me in, just as she pleases : that is 
 Queen 1. Then there's a wet-nurse, 
 Queen 2, whom I must humour in every- 
 thing, or she will quarrel with me, and 
 avenge herself by souring her milk. But 
 these are mild tyrants compared with the 
 young King himself. If he does but squall, 
 we must all skip, and find out what he ails, 
 or what he wants. As for me, I am looked 
 upon as a necessary evil : the women seem 
 to admit that a father is an encumbrance 
 without which these little angels could not 
 exist, but that is all." 
 
 He had a christening feast, and it was 
 pretty well attended ; for he reminded all 
 he asked that the young Christian was the 
 heir to the Bassett estates. They feasted, 
 and the church bells rang merrily. 
 
 He had his pew in the church new lined 
 with cloth, and took his wife to be 
 churched. The nurse was in the pew 
 too, with his son and heir. It squalled.
 
 288 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 and spoilt the Liturgj. Thereat Gallus 
 chuckled. 
 
 He made a gravel walk all along the 
 ha-ha that separated his garden from Sir 
 Charles's, and called it " The Heir's Walk." 
 Here the nurse and child used to parade on 
 sunny afternoons. 
 
 He got an army of workmen, and built a 
 nursery fit for a duke's nine children. It 
 occupied two entire storeys, and rose in the 
 form of a square tower high above the rest 
 of his house, which indeed was as humble 
 as '' The Heir's Tower " was pretentious. 
 " The Heir's Tower " had a flat lead roof 
 easy of access, and from it you could inspect 
 Huntercombe Hall, and see what was 
 done on the lawn or at some of the 
 windows. 
 
 Here, in the August afternoons, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Bassett used to sit drinking their tea, 
 with nurse and child ; and Bassett would 
 talk to his unconscious boy, and tell him 
 that the great house, and all that belonged
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 289 
 
 to it, should be his, in spite of the arts that 
 had been used to rob him of it. 
 
 Now, of course, the greater part of all 
 this gratulation was merely amusing, and 
 did no harm, except stirring up the bile of 
 a few old bachelors, and embittering them 
 worse than ever against clucking cocks, 
 crowing hens, inflated parents, and matri- 
 mony in general. 
 
 But the overflow of it reached Hunter- 
 combe Hall, and gave cruel pain to the 
 childless ones, over whom this inflated 
 father was in fact exulting. 
 
 As for the christening, and the bells that 
 pealed for it, and the subsequent churching, 
 they bore these things with sore hearts, 
 but bravely, being things of course. But, 
 when it came to their ears that Bassett and 
 his family called his new gravel walk 
 '* The Heir's Walk," and his ridiculous 
 nursery " The Heir's Tower," this roused a 
 bitter animosity, and indeed led to re- 
 prisals. Sir Charles built a long wall at 
 
 VOL. I. u
 
 290 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 the edge of bis garden, shutting out '' The 
 Heir's Walk," and intercepting the view 
 of his own premises from that walk. 
 
 Then Mr. Bassett made a little hill at 
 the end of his walk, so that the heir might 
 get one peep over the wall at his rich 
 inheritance. 
 
 Then Sir Charles began to fell timber 
 on a gigantic scale. He went to work 
 with several gangs of woodmen, and all 
 his woods, which were very extensive, 
 rang with the axe, and the trees fell like 
 corn. He made no secret that he was 
 going to sell timber to the tune of several 
 thousand pounds, and settle it on his wife. 
 
 Then Richard Bassett, through Wheeler 
 his attorney^ remonstrated in his own 
 name, and that of his son, against this 
 excessive fall of timber on an entailed 
 estate. 
 
 Sir Charles chafed like a lion stung by a 
 gadfly, but vouchsafed no rej)ly : the 
 answer came from Mr. Oldfield ; he said
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 291 
 
 Sir Charles had a right under the entail to 
 fell every stick of timber, and turn his 
 woods into arable ground if he chose ; and, 
 even if he had not, looking at his age and 
 his wife's, it was extremely improbable 
 that Richard Bassett would inherit the 
 estates : the said Richard Bassett was not 
 personally named in the entail, and his 
 rights were all in supposition : if Mr. 
 Wheeler thought he could dispute both 
 these positions, the Court of Chancery was 
 open to his client. 
 
 Then Wheeler advised Bassett to avoid 
 the Court of Chancery in a matter so 
 debateable ; and Sir Charles felled all the 
 more for the protest ; the dead bodies of 
 the trees fell across each other, and day- 
 light peeped through the thick woods. 
 It was like the clearing of a primeval 
 forest. 
 
 Richard Bassett went about with a 
 witness, and counted the fallen. 
 
 The poor were allowed the lop-wood :
 
 292 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 tliey tlironged in for miles round, and each 
 built himself a great wood-pile for the 
 winter ; the poor blessed Sir Charles : he 
 gave the proceeds, thirteen thousand 
 pounds, to his wife, for her separate use. 
 He did not tie it u-p. He restricted her no 
 further than this ; she undertook never to 
 draw above £100 at a time without con- 
 sulting Mr. Oldfield as to the application. 
 Sir Charles said he should add to this fund 
 every year : his beloved wife should not be 
 poor, even if the hated cousin should 
 outlive him and turn her out of Hunter- 
 combe. 
 
 And so passed the summer of that year ; 
 then the autumn ; and then came a 
 singularly mild winter. There was more 
 hunting than usual, and Richard Bassett, 
 whom his wife's fortune enabled to cut a 
 better figure than before, was often in the 
 field, mounted on a great bony horse that 
 was not so fast as some, being half bred? 
 but a wonderful jumper.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION, 293 
 
 Even in this pastime tlie cousins were 
 rivals. Sir Charles's favourite horse was a 
 magnificent thoroughbred, who was seldom 
 far off at the finish : over good ground 
 Richard's cocktail had no chance with him ; 
 but sometimes, if towards the close of the 
 run they came to stiff fallows and strong- 
 fences, the great strength of the inferior 
 animal, and that prudent reserve of his 
 powers, which distinguishes the canny 
 cocktail from the higher-blooded animal, 
 would give him the advantage. 
 
 Of this there occurred, on a certain 18th 
 of November, an example fraught with 
 very serious consequences. 
 
 That day the hounds met on Sir 
 Charles's estate. Sir Charles and Lady 
 Bassett breakfasted in Pink ; he had on 
 his scarlet coat, white tie, irrejoroachable 
 buckskins, and top-boots. (It seemed a 
 pity a speck of dirt should ffdl on them.) 
 Lady Bassett was in her riding-habit; and, 
 when she mounted her pony, and went to
 
 294 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 cover by his side, with her blue velvet cap, 
 and her red-brown hair, she looked more 
 like a brilliant flower than a mere woman. 
 
 A veteraii fox was soon found, and went 
 away with unusual courage and speed, and 
 Lady Bassett paced homewards, to wait 
 her lord's return, with an anxiety men 
 laugh at, but women can appreciate. It 
 was a form of quiet suffering she had 
 constantly endured, and never complained, 
 nor even mentioned the subject to Sir 
 Charles but once, and then he pooh-poohed 
 her fancies. 
 
 The hunt had a burst of about forty 
 minutes, that left Richard Bassett's cocktail 
 in the rear ; and the fox got into a large 
 beech wood with plenty of briars, and kept 
 dodging about it for two hours, and 
 puzzled the scent repeatedly. 
 
 Richard Bassett elected not to go 
 winding in and out among trees, risk his 
 horse's legs in rabbit-holes, and tire him 
 for nothing. He had kept for years a
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 295 
 
 little note-book lie called " Statistics of 
 Foxes," and tliat told liim an old dog-fox 
 of uncommon strength, if dislodged from 
 that particular wood, would slip into Bell- 
 man's Coppice, and, if driven out of that, 
 would face the music again, would take the 
 open country for Higham Gorse, and 
 probably be killed before he got there ; 
 but once there, a regiment of scythes might 
 cut him out, but bleeding, sneezing fox- 
 hounds would never work him out at the 
 tail of a long run. 
 
 So Richard Basse tt kept out of the wood, 
 and went gently on to Bell-man's Coppice, 
 and waited outside. 
 
 His book proved an oracle. After two 
 hours' dodging and manoeuvring, the fox 
 came out at the very end of Bell-man's 
 Coppice, with nothing near him but 
 Richard Bassett. Pug gave him the white 
 of his eye in an ugly leer, and headed 
 straight as a crow for Higham Gorse. 
 
 Richard Bassett blew his horn, collected
 
 296 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 the hunt, and laid the dogs on : away they 
 went, close together, thunder-mouthed, on 
 the hot scent. 
 
 After a three miles' gallo^^, they sighted 
 the fox, for a moment, just going over the 
 crest of a rising ground two furlongs off. 
 Then the hullah-baloo and excitement 
 grew furious, and one electric fury ani- 
 mated dogs, men, and horses. Another 
 mile, and the fox ran in sight scarcely a 
 furlong off: but many of the horses w^ere 
 distressed ; the Bassetts, however, kept up, 
 one by his horse being fresh, the other by 
 his animal's native courage and speed. 
 
 Then came some meadows, bounded by a 
 thick hedge, and succeeded by a ploughed 
 field of unusual size — eighty acres. 
 
 When the fox darted into this hedge, 
 the hounds were yelling at his heels ; the 
 hunt burst through the thin fence^ ex- 
 pecting to see them kill close to it. 
 
 But the wily fox had other resources at 
 his command than speed. Appreciating
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 297 
 
 his peril, he doubled and ran sixty yards 
 down the ditch, and the impetuous hounds 
 rushed forward and overran the scent. 
 They raved about to and fro, till, at last, 
 one of the gentlemen descried the fox 
 running down a double furrow in the 
 middle of the field. He had got into this, 
 and so made his way more smoothly than 
 his four-footed pursuers could. The dogs 
 were laid on, and away they went helter- 
 skelter. 
 
 At the end of this stiff ground a stiffish 
 leap awaited them ; an old quickset had 
 been cut down, and all the elm trees that 
 grew in it^ and a new quickset hedge set 
 on a high bank with double ditches. 
 
 The huntsman had an Irish horse that 
 laughed at this fence ; he jumped on to the 
 bank, and then jumped off it into the next 
 field. 
 
 Richard Bassett's cocktail came up 
 slowly, rose high, and landed his fore-feet 
 in the field, and so scrambled on.
 
 298 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 Sir Charles went at it rather rashly ; his 
 horse, tried hard by the fallow, caught his 
 heels against the edge of the bank, and 
 went headlong into the other ditch, throw- 
 ing Sir Charles over his head into the field. 
 Unluckily some of the trees were lying 
 about, and Sir Charles's head struck one of 
 these in falling ; the horse blundered out 
 again, and galloped after the hounds, but 
 the rider lay there motionless. 
 
 Nobody stopped at first ; the j^^ce was 
 too good to inquire ; but presently Richard 
 Bassett, who had greeted the accident with 
 a laugh^ turned round in his saddle, and 
 saw his cousin motionless, and two or three 
 gentlemen dismounting at the place. These 
 were new-comers. Then he resigned the 
 hunt, and rode back. 
 
 Sir Charles's cap was crushed in, and 
 there was blood on his white waistcoat ; he 
 was very pale, and quite insensible. 
 
 The gentlemen raised him, with ex- 
 pressions of alarm and kindly concern,
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 299 
 
 and inquired of each other what was best 
 to be done. 
 
 Richard Bassett saw an opportunity to 
 concihate opinion, and seized it. " He 
 must be taken home directly," said he. 
 ^' We must carry him to that farm-house, 
 and get a cart for him." 
 
 He helped carry him accordingly. 
 
 The farmer lent them a cart, with straw, 
 and they laid the insensible baronet gently 
 on it, Richard Bassett supporting his head. 
 '' Gentlemen," said he, rather pompously, 
 " at such a moment everything but the tie 
 of kindred is forgotten." Which resound- 
 ing sentiment was warmly applauded by 
 the honest squires. 
 
 They took him slowly and carefully 
 towards Huntercombe, distant about two 
 miles from the scene of the accident. 
 
 This 18th November Lady Bassett passed 
 much as usual with her on hunting days. 
 She was quietly patient till the afternoon.
 
 300 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATIOX. 
 
 and then restless, and could not settle 
 down in any part of the house till she got 
 to a little room on the first floor, with a 
 bay window commanding the country over 
 which Sir Charles was hunting. In this 
 she sat, with her head against one of the 
 mullions, and eyed the country-side as far 
 as she could see. 
 
 Presently she heard a rustle, and there 
 was Mary Wells standing and looking at 
 her with evident emotion. 
 
 " What is the matter, Mary ?" said Lady 
 Bassett. 
 
 " Oh, my lady !" said Mary. And she 
 trembled, and her hands worked. 
 
 Lady Bassett started up, with alarm 
 painted in her countenance. 
 
 " My lady, there's something wrong in 
 the hunting field." 
 
 "Sir Charles!" 
 
 " An accident, they say." 
 
 Lady Bassett put her hand to her heart 
 with a faint cry. Mary Wells ran to lier.
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPT ATIOX. 301 
 
 " Come with me directly !" cried Lady 
 Bassett. She snatched up her bonnet, and, 
 in another minute, she and Mary Wells 
 were on their road to the village, question- 
 ing everybody they met. 
 
 But nobody they questioned could tell 
 them anything. The stable-boy, who had 
 told the report in the kitchen of Hunter- 
 combe, said he had it from a gentleman's 
 groom, riding by, as he stood at the gates. 
 
 The ill news thus flung in at the gate by 
 one passing rapidly by, was not confirmed 
 by any further report, and Lady Bassett 
 began to hope it was false. 
 
 But a terrible confirmation came at last. 
 In the outskirts of the village, mistress 
 and servant encountered a sorrowful pro- 
 cession, the cart itself, followed by five 
 gentlemen on horseback, pacing slowly, 
 and downcast as at a funeral. 
 
 In the cart Sir Charles Bassett, splashed 
 all over with mud, and his white waistcoat 
 bloody, lay with his head upon Richard
 
 302 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Bassett's knee. His hair was wet with 
 blood, some of which had trickled down his 
 cheek and dried. Even Richard's buck- 
 skins were slightly stained with it. 
 
 At that sight^ Lady Bassett uttered a 
 scream, which those who heard it never 
 forgot, and flung herself, Heaven knows 
 how, into the cart ; but she got there, and 
 soon had that bleeding head on her bosom. 
 She took no notice of Richard Bassett, but 
 she got Sir Charles away from him, and 
 the cart took her, embracing him tenderly, 
 and kissing his hurt head, and moaning 
 over him, all through the village, to 
 Huntercombe Hall. 
 
 Four years ago they passed through the 
 same village, in a carriage and four — bells 
 pealing, rustics shouting — to take possession 
 of Huntercombe, and fill it with pledges of 
 their great and happy love ; and, as they 
 flashed past, the heir-at-law shrank hope- 
 less into his little cottage. Now, how 
 changed the pageant ! a farmer's cart, a
 
 A TERRIBLE TEMPTATION. 303 
 
 splashed and bleeding and senseless form 
 in it, sujDported by a childless, despairing 
 woman, one weeping attendant walking at 
 the side, and, amongst the gentlemen 
 pacing slowly behind, the heir-at-law, with 
 his head lowered in that decent afifectation 
 of regret, which all heirs can put on to hide 
 the indecent complacency within. 
 
 EXD OF VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: PRINTED HY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CUAitINO CROSS.
 
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