Lucretia — Complete. Эдвард Бульвер-ЛиттонЧитать онлайн книгу.
as the fief-rent by which I hold their lands. ‘Sdeath, sir!—Pardon me the expletive; I was about to say that if I am now a childless old man, it is because I have myself known temptation and resisted. I loved, and denied myself what I believed my best chance of happiness, because the object of my attachment was not my equal. That was a bitter struggle,—I triumphed, and I rejoice at it, though the result was to leave all thoughts of wedlock elsewhere odious and repugnant. These principles of action have made a part of my creed as gentleman, if not as Christian. Now to the point. I beseech you to find a fitting and reputable home for Miss—Miss Mivers,” the lip slightly curled as the name was said; “I shall provide suitably for her maintenance. When she marries, I will dower her, provided only and always that her choice fall upon one who will not still further degrade her lineage on her mother’s side,—in a word, if she select a gentleman. Mr. Fielden, on this subject I have no more to say.”
In vain the good clergyman, whose very conscience, as well as reason, was shocked by the deliberate and argumentative manner with which the baronet had treated the abandonment of his sister’s child as an absolutely moral, almost religious, duty,—in vain he exerted himself to repel such sophisms and put the matter in its true light. It was easy for him to move Sir Miles’s heart,—that was ever gentle; that was moved already: but the crotchet in his head was impregnable. The more touchingly he painted poor Susan’s unfriended youth, her sweet character, and promising virtues, the more Sir Miles St. John considered himself a martyr to his principles, and the more obstinate in the martyrdom he became. “Poor thing! poor child!” he said often, and brushed a tear from his eyes; “a thousand pities! Well, well, I hope she will be happy! Mind, money shall never stand in the way if she have a suitable offer!”
This was all the worthy clergyman, after an hour’s eloquence, could extract from him. Out of breath and out of patience, he gave in at last; and the baronet, still holding his reluctant arm, led him back towards the house. After a prolonged pause, Sir Miles said abruptly: “I have been thinking that I may have unwittingly injured this man,—this Mivers,—while I deemed only that he injured me. As to reparation to his daughter, that is settled; and after all, though I do not publicly acknowledge her, she is half my own niece.”
“Half?”
“Half,—the father’s side doesn’t count, of course; and, rigidly speaking, the relationship is perhaps forfeited on the other. However, that half of it I grant. Zooks, sir, I say I grant it! I beg you ten thousand pardons for my vehemence. To return,—perhaps I can show at least that I bear no malice to this poor doctor. He has relations of his own,—silk mercers; trade has reverses. How are they off?”
Perfectly perplexed by this very contradictory and paradoxical, yet, to one better acquainted with Sir Miles, very characteristic, benevolence, Fielden was some time before he answered. “Those members of Dr. Mivers’s family who are in trade are sufficiently prosperous; they have paid his debts,—they, Sir Miles, will receive his daughter.”
“By no means!” cried Sir Miles, quickly; then, recovering himself, he added, “or, if you think that advisable, of course all interference on my part is withdrawn.”
“Festina lente!—not so quick, Sir Miles. I do not yet say that it is advisable,—not because they are silk-mercers, the which, I humbly conceive, is no sin to exclude them from gratitude for their proffered kindness, but because Susan, poor child, having been brought up in different habits, may feel a little strange, at least at first, with—”
“Strange, yes; I should hope so!” interrupted Sir Miles, taking snuff with much energy. “And, by the way, I am thinking that it would be well if you and Mrs. Fielden—you are married, sir? That is right; clergymen all marry!—if you and Mrs. Fielden would take charge of her yourselves, it would be a great comfort to me to think her so well placed. We differ, sir, but I respect you. Think of this. Well, then, the doctor has left no relations that I can aid in any way?”
“Strange man!” muttered Fielden. “Yes; I must not let one poor youth lose the opportunity offered by your—your—”
“Never mind what; proceed. One poor youth,—in the shop, of course?”
“No; and by his father’s side (since you so esteem such vanities) of an ancient family,—a sister of Dr. Mivers married Captain Ardworth.”
“Ardworth,—a goodish name; Ardworth of Yorkshire?”
“Yes, of that family. It was, of course, an imprudent marriage, contracted while he was only an ensign. His family did not reject him, Sir Miles.”
“Sir, Ardworth is a good squire’s family, but the name is Saxon; there is no difference in race between the head of the Ardworths, if he were a duke, and my gardener, John Hodge,—Saxon and Saxon, both. His family did not reject him; go on.”
“But he was a younger son in a large family; both himself and his wife have known all the distresses common, they tell me, to the poverty of a soldier who has no resource but his pay. They have a son. Dr. Mivers, though so poor himself, took this boy, for he loved his sister dearly, and meant to bring him up to his own profession. Death frustrated this intention. The boy is high-spirited and deserving.”
“Let his education be completed; send him to the University; and I will see that he is put into some career of which his father’s family would approve. You need not mention to any one my intentions in this respect, not even to the lad. And now, Mr. Fielden, I have done my duty,—at least, I think so. The longer you honour my house, the more I shall be pleased and grateful; but this topic, allow me most respectfully to say, needs and bears no further comment. Have you seen the last news from the army?”
“The army! Oh, fie, Sir Miles, I must speak one word more. May not my poor Susan have at least the comfort to embrace her sister?”
Sir Miles paused a moment, and struck his crutch-stick thrice firmly on the ground.
“I see no great objection to that; but by the address of this letter, the poor girl is too far from Laughton to send Lucretia to her.”
“I can obviate that objection, Sir Miles. It is my wish to continue to Susan her present home amongst my own children. My wife loves her dearly; and had you consented to give her the shelter of your own roof, I am sure I should not have seen a smile in the house for a month after. If you permit this plan, as indeed you honoured me by suggesting it, I can pass through Southampton on my way to my own living in Devonshire, and Miss Clavering can visit her sister there.”
“Let it be so,” said Sir Miles, briefly; and so the conversation closed.
Some weeks afterwards, Lucretia went in her uncle’s carriage, with four post-horses, with her maid and her footman,—went in the state and pomp of heiress to Laughton,—to the small lodging-house in which the kind pastor crowded his children and his young guest. She stayed there some days. She did not weep when she embraced Susan, she did not weep when she took leave of her; but she showed no want of actual kindness, though the kindness was formal and stately. On her return, Sir Miles forbore to question; but he looked as if he expected, and would willingly permit, her to speak on what might naturally be uppermost at her heart. Lucretia, however, remained silent, till at last the baronet, colouring, as if ashamed of his curiosity, said,—
“Is your sister like your mother?”
“You forget, sir, I can have no recollection of my mother.”
“Your mother had a strong family likeness to myself.”
“She is not like you; they say she is like Dr. Mivers.”
“Oh!” said the baronet, and he asked no more.
The sisters did not meet again; a few letters passed between them, but the correspondence gradually ceased.
Young Ardworth went to college, prepared by Mr. Fielden, who was no ordinary scholar, and an accurate and profound mathematician,—a more important requisite than classical learning in a tutor for Cambridge. But Ardworth was idle, and perhaps even dissipated. He