Lady Susan
injured you with your family, how am I to support myself? With feelings
so poignant as mine, the conviction of having divided the son from his
parents would make me, even with you, the most miserable of beings. It
will surely, therefore, be advisable to delay our union—to delay it
till appearances are more promising—till affairs have taken a more
favourable turn. To assist us in such a resolution I feel that absence
will be necessary. We must not meet. Cruel as this sentence may appear,
the necessity of pronouncing it, which can alone reconcile it to
myself, will be evident to you when you have considered our situation
in the light in which I have found myself imperiously obliged to place
it. You may be—you must be—well assured that nothing but the strongest
conviction of duty could induce me to wound my own feelings by urging a
lengthened separation, and of insensibility to yours you will hardly
suspect me. Again, therefore, I say that we ought not, we must not, yet
meet. By a removal for some months from each other we shall
tranquillise the sisterly fears of Mrs. Vernon, who, accustomed herself
to the enjoyment of riches, considers fortune as necessary everywhere,
and whose sensibilities are not of a nature to comprehend ours. Let me
hear from you soon—very soon. Tell me that you submit to my arguments,
and do not reproach me for using such. I cannot bear reproaches: my
spirits are not so high as to need being repressed. I must endeavour to
seek amusement, and fortunately many of my friends are in town; amongst
them the Mainwarings; you know how sincerely I regard both husband and
wife.
I am, very faithfully yours,
S. VERNON
XXXI
_Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson._
Upper Seymour Street.
My dear Friend,—That tormenting creature, Reginald, is here. My letter,
which was intended to keep him longer in the country, has hastened him
to town. Much as I wish him away, however, I cannot help being pleased
with such a proof of attachment. He is devoted to me, heart and soul.
He will carry this note himself, which is to serve as an introduction
to you, with whom he longs to be acquainted. Allow him to spend the
evening with you, that I may be in no danger of his returning here. I
have told him that I am not quite well, and must be alone; and should
he call again there might be confusion, for it is impossible to be sure
of servants. Keep him, therefore, I entreat you, in Edward Street. You
will not find him a heavy companion, and I allow you to flirt with him
as much as you like. At the same time, do not forget my real interest;
say all that you can to convince him that I shall be quite wretched if
he remains here; you know my reasons—propriety, and so forth. I would
urge them more myself, but that I am impatient to be rid of him, as
Mainwaring comes within half an hour. Adieu!
S. VERNON.
XXXII
_Mrs. Johnson to Lady Susan._
Edward Street.
My dear Creature,—I am in agonies, and know not what to do. Mr. De
Courcy arrived just when he should not. Mrs. Mainwaring had that
instant entered the house, and forced herself into her guardian’s
presence, though I did not know a syllable of it till afterwards, for I
was out when both she and Reginald came, or I should have sent him away
at all events; but she was shut up with Mr. Johnson, while he waited in
the drawing-room for me. She arrived yesterday in pursuit of her
husband, but perhaps you know this already from himself. She came to
this house to entreat my husband’s interference, and before I could be
aware of it, everything that you could wish to be concealed was known
to him, and unluckily she had wormed out of Mainwaring’s servant that
he had visited you every day since your being in town, and had just
watched him to your door herself! What could I do! Facts are such
horrid things! All is by this time known to De Courcy, who is now alone
with Mr. Johnson. Do not accuse me; indeed, it was impossible to
prevent it. Mr. Johnson has for some time suspected De Courcy of
intending to marry you, and would speak with him alone as soon as he
knew him to be in the house. That detestable Mrs. Mainwaring, who, for
your comfort, has fretted herself thinner and uglier than ever, is
still here, and they have been all closeted together. What can be done?
At any rate, I hope he will plague his wife more than ever. With
anxious wishes,
Yours faithfully,
ALICIA.
XXXIII
_Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson._
Upper Seymour Street.
This _éclaircissement_ is rather provoking. How unlucky that you should
have been from home! I thought myself sure of you at seven! I am
undismayed however. Do not torment yourself with fears on my account;
depend on it, I can make my story good with Reginald. Mainwaring is
just gone; he brought me the news of his wife’s arrival. Silly woman,
what does she expect by such manoeuvres? Yet I wish she had stayed
quietly at Langford. Reginald will be a little enraged at first, but by
to-morrow’s dinner, everything will be well again.
Adieu!
S. V.
XXXIV
_Mr. De Courcy to Lady Susan._
—— Hotel.
I write only to bid you farewell, the spell is removed; I see you as
you are. Since we parted yesterday, I have received from indisputable
authority such a history of you as must bring the most mortifying
conviction of the imposition I have been under, and the absolute
necessity of an immediate and eternal separation from you. You cannot
doubt to what I allude. Langford! Langford! that word will be
sufficient. I received my information in Mr. Johnson’s house, from Mrs.
Mainwaring herself. You know how I have loved you; you can intimately
judge of my present feelings, but I am not so weak as to find
indulgence in describing them to a woman who will glory in having
excited their anguish, but whose affection they have never been able to
gain.
R. DE COURCY.
XXXV
_Lady Susan to Mr. De Courcy._
Upper Seymour Street.
I will not attempt to describe my astonishment in reading the note this
moment received from you. I am bewildered in my endeavours to form some
rational conjecture of what Mrs. Mainwaring can have told you to
occasion so extraordinary a change in your sentiments. Have I not
explained everything to you with respect to myself which could bear a
doubtful meaning, and which the ill-nature of the world had interpreted
to my discredit? What can you now have heard to stagger your esteem for
me? Have I ever had a concealment from you? Reginald, you agitate me
beyond expression, I cannot suppose that the old story of Mrs.
Mainwaring’s jealousy can be revived again, or at least be _listened_
to again. Come to me immediately, and explain what is at present
absolutely incomprehensible. Believe me, the single word of _Langford_
is not of such potent intelligence as to supersede the necessity of
more. If we _are_ to part, it will at least be handsome to take your
personal leave—but I have little heart to jest; in truth, I am serious
enough; for to be sunk, though but for an hour, in your esteem is a
humiliation to which I know not how to submit. I shall count every
minute till your arrival.
S. V.
XXXVI
_Mr. De Courcy to Lady Susan._
—— Hotel.
Why would you write to me? Why do you require particulars? But, since
it must be so, I am obliged to declare that all the accounts of your
misconduct during the life, and since the death of Mr. Vernon, which
had reached me, in common with the world in general, and gained my
entire belief before I saw you, but which you, by the exertion of your
perverted abilities, had made me resolved to disallow, have been
unanswerably proved to me; nay more, I am assured that a connection, of
which I had never before entertained a thought, has for some time
existed, and still continues to exist, between you and the man whose
family you robbed of its peace in return for the hospitality with which
you were received into it; that you have corresponded with him ever
since your leaving Langford; not with his wife, but with him, and that
he now visits you every day. Can you, dare you deny it? and all this at
the time when I was an encouraged, an accepted lover! From what have I
not escaped! I have only to be grateful. Far from me be all complaint,
every sigh of regret. My own folly had endangered me, my preservation I
owe to the kindness, the integrity of another; but the unfortunate Mrs.
Mainwaring, whose agonies while she related the past seemed to threaten
her reason, how is _she_ to be consoled! After such a discovery as
this, you will scarcely affect further wonder at my meaning in bidding
you adieu. My understanding is at length restored, and teaches no less
to abhor the artifices which had subdued me than to despise myself for
the weakness on which their strength was founded.
R. DE COURCY.
XXXVII
_Lady Susan to Mr. De Courcy._
Upper Seymour Street.
I am satisfied, and will trouble you no more when these few lines are
dismissed. The engagement which you were eager to form a fortnight ago
is no longer compatible with your views, and I rejoice to find that the
prudent advice of your parents has not been given in vain. Your
restoration to peace will, I doubt not, speedily follow this act of
filial obedience, and I flatter myself with the hope of surviving my
share in this disappointment.
S. V.
XXXVIII
_Mrs. Johnson to Lady Susan Vernon._
Edward Street
I am grieved, though I cannot be astonished at your rupture with Mr. De
Courcy; he has just informed Mr. Johnson of it by letter. He leaves
London, he says, to-day. Be assured that I partake in all your
feelings, and do not be angry if I say that our intercourse, even by
letter, must soon be given up. It makes me miserable; but Mr. Johnson
vows that if I persist in the connection, he will settle in the country
for the rest of his life, and you know it is impossible to submit to
such an extremity while any other alternative remains. You have heard
of course that the Mainwarings are to part, and I am afraid Mrs. M.
will come home to us again; but she is still so fond of her husband,
and frets so much about him, that perhaps she may not live long. Miss
Mainwaring is just come to town to be with her aunt, and they say that
she declares she will have Sir James Martin before she leaves London
again. If I were you, I would certainly get him myself. I had almost
forgot to give you my opinion of Mr. De Courcy; I am really delighted
with him; he is full as handsome, I think, as Mainwaring, and with such
an open, good-humoured countenance, that one cannot help loving him at
first sight. Mr. Johnson and he are the greatest friends in the world.
Adieu, my dearest Susan, I wish matters did not go so perversely. That
unlucky visit to Langford! but I dare say you did all for the best, and
there is no defying destiny.
Your sincerely attached,
ALICIA.
XXXIX
_Lady Susan to Mrs. Johnson._
Upper Seymour Street.
My dear Alicia,—I yield to the necessity which parts us. Under such
circumstances you could not act otherwise. Our friendship cannot be
impaired by it, and in happier times, when your situation is as
independent as mine, it will unite us again in the same intimacy as
ever. For this I shall impatiently wait, and meanwhile can safely
assure you that I never was more at ease, or better satisfied with
myself and everything about me than at the present hour. Your husband I
abhor, Reginald I despise, and I am secure of never seeing either
again. Have I not reason to rejoice? Mainwaring is more devoted to me
than ever; and were we at liberty, I doubt if I could resist even
matrimony offered by _him_. This event, if his wife live with you, it
may be in your power to hasten. The violence of her feelings, which