The Absentee [118]
that I was present, and saw the impression which was made on your mind by a mother's want of a proper sense of delicacy and propriety--Lady Dashfort.'
'Oh, Lady Dashfort! she was quite out of my head.'
'And Lady Isabel?--I hope she is quite out of your heart.'
'She never was in it,' said Lord Colambre.
'Only laid siege to it,' said the count. 'Well, I am glad your heart did not surrender at discretion, or rather without discretion. Then I may tell you, without fear or preface, that the Lady Isabel, who "talks of refinement, delicacy, sense," is going to stoop at once, and marry--Heathcock.'
Lord Colambre was not surprised, but concerned and disgusted, as he always felt, even when he did not care for the individual, from hearing anything which tended to lower the female sex in public estimation.
'As to myself,' said he, 'I cannot say I have had an escape, for I don't think I ever was in much danger.'
'It is difficult to measure danger when it is over--past danger, like past pain, is soon forgotten,' said the old general. 'At all events, I rejoice in your present safety.'
'But is she really going to be married to Heathcock?' said Lord Colambre.
'Positively; they all came over in the same packet with me, and they are all in town now, buying jewels, and equipages, and horses. Heathcock, you know, is as good as another man, A PEU PRES, for all those purposes; his father is dead, and left him a large estate. QUE VOULEZ VOUS? as the French valet said to me on the occasion. C'EST QUE MONSIEUR EST UN HOMME DE BIEN: IL A DES BIENS, A CE QU'ON DIT.'
Lord Colambre could not help smiling. 'How they got Heathcock to fall in love is what puzzles me,' said his lordship. 'I should as soon have thought of an oyster's falling in love as that being!'
'I own I should have sooner thought,' replied the count, 'Of his falling in love with an oyster; and so would you, if you had seen him, as I did, devouring oysters on shipboard.
'Say, can the lovely HEROINE hope to vie With a fat turtle or a ven'son pie?
But that is not our affair; let the Lady Isabel look to it.'
Dinner was announced; and no farther conversation of any consequence passed between the count and Lord Colambre till the cloth was removed and the servants had withdrawn. Then our hero opened on the subject which was heavy at his heart.
'My dear count--to go back to the BURIAL PLACE OF THE NUGENTS, where my head was lost the first time I had the pleasure of seeing you--you know, or, possibly,' said he, smiling, 'you do not know, that I have a cousin of the name of Nugent?'
'You told me,' replied the count, 'that you had near relations of that name; but I do not recollect that you mentioned any one in particular.'
'I never named Miss Nugent to you. No! it is not easy to me to talk of her, and impossible to me to describe her. If you had come one half-hour sooner this morning, you would have seen her: I know she is exactly suited to your excellent taste. But it is not at first sight she pleases most; she gains upon the affections, attaches the heart, and unfolds upon the judgment. In temper, manners, and good sense, in every quality a man can or should desire in a wife, I never saw her equal. Yet, there is an obstacle, an invincible obstacle, the nature of which I cannot explain to you, that forbids me to think of her as a wife. She lives with my father and mother: they are returning to Ireland, I wished, earnestly wished, on many accounts, to have accompanied them, chiefly on my mother's; but it cannot be. The first thing a man must do is to act honourably; and, that he may do so, he must keep out of the way of a temptation which he believes to be above his strength. I will never see Miss Nugent again till she is married; I must either stay in England, or go abroad. I have a mind to serve a campaign or two, if I could get a commission in a regiment going to Spain; but I understand so many are eager to go at this moment, that it is very difficult to get a commission in such a regiment.'
'It is difficult,' said
'Oh, Lady Dashfort! she was quite out of my head.'
'And Lady Isabel?--I hope she is quite out of your heart.'
'She never was in it,' said Lord Colambre.
'Only laid siege to it,' said the count. 'Well, I am glad your heart did not surrender at discretion, or rather without discretion. Then I may tell you, without fear or preface, that the Lady Isabel, who "talks of refinement, delicacy, sense," is going to stoop at once, and marry--Heathcock.'
Lord Colambre was not surprised, but concerned and disgusted, as he always felt, even when he did not care for the individual, from hearing anything which tended to lower the female sex in public estimation.
'As to myself,' said he, 'I cannot say I have had an escape, for I don't think I ever was in much danger.'
'It is difficult to measure danger when it is over--past danger, like past pain, is soon forgotten,' said the old general. 'At all events, I rejoice in your present safety.'
'But is she really going to be married to Heathcock?' said Lord Colambre.
'Positively; they all came over in the same packet with me, and they are all in town now, buying jewels, and equipages, and horses. Heathcock, you know, is as good as another man, A PEU PRES, for all those purposes; his father is dead, and left him a large estate. QUE VOULEZ VOUS? as the French valet said to me on the occasion. C'EST QUE MONSIEUR EST UN HOMME DE BIEN: IL A DES BIENS, A CE QU'ON DIT.'
Lord Colambre could not help smiling. 'How they got Heathcock to fall in love is what puzzles me,' said his lordship. 'I should as soon have thought of an oyster's falling in love as that being!'
'I own I should have sooner thought,' replied the count, 'Of his falling in love with an oyster; and so would you, if you had seen him, as I did, devouring oysters on shipboard.
'Say, can the lovely HEROINE hope to vie With a fat turtle or a ven'son pie?
But that is not our affair; let the Lady Isabel look to it.'
Dinner was announced; and no farther conversation of any consequence passed between the count and Lord Colambre till the cloth was removed and the servants had withdrawn. Then our hero opened on the subject which was heavy at his heart.
'My dear count--to go back to the BURIAL PLACE OF THE NUGENTS, where my head was lost the first time I had the pleasure of seeing you--you know, or, possibly,' said he, smiling, 'you do not know, that I have a cousin of the name of Nugent?'
'You told me,' replied the count, 'that you had near relations of that name; but I do not recollect that you mentioned any one in particular.'
'I never named Miss Nugent to you. No! it is not easy to me to talk of her, and impossible to me to describe her. If you had come one half-hour sooner this morning, you would have seen her: I know she is exactly suited to your excellent taste. But it is not at first sight she pleases most; she gains upon the affections, attaches the heart, and unfolds upon the judgment. In temper, manners, and good sense, in every quality a man can or should desire in a wife, I never saw her equal. Yet, there is an obstacle, an invincible obstacle, the nature of which I cannot explain to you, that forbids me to think of her as a wife. She lives with my father and mother: they are returning to Ireland, I wished, earnestly wished, on many accounts, to have accompanied them, chiefly on my mother's; but it cannot be. The first thing a man must do is to act honourably; and, that he may do so, he must keep out of the way of a temptation which he believes to be above his strength. I will never see Miss Nugent again till she is married; I must either stay in England, or go abroad. I have a mind to serve a campaign or two, if I could get a commission in a regiment going to Spain; but I understand so many are eager to go at this moment, that it is very difficult to get a commission in such a regiment.'
'It is difficult,' said