Adeline Mowbray Part 30

'But you said, sir,' said Adeline, 'that the heir-at-law, if he had any equity, would certainly be guided by the evident intention of the testator.'

'I did, madam,' replied the lawyer, evidently piqued by the proud and cold air which Adeline a.s.sumed;--'but then,--excuse me,--the applicant would not stand much chance of being attended to, who is neither the _widow_ nor _relation_ of Mr Glenmurray.'

'I understand you, sir,' replied Adeline, 'and need trouble you no longer.'

'Trouble! my sweet girl!' returned Mr Langley, 'call it not trouble; I--' Here his gallant effusions were interrupted by the sudden entrance of a very showy woman, highly rouged, and dressed in the extremity of the fas.h.i.+on; and who in no very pleasant tone of voice exclaimed,--'I fear I interrupt you.'

'Oh! not in the least,' replied Langley, blus.h.i.+ng even more than Adeline, 'my fair client was just going. Allow me, madam, to see you to the door,' continued he, attempting to take Adeline's hand, and accompanying her to the bottom of the first flight of stairs.

'Charming fine woman upon my soul!' cried he, speaking through his shut teeth, and forcibly squeezing her fingers as he spoke; 'and if you ever want advice I should be proud to see you here, (with a significant smile).' Here Adeline, too angry to speak, put the fee in his hand, which he insisted on returning, and, in the struggle, he forcibly kissed the ungloved hand which was held out, praising its beauty at the same time, and endeavouring to close her fingers on the money: but Adeline indignantly threw it on the ground, and rushed down the remaining staircase; over-hearing the lady, as she did so, exclaim, 'Langley! is not that black mawkin gone yet! Come up this moment, you devil!' while Langley obsequiously replied, 'Coming this moment, my angel!'

Adeline felt so disappointed, so ashamed, and so degraded, that she walked on some way without knowing whither she was going; and when she recollected herself, she found that she was wandering from court to court, and unable to find the avenue to the street down which the coach had come: while her very tall figure, heightened colour, and graceful carriage, made her an object of attention to every one whom she met.

At last she saw herself followed by two young men; and as she walked very fast to avoid them, she by accident turned into the very lane which she had been seeking: but her pursuers kept pace with her; and she overheard one of them say to the other, 'A devilish fine girl! moves well too,--I cannot help thinking that I have seen her before.'

'And I think so too!--by her height, it must be that sweet creature who lived at Richmond with that crazy fellow, Glenmurray.'

Here Adeline relaxed in her pace: the name of Glenmurray--that name which no one since his death had ventured to p.r.o.nounce in her presence,--had, during the last half hour, been p.r.o.nounced several times; and, unable to support herself from a variety of emotions, she stopped, and leaned for support against the wall.

'How do you do, my fleet and swift girl?' said one of the gentlemen:--and Adeline, roused at the insult, looked at him proudly and angrily, and walked on. 'What! angry! If I may be so bold,' (with a sneering smile), 'fair creature, may I ask where you live now?'

'No, sir,' replied Adeline; 'you are wholly unknown to me.'

'But were you to tell me where you live, we might cease to be strangers; pray who is your friend now?'

Here, as his companion gave way to a loud fit of laughter, Adeline clearly understood what he meant by the term 'friend;' and summoning up all her spirit, she called a coach which luckily was pa.s.sing; and turning round to her tormentor, with great dignity said,--'Though the situation, sir, in which I once was, may in the eyes of the world, and in yours, authorize and excuse your present insulting address, yet, when I tell you that I am on the eve of marriage with a most respectable man, I trust that you will feel the impropriety of your conduct, and be convinced of the fruitlessness and impertinence of the questions which you have put to me.'

'If this be the case, madam,' cried the gentleman, 'I beg your pardon, and shall take my leave, wis.h.i.+ng you all possible happiness, and begging you to attribute my impertinence wholly to my ignorance.' So saying, he bowed and left her, and Adeline was driven to her lodgings.

'Now,' said Adeline, 'the die is cast;--I have used the sacred name of wife to s.h.i.+eld me from insult; and I am therefore pledged to a.s.sume it directly. Yes, HE was right--I find I must have a legal protector.'

She found Berrendale rather alarmed at her long absence; and, with a beating heart, she related her adventures to him: but when she said that Langley was not willing to take the fee, he exclaimed, 'Very genteel in him, indeed! I suppose you took him at his word?'

'Good Heavens!' replied Adeline, 'Do you think I would deign to owe such a man a pecuniary obligation?--No, indeed; I threw it with proud indignation on the floor.'

'What madness!' returned Berrendale: 'you had much better have put it in your pocket.'

'Mr Berrendale,' cried Adeline gravely, and with a look bordering on contempt, 'I trust that you are not in earnest: for if these are your sentiments,--if this is your delicacy, sir--'

'Say no more, dearest of women,' replied Berrendale pretending to laugh, alarmed at the seriousness with which she spoke: 'how could you for one moment suppose me in earnest? Insolent c.o.xcomb!--I wish I had been there.'

'I wish you had,' said Adeline, 'for then no one would have dared to insult me:' and Berrendale, delighted at this observation, listened to the rest of her story with a spirit of indignant knight-errantry which he never experienced before; and at the end of her narration he felt supremely happy; for Adeline a.s.sured him that the next week she would make him her protector for life:--and this a.s.surance opened his heart so much, that he vowed he would not condescend to claim of the heir-at-law the pitiful sum which he might think proper to withhold.

To be brief.--Adeline kept her word: and resolutely struggling with her feelings, she became the next week the wife of Berrendale.

For the first six months the union promised well. Adeline was so a.s.siduous to antic.i.p.ate her husband's wishes, and contrived so many dainties for his table, which she cooked with her own hands, that Berrendale, declaring himself completely happy for the first time in his life, had not a thought or a wish beyond his own fireside; while Adeline, happy because she conferred happiness, and proud of the name of wife, which she had before despised, began to hope that her days would glide on in humble tranquillity.

It was natural enough that Adeline should be desirous of imparting this change in her situation to Mrs Pemberton, whose esteem she was eager to recover, and whose kind intentions towards her, at a moment when she was incapable of appreciating them, Savanna had, with great feeling, expatiated upon. She therefore wrote to her according to the address which Mrs Pemberton had left for her, and received a most friendly letter in return. In a short time Adeline had again an expectation of being a mother; and though she could not yet entertain for her husband more than cold esteem, she felt that as the father of her child he would insensibly become more dear to her.

But Berrendale awoke from his dream of bliss, on finding to what a large sum the bills for the half-year's housekeeping amounted. Nor was he surprised without reason. Adeline, more eager to gratify Berrendale's palate than considerate as to the means, had forgotten that she was no longer at the head of a liberal establishment like her mother's, and had bought for the supply of the table many expensive articles.

In consequence of this terrible discovery Berrendale remonstrated very seriously with Adeline; who meekly answered, 'My dear friend, good dinners cannot be had without good ingredients, and good ingredients cannot be had without money.'

'But, madam,' cried Berrendale, knitting his brows, but not elevating his voice, for he was one of those soft-speaking beings who in the sweetest tones possible can say the most heart-wounding things, and give a mortal stab to your self-love in the same gentle manner in which they flatter it:--'there must have been great waste, great mismanagement here, or these expenses could not have been incurred.'

'There may have been both,' returned Adeline, 'for I have not been used to economize, but I will try to learn;--but I doubt, my dear Berrendale, you must endeavour to be contented with plainer food; for not all the economy in the world can make rich gravies and high sauces cheap things.'

'Oh! care and skill can do much,' said Berrendale;--'and I find a certain person deceived me very much when he said you were a good manager.'

'He only said,' replied Adeline sighing deeply, 'that I was a good cook, and you yourself allow that; but I hope in time to please your appet.i.te at less expense: as to myself, a little suffices me, and I care not how plain that food is.'

'Still, I think I have seen you eat with a most excellent appet.i.te,'

said Berrendale, with a very significant expression.

Adeline shocked at the manner more than the words, replied in a faltering voice, 'As a proof of my being in health, no doubt you rejoiced in the sight.'

'Certainly; but less robust health would suit our finances better.'

Adeline looked up, wis.h.i.+ng, though not expecting, to see by his face that he was joking: but such serious displeasure appeared on it, that the sordid selfishness of his character was at once unveiled to her view; and clasping her hands in agony, she exclaimed, 'Oh Glenmurray!'

and ran into her own room.

It was the first time that she had p.r.o.nounced his name since the hour of his death, and now it was wrung from her by a sensation of acute anguish; no wonder, then, that the feelings which followed completely overcame her, and that Berrendale had undisputed and solitary possession of his supper.

But he, on his side, was deeply irritated. The 'Oh, Glenmurray!' was capable of being interpreted two ways:--either it showed how much she regretted Glenmurray, and preferred him to his successor in spite of the superior beauty of his person, of which he was very vain; or it reproached Glenmurray for having recommended her to marry him. In either case it was an unpardonable fault; and this unhappy conversation laid the foundation of future discontent.

Adeline arose the next day dejected, pensive, and resolved that her appet.i.te should never again, if possible, force a reproach from the lips of her husband. She therefore took care that whatever she provided for the table, besides the simplest fare, should be for Berrendale alone; and she flattered herself that he would be shamed into repentance of what he had observed, by seeing her scrupulous self-denial:--she even resolved, if he pressed her to partake of his dainties, that she would, to show that she forgave him, accept what he offered.

But Berrendale gave her no such opportunity of showing her generosity;--busy in the gratification of his own appet.i.te, he never observed whether any other persons ate or not, except when by eating they curtailed his share of good things:--besides, to have an exclusive dish to himself seemed to him quite natural and proper; he had been a pampered child; and, being no advocate for the equality of the s.e.xes, he thought it only a matter of course that he should fare better than his wife.

Adeline, though more surprised and more shocked than ever, could not help laughing internally, at her not being able to put her projected generosity in practice; but her laughter and indignation soon yielding to contempt, she ate her simple meal in silence: and while her pampered husband sought to lose the fumes of indigestion in sleep, she blessed G.o.d that temperance, industry and health went hand-in-hand, and, retiring to her own room, sat down to write, in order to increase, if possible, her means of living, and consequently her power of being generous to others.

But though Adeline resolved to forget, if possible, the petty conduct of Berrendale, the mulatto, who, from the door's being open, had heard every word of the conversation which had so disturbed Adeline, neither could nor would forget it; and though she did not vow eternal hatred to her master, she felt herself very capable of indulging it, and from that moment it was her resolution to thwart him.

Whenever he was present, she was always urging Adeline to eat some refreshments between meals, and drink wine or lemonade, and tempting her weak appet.i.te with some pleasant but expensive sweetmeats. In vain did Adeline refuse them; sometimes they were bought, sometimes only threatened to be bought; and once when Adeline had accepted some, rather than mortify Savanna by a refusal, and Berrendale, by his accent and expression, showed how much he grudged the supposed expense,--the mulatto, snapping her fingers in his face, and looking at him with an expression of indignant contempt, exclaimed, 'I buy dem, and pay for dem wid mine nown money; and my angel lady sall no be oblige to you!'

This was a declaration of war against Berrendale, which Adeline heard with anger and sorrow, and her husband with rage. In vain did Adeline promise that she would seriously reprove Savanna (who had disappeared) for her impertinence; Berrendale insisted on her being discharged immediately; and nothing but Adeline's a.s.surances that she, for slender wages, did more work than two other servants would do for enormous ones, could pacify his displeasure: but at length he was appeased. And as Berrendale, from a principle of economy, resumed his old habit of dining out amongst his friends, getting good dinners by that means without paying for them, family expenses ceased to disturb the quiet of their marriage; and after she had been ten months a wife Adeline gave birth to a daughter.

That moment, the moment when she heard her infant's first cry, seem to repay her for all she had suffered; every feeling was lost in the maternal one; and she almost fancied that she loved, fondly loved, the father of her child: but this idea vanished when she saw the languid pleasure, if pleasure it could be called, with which Berrendale congratulated her on her pain and danger being pa.s.sed, and received his child in his arms.

The mulatto was wild with joy: she almost stifled the babe with her kisses, and talked even the next day of sending for the tawny boy to come and see his new mistress, and vow to her, as he had done to her mother, eternal fealty and allegiance.

But Adeline saw on Berrendale's countenance a mixed expression,--and he had mixed feelings. True, he rejoiced in Adeline's safety; but he said within himself, 'Children are expensive things, and we may have a large family;' and, leaving the bedside as soon as he could, he retired, to endeavour to lose in an afternoon's nap his unpleasant reflections.

'How different,' thought Adeline, 'would have been HIS feelings and HIS expressions of them at such a time! Oh!--' but the name of Glenmurray died away on her lips; and hastily turning to gaze on her sleeping babe, she tried to forget the disappointed emotions of the wife in the gratified feelings of the mother.

Still Adeline, who had been used to attentions, could not but feel the neglect of Berrendale. Even while she kept her room he pa.s.sed only a few hours in her society, and dined out; and when she was well enough to have accompanied him on his visits, she found that he never even wished her to go with him, though the friends whom he visited were married; and he met, from his own confessions, other ladies at their tables. She therefore began to suspect that Berrendale did not mean to introduce her as his wife; nay, she doubted whether he avowed her to be such; and at last she brought him to own that, ashamed of having married what the world must consider as a kept mistress, he resolved to keep her still in the retirement to which she was habituated.

This was a severe disappointment indeed to Adeline: she longed for the society of the amiable and accomplished of her own s.e.x; and hoped that, as Mr Berrendale's wife, that intercourse with her own s.e.x might be restored to her which she had forfeited as the mistress of Glenmurray.