Chapter VIII.

Francis, who laboured with the ardour of a lover, under the influence of newly awakened stimulus, soon completed the necessary arrangements and alterations in his new parsonage. The living was a good one, and as the rector was enabled to make a very considerable annual allowance from the private fortune his wife had brought him, and as Sir Edward had twenty thousand pounds in the funds for each of his daughters, her portion of which was immediately settled on Clara, the youthful couple had not only a sufficient, but an abundant provision for their station in life; and they entered on their matrimonial duties, with as great a prospect of happiness as the ills of this world can give to health, affection, and competency. Their union had been deferred by Dr. Ives until his son was established, with a view to keeping him under his own direction during the critical period of his first impressions in the priesthood; and, as no objection now remained, or rather, the only one he ever felt, was removed by the proximity of Bolton to his own parish, he united the lovers at the altar of the village church, in the presence of his wife and Clara's immediate relatives. On leaving the church, Francis handed his bride into his own carriage, which conveyed them to their new residence, amidst the good wishes of his parishioners, and the prayers of their relatives for their happiness. Dr. and Mrs. Ives retired to the rectory, to the sober enjoyment of the felicity of their only child; while the baronet and his lady felt a gloom, that belied all the wishes of the latter for the establishment of their daughters. Jane and Emily had acted as bridesmaids to their sister, and as both the former and her mother had insisted there should be two groomsmen as a counterpoise, John was empowered with a carte-blanche to make a provision accordingly; he at first intimated his intention of calling on Mr. Benfield in that capacity, but finally settled down, to the no small mortification of the before-mentioned ladies, into writing a note to his kinsman, Lord Chatterton, whose residence was then in London, and who, in reply, after expressing his sincere regret that an accident would prevent his having the pleasure, stated the intention of his mother and two sisters to pay them an early visit of congratulation, as soon as his own health would allow of his attending them. This answer

arrived only the day preceding that fixed for the wedding, and at the very moment they were expecting his lordship in his proper person.

"There," cried Jane, in a kind of triumph, "I told you, you were silly in sending so far on so sudden an occasion; now, after all, what is to be done--

-it will be so awkwardwhen Clara's friends call to see her--Oh! John, John, you are a Mar-plot."

"Jenny, Jenny, you are a make-plot," said John, as he coolly took up his hat to leave the room.

"Which way, my son?" said the baronet, as he met him on his own entrance.

"To the deanery, sir, to try to get Captain Jarvis to act as brides-maid--I beg his pardon, grooms-man, to-morrow--Chatterton has been thrown from a horse, and can't come."

"John!"

"Jenny!"

"I am sure," said Jane, indignation glowing in her countenance, "that if Captain Jarvis is to be an attendant, Clara must excuse my acting. I do not choose to be associated with Captain Jarvis."

"John," said his mother, with dignity, "your trifling is unseasonable; certainly Colonel Egerton is a more fitting person on every account, and I desire, under present circumstances, you ask the colonel."

"Your ladyship's wishes are orders to me," said John, gayly kissing his hand as he left the room.

As the colonel was but too happy in having it in his power to be of service in any manner, to a gentleman he respected as much as Mr. Francis Ives, he was the only person present at the ceremony, who did not stand within the bonds of consanguinity to either of the parties--He was invited by the baronetto dine at the hall, and notwithstanding the repeated injunctions of Mrs. Jarvis and her daughters, to return to them immediately with an account of the dress of the bride, and other important items of a similar nature, the colonel accepted the invitation. On reaching the hall, Emily retired to her own room, and on her entrance at dinner, the paleness of her cheeks and redness of her eyes, afforded sufficient proof, that the translation of a companion from her own to another family, was an event, however happy in itself, not unmingled with grief, to those who were losers by the change. The day, however, passed off tolerably well for those who are expected to be happy, when in their hearts they are really more disposed

to weep than to laugh. Jane and the colonel had most of the conversation to themselves during dinner; even the joyous and thoughtless John, wore his gayety in a less graceful manner than usual, and was observed by his aunt, to look with moistened eyes at the vacant chair a servant had, from habit, placed where Clara had been accustomed to sit.

"This beef is not done, Saunders," said the baronet to his butler, "or my appetite is not as good as usual to-day--Colonel Egerton, will you allow me the pleasure of a glass of sherry with you?"

The wine was drank, and the beef succeeded by game; but still Sir Edward could not eat.

"How glad Clara will be to see us all the day after to-morrow," said Mrs. Wilson; "your new house-keepers delight so in their first efforts in entertaining their friends."

Lady Moseley smiled through her tears, and turning to her husband, said, "we will go early, my dear, that we may see the improvements Francis has been making before we dine;" the baronet nodded assent, but his heart was too full to speak; and apologising to the colonel for his absence, on the plea of some business with his people, left the room.

The attentions of Colonel Egerton to both mother and daughter were of the most delicate kind; he spoke of Clara, as if his situation as grooms-man to her husband, entitled him to an interest in her welfare--with John he was kind and sociable, and even Mrs. Wilson acknowledged, after he took his leave, that he possessed a wonderful faculty of making himself agreeable, and began to think that, under all circumstances, he might possibly prove as advantageous a connexion as Jane could expect to form. Had any one have proposed him as a husband for Emily, her affection would have quickened her judgment to a decision, true to the best, the only interest of her charge--

the rejection of a man whose principles offered no security for his conduct.

Soon after the baronet left the room, a travelling carriage, with suitable attendants, drove to the door; the sound of the wheels drew most of the company to a window-- "a baron's coronet," cried Jane, catching a glimpse of the ornaments of the harness.

"The Chattertons," echoed her brother, as he left the room to meet them--The mother of Sir Edward was a daughter of this family, and sister to the grandfather of the present lord. The connexion had always been kept up with the show of cordiality between Sir Edward and his cousin, although their manner of living and habits in common were very different. The baron

was a courtier and a place-man; his estates, which he could not alienate, produced about ten thousand a year, but the income he could and did spend; and the high perquisites of his situation under government, amounting to as much more, were melted away, year after year, without making the provision for his daughters, both his duty, and the observance of his promise to his wife's father, required at his hands. He had been dead a couple of years, and his son found himself saddled with the support of an unjointured mother and unportioned sisters. Money was not the idol worshipped by the young lord, nor even pleasure; he was affectionate to his surviving parent, and his first act was to settle during his own life, two thousand pounds a year upon her, while he commenced setting aside as much more for each of his sisters annually; this abridged him greatly in his own expenditures, yet as they made but one family, and the dowager was really a managing woman in more senses than one, they made a very tolerable figure. The son was anxious to follow the example of Sir Edward Moseley, and give up his town house, for at least a time, but his mother exclaimed with something like horror at the proposal.

"Why Chatterton, would you give it up at the moment it can be of the most use to us?" and she threw a glance at her daughters, that would have discovered her policy to Mrs. Wilson, but was lost on his lordship; he, poor soul, thinking she meant it as convenient to support the interest he had been making for the place held by his father; one of more emolument than service or even honour. The contending parties were so equally matched, that the situation was kept as it were in abeyance, waiting the arrival of some newcomer to the strength of one or other of the claimants--the interest of the peer had began to lose ground at the period we speak of, and his careful mother saw new motives for her activity in providing for her children in the lottery of life. Mrs. Wilson herself could not be more vigilant in examining the candidates for her daughter's favours, than was the dowager Lady Chatterton--it is true, the task of the former lady was by far the most arduous, as it involved a study of character and development of principle, while that of the latterwould have been finished by the development of a rent-roll--provided it contained five figures in the sum total of its amount. Sir Edward's was known to contain that number, and two of them were not cyphers. Mr. Benfield was rich, and John Moseley a very agreeable young man; weddings are the season of love, thought the prudent dowager, and Grace is extremely pretty. Chatterton, who never

refused his mother any thing in his power to grant, and who was particularly dutiful, when a visit to Moseley Hall was in the question, suffered himself to be persuaded his shoulder was well, and they left town the day before the wedding, thinking to be in time for all the gayeties, if not for the ceremony itself.

There existed but little similarity between the persons and manners of this young nobleman and the baronet's heir. The beauty of Chatterton was almost feminine; his skin, his colour, his eyes, his teeth, were such as many a belle had sighed after; and his manners were bashful and retiring---yet an intimacy had commenced between the boys at school, which ripened into a friendship between the young men at college, and had been maintained ever since, by a perfect regard for each others dispositions, and respect for each others characters. With the baron, John was more sedate than ordinary --

with John, Chatterton found unusual animation. But a secret charm, which John held over the young peer, was his profound respect and unvarying affection for his youngest sister Emily; this was common ground--and no dreams of future happiness, no visions of dawning wealth, crossed the imagination of Chatterton, in which Emily was not the Fairy to give birth to the one, or the benevolent disponser of the hoards of the other.

The arrival of this family, was a happy relief from the oppression which hung on the spirits of the Moseleys, and their reception, marked with the mild benevolence which belonged to the nature of the baronet, and that empressement of good breeding, which so eminently distinguished the manners of his wife.

The honourable Miss Chattertons were both handsome; but the younger was, if possible, a softened picture of her brother--there was the same retiring bashfulness, and the same sweetness of temper as distinguished the baron, and Grace was the peculiar favourite of Emily Moseley--Nothing of the strained or sentimental nature, which so often characterise what is called female friendship, had crept into the communications between these young women. Emily loved her sisters too well, to go out of her own family for a repository of her griefs or a partaker in her joys; had her life been checquered withsuch passions, her own sisters were too near her own age, to suffer her to think of a confidence, to which the holy ties of natural affection did not give a claim to a participation in.

Mrs. Wilson had found it necessary, to give her charge very differing views on many subjects, from what Jane and Clara had been suffered to imbibe of

themselves, but in no degree had she impaired the obligations of filial piety or family concord. Emily was, if any thing, more respectful to her parents, more affectionate to her friends, than any of her connexions; for in her the warmth of natural feelings was heightened by an unvarying sense of duty.

In Grace Chatterton she found, in many respects, a temper and taste resembling her own; she therefore loved her better than others who had equal claims upon her partiality from ordinary associations, and as such, she now received her with kindness and affection.

In Catherine, Jane, who had not felt satisfied with the ordering of providence for the disposal of her sympathies, and had felt a restlessness that prompted her to look abroad for a confiding spirit to communicate her--

secrets she had none her delicacy would suffer her to reveal--but to communicate the crude opinions and reflections of her ill-regulated mind to.

Catherine, however, had not stood the test of trial. For a short time,the love of heraldry had kept them together, but Jane finding her companion's gusto limited to the charms of the coronet and supporters chiefly, abandoned the attempt in despair, and was actually on the look-out for a new candidate for the vacant station, as Colonel Egerton came into the neighbourhood--a really delicate female mind, shrinks from the exposure of its love to the other sex, and Jane began to be less uneasy, to form a connexion, which would either violate the sensibility of her nature, or lead to treachery to her friend.

"I regret extremely, my lady," said the dowager, as they entered the drawing room, "the accident which befel Chatterton, should have kept us until too late for the ceremony; but we made it a point to hasten with our congratulations, as soon as Astley Cooper thought it safe for him to travel."

"I feel indebted for your ladyship's kindness," replied her smiling hostess; "we are always happy to have our friends around us, and none more than yourself and family. We were fortunate, however, in finding a friend to supply your son's place, that the young people might go to the altar in a proper manner--Lady Chatterton, allow me to present our friend, Colonel Egerton"--and speaking in a low tone, and with a manner of a little consequence--" heir to Sir Edgar."

The colonel had bowed gracefully, and the dowager dropped a hasty curtsey at the commencementof the speech; but a lower bend followed the closing remark, and a glance of the eye was thrown in quest of her daughters, as if insensibly wishing to bring them to their proper places.