On the contrary, her image haunted Mrs Mowbray:--whithersoever she went,
she still saw her in an attitude of supplication; she still heard the
plaintive accents of her voice;--and often did she exclaim, 'My child,
my child! wretch that I am! must I never see thee more!'
These ideas increased to so painful a degree, that, finding her solitude
insupportable, she invited an orphan relation in narrow circumstances
to take up her abode with her.
This young woman, whose ruling passion was avarice, and whose greatest
talent was cunning, resolved to spare no pains to keep the situation
which she had gained, even to the exclusion of Adeline, should Mrs
Mowbray be weak enough to receive her again. She therefore intercepted
all the letters which were in or like Adeline's hand-writing; and having
learnt to imitate Mrs Mowbray's, she enclosed them in a blank cover to
Adeline, who, thinking the direction was written in her mother's hand,
desisted, as the artful girl expected she would do, from what appeared
to her a hopeless application.
And she exulted in her contrivance;--when Mrs Mowbray, on seeing in a
magazine that Glenmurray was dead, (full a year after his decease,)
bursting into a passion of tears, protested that she would instantly
invite Adeline to her house.
'Yes,' cried she, 'I can do so without infringement of my oath.--She is
disgraced in the eye of the world by her connexion with Glenmurray, and
she is wretched in love; nay, more so, perhaps, than I have been; and I
can, I will invite her to lose the remembrance of her misfortunes in my
love!'
Thus did her ardent wish to be re-united to Adeline deceive her
conscience; for by the phrase 'wretched in love,' she meant, forsaken by
the object of her attachment,--and that Adeline had not been: therefore
her oath remained in full force against her. But where could she seek
Adeline? Dr Norberry could, perhaps, give her this information; and to
him she resolved to write--though he had cast her from his acquaintance:
'but her pride,' as she said, 'fell with her fortunes;' and she scrupled
not to humble herself before the zealous friend of her daughter. But
this letter would never have reached him, had not her treacherous
relation been ill at the time when it was written.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account