England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Young women -- England -- Fiction
When the lively and lovely little girl, mingling the tears of separation
with all the childish rapture which novelty, to a much later period
inspires, was preparing to change her home, 'Remember,' cried Mr.
Tyrold, to her anxious mother, 'that on you, my Georgiana, devolves the
sole charge, the unlimited judgment, to again bring her under this roof,
the first moment she appears to you in any danger from having quitted
it.'
The prompt and thankful acceptance of Mrs. Tyrold did justice to the
sincerity of this offer: and the cheerful acquiescence of lessened
reluctance, raised her higher in that esteem to which her constant mind
invariably looked up, as the summit of her chosen ambition.
CHAPTER II
_Comic Gambols_
Delighted with this acquisition to his household, Sir Hugh again
revived. 'My dear brother and sister,' he cried, when next the family
visited Cleves, 'this proves the most fortunate step I have ever taken
since I was born. Camilla's a little jewel; she jumps and skips about
till she makes my eyes ache with looking after her, for fear of her
breaking her neck. I must keep a sharp watch, or she'll put poor
Indiana's nose quite out of joint, which God forbid. However, she's the
life of us all, for I'm sorry to say it, but I think, my dear brother,
poor Indiana promises to turn out rather dull.'
The sprightly little girl, thus possessed of the heart, soon guided the
will of her uncle. He could refuse nothing to her endearing entreaty,
and felt every indulgence repaid by the enchantment of her gaiety.
Indiana, his first idol, lost her power to please him, though no
essential kindness was abated in his conduct. He still acknowledged that
her beauty was the most complete; but he found in Camilla a variety that
was captivation. Her form and her mind were of equal elasticity. Her
playful countenance rekindled his spirits, the cheerfulness of her
animated voice awakened him to its own joy. He doated upon detaining her
by his side, or delighted to gratify her if she wished to be absent. She
exhilarated him with pleasure, she supplied him with ideas, and from the
morning's first dawn to the evening's latest close, his eye followed her
lightspringing figure, or his ear vibrated with her sportive sounds;
catching, as it listened, in successive rotation, the spontaneous laugh,
the unconscious bound, the genuine glee of childhood's fearless
happiness, uncurbed by severity, untamed by misfortune.
This ascendance was soon pointed out by the servants to Indiana, who
sometimes shewed her resentment in unexplained and pouting sullenness,
and at others, let all pass unnoticed, with unreflecting forgetfulness.
But her mind was soon empoisoned with a jealousy of more permanent
seriousness; in less than a month after the residence of Camilla at
Cleves, Sir Hugh took the resolution of making her his heiress.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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