Emmeline, the Orphan of the CastleSmith, Charlotte
General
Emmeline, the Orphan of the Castle
Smith, Charlotte
Gothic fiction; Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Fiction; Marriage -- Fiction; Single women -- Fiction
'Tho' I was very far from feeling for Mr. Trelawny that decided
preference which would in other circumstances have induced me to accept
his hand, yet I found my father so desirous of my being settled, that as
I had no aversion to the man, I could not resolve to disappoint him.
Perhaps the prospect of escaping from the power of my mother-in-law, and
of being mistress of an affluent fortune instead of living in mortifying
dependance on her, might have too much influence on my heart. My father,
however, obtained without any difficulty my consent to close with Mr.
Trelawny's proposals. We all went to London, where Lord Westhaven
married Miss Jobson, and the settlements were preparing by which Mr.
Trelawny secured to me a jointure as great as I could have expected if
my fortune had been equal to my rank.
'As the new Lady Westhaven was so soon to be relieved from the presence
of a daughter she did not love, she behaved to me with tolerable
civility. Occupied with her rank, she seemed to have infinite delight in
displaying it to her city acquaintance. Her Ladyship thought a coronet
so delightful an ornament, that the meanest utensils in her house were
adorned with it; and she wore it woven or worked on all her cloaths, in
the vain hope perhaps of counteracting the repelling effect of an
hideous countenance, a discordant voice, and a manner more vulgar than
either. I saw with concern that my father was not consoled by the
possession of her great fortune, for the mortification of having given
the name and place of his adored Adelina to a woman so unlike her in
mind and person. He was seldom well; seldomer at home; and seemed to
have no other delight than in hearing from his two sons and from his
eldest daughter; and when we were alone, he told me that to see me
married would also give him pleasure; but he appeared, I thought, less
anxious for the match than when it was first proposed. The preparations,
however, went on, and in six weeks were compleated.
'In that interval, I had seen Trelawny almost every day. He always
seemed very good humoured, and was certainly very thoughtless. He loved
me, or fancied he loved me, extremely; but I sometimes suspected that it
was rather in compliance with the taste of others than his own; and that
a favourite hunter or a famous pointer were very likely to rival me. My
father sometimes laughed at his boyish fondness for such things, and the
importance he annexed to them; and sometimes I thought he looked grave
and hurt at observing it.
'For my own part, I saw his follies; but none that I did not equally
perceive in the conduct of other young men. Tho' I had no absolute
partiality to him, I was totally indifferent to every other man. I
married him, therefore; and gave away my person before I knew I had an
heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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