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
'The return of my elder brother from his first campaign in America, was
the only real pleasure I had long felt. He is perhaps one of the most
elegant and accomplished young men of his time; but to be elegant and
accomplished is his least praise--His solid understanding, and his
excellent heart, are an honour to his country and to human nature. That
quick sense of honour, and that strictness of principle, which now make
my greatest terror, give a peculiar lustre and dignity to his character.
My father received him with that delight a father only can feel; and saw
and gloried with all a father's pride, in a successor worthy of his
ancestors.
'My brother, who had always loved me extremely, tho' we had been very
little together, took up his abode at my house while he staid in
England. Trelawny seemed to feel a sort of awe before him, which made
him endeavour to hide his vices if not his weakness, while he remained
with us. He was more attentive to me than he had long been. My brother
hoped I was happy; and tho' Trelawny was a man whose conversation
afforded him no pleasure, he behaved to him with every appearance of
friendship and regard. He was soon however to return to his regiment;
and my father, who had been in a declining state of health ever since
his second marriage, appeared to grow worse as the period of separation
approached. He seemed to have waited only for this beloved son to close
his eyes; for a few days before he was again to take leave, my father
found his end very rapidly approaching.
'Perfectly conscious of it, he settled all his affairs; and made a
provision for me and my brother William out of the money of the present
Lady Westhaven, which the marriage articles gave him a right to dispose
of after her Ladyship's death if he left no children by her; and
recommended us both to his eldest son.
'"You will act nobly by our dear William," said he; "I have no doubt of
it; but above all, remember my poor Adelina. Camilla is happily married.
Tell her I die blessing her, and her children! But Adelina--my
unfortunate Adelina is herself but a child, and her husband is very
young and thoughtless. Watch over her honour and her repose, for the
sake of your father and that dear woman she so much resembles, your
sainted mother."
'I was in the room, in an agony of sorrow. He called me to him. "My
daughter," said he, in a feeble voice, "remember that the honour of your
family--of your brothers--is in your hands--and remember it is
sacred.--Endeavour to deserve the happiness of being sister to such
brothers, and daughter to such a mother as yours was!"
'I was unable to answer. I could only kiss his convulsed hands; which I
eagerly did, as if to tell him that I promised all he expected of me. My
own heart, which then made the vow, now perpetually reproaches me with
having kept it so ill!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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