The manner of the gentleman during this dialogue had not been in the
least unpleasant, but it was peculiar; it prohibited anything further on
the subject; and Emily was obliged to be content without knowing who
Marian was, or whether her name was to be found in the Denbigh family or
not. Emily was not in the least jealous, but she wished to know all to
whom her lover was dear.
"Do the Dowager and the young ladies accompany Chatterton?" asked Sir
Edward, as he turned to John, who was eating his fruit in silence.
"Yes, sir--I hope--that is, I believe she will," was the answer.
"She! Who is she, my son?"
"Grace Chatterton," said John, starting from his meditations. "Did you
not ask me about Grace, Sir Edward?"
"Not particularly, I believe," said the baronet, dryly.
Denbigh again smiled: it was a smile different from any Mrs. Wilson had
ever seen on his countenance, and gave an entirely novel expression to
his face; it was full of meaning, it was knowing--spoke more of the man
of the world than anything she had before noticed in him, and left on
her mind one of those vague impressions she was often troubled with,
that there was something about Denbigh in character or condition, or
both, that was mysterious.
The spirit of Jane was too great to leave her a pining or pensive
maiden; yet her feelings had sustained a shock that time alone could
cure. She appeared again amongst her friends; but the consciousness of
her expectations with respect to the colonel being known to them, threw
around her a hauteur and distance very foreign to her natural manner.
Emily alone, whose every movement sprang from the spontaneous feelings
of her heart, and whose words and actions were influenced by the finest
and most affectionate delicacy, such as she was not conscious of
possessing herself, won upon the better feelings of her sister so far,
as to restore between them the usual exchange of kindness and sympathy.
But Jane admitted no confidence; she found nothing consoling, nothing
solid, to justify her attachment to Egerton; nothing indeed, excepting
such external advantages as she was now ashamed to admit had ever the
power over her they in reality had possessed. The marriage of the
fugitives in Scotland had been announced; and as the impression that
Egerton was to be connected with the Moseleys was destroyed of course,
their every-day acquaintances, feeling the restraints removed that such
an opinion had once imposed, were free in their comments on his
character. Sir Edward and Lady Moseley were astonished to find how many
things to his disadvantage were generally known; that he gambled--
intrigued--and was in debt--were no secrets apparently to anybody, but
to those who were most interested in knowing the truth; while Mrs.
Wilson saw in these facts additional reasons for examining and judging
for ourselves; the world uniformly concealing from the party and his
friends their honest opinions of his character. Some of these
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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