"Pendennyss has spoken truth, my dear brother," cried she, recovering
her voice; "Emily is the child of my care and my love--the two beings I
love best in this world are now united--but," she added, pressing Lady
Moseley to her bosom, "my heart is large enough for you all; you are of
my blood, and my gratitude for your affection is boundless. There shall
be but one large family of us; and although our duties may separate us
for a time, we will, I trust, ever meet in tenderness and love, though
with George and Emily I will take up my abode."
"I hope your house in Northamptonshire is not to be vacant always," said
Lady Moseley to the earl, anxiously.
"I have no house there, my dear madam," he replied; "when I thought
myself about to succeed in my suit before, I directed a lawyer at Bath,
where Sir William Harris resided most of his time, to endeavor to
purchase the deanery, whenever a good opportunity offered: in my
discomfiture," he added, smiling, "I forgot to countermand the order,
and he purchased it immediately on its being advertised. For a short
time it was an incumbrance to me, but it is now applied to its original
purpose. It is the sole property of the Countess of Pendennyss, and I
doubt not you will see it often and agreeably tenanted."
This intelligence gave great satisfaction to his friends, and the
expected summer restored to even Jane a gleam of her former pleasure.
If there be bliss in this life, approaching in any degree to the
happiness of the blessed, it is the fruition of long and ardent love,
where youth, innocence, piety, and family concord, smile upon the union.
And all these were united in the case of the new-married pair; but
happiness in this world cannot or does not, in any situation, exist
without alloy.
The peace of mind and fortitude of Emily were fated to receive a blow,
as unlooked for to herself as it was unexpected to the world. Bonaparte
appeared in France, and Europe became in motion.
From the moment the earl heard the intelligence his own course was
decided. His regiment was the pride of the army, and that it would be
ordered to join the duke he did not entertain a doubt.
Emily was, therefore, in some little measure prepared for the blow. It
is at such moments as our own acts, or events affecting us, get to be
without our control, that faith in the justice and benevolence of God is
the most serviceable to the Christian. When others spend their time in
useless regrets he is piously resigned: it even so happens, that when
others mourn he can rejoice.
The sound of the bugle, wildly winding its notes, broke on the stillness
of the morning in the little village in which was situated the cottage
tenanted by Sir Edward Moseley. Almost concealed by the shrubbery which
surrounded its piazza, stood the forms of the Countess of Pendennyss and
her sister Lady Marian, watching eagerly the appearance of those whose
approach was thus announced.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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