Tales and Novels — Volume 01: Moral TalesEdgeworth, Maria
General
Tales and Novels — Volume 01: Moral Tales
Edgeworth, Maria
Fiction
"Hetty!" exclaimed her aunt; but as Miss Burrage still eyed her through
her glass with unmoved invincible assurance, Dinah thought that, however
strong the resemblance, she was mistaken. "No, it can't be Hetty. I beg
pardon, madam," said she, "but I took you for--Did not I hear you say
the name of Burrage, friend Puffit?"
"Yes, Burrage; one of the Burrages of Dorsetshire," said the milliner,
with malicious archness.
"One of the Burrages of Dorsetshire: I beg pardon. But did you ever see
such a likeness, friend Barker, to my poor niece, Hetty Burrage?"
Miss Burrage, who overheard these words, immediately turned her back
upon her aunt. "A grotesque statue of starch,--one of your quakers, I
think, they call themselves: Bristol is full of such primitive figures,"
said Miss Burrage to Clara Hope, and she walked back to the recess and
to Lady Di.
"So like, voice and all, to my poor Hester," said Dinah Plait, and she
wiped the tears from her eyes. "Though Hetty has neglected me so of
late, I have a tenderness for her; we cannot but have some for our own
relations."
"Grotesque or not, 'tis a statue that seems to have a heart, and a gude
one," said Clara Hope.
"I wish we could say the same of every body," said Mrs. Bertrand.
All this time, old Mr. Barker, leaning on his cane, had been silent:
"Burrage of Dorsetshire!" said he; "I'll soon see whether she be or no;
for Hetty has a wart on her chin that I cannot forget, let her forget
whom and what she pleases."
Mr. Barker, who was a plain-spoken, determined man, followed the young
lady to the recess; and, after looking her full in the face, exclaimed
in a loud voice, "Here's the wart!--'tis Hetty!"
"Sir!--wart!--man!--Lady Di.!" cried Miss Burrage, in accents of the
utmost distress and vexation.
Mr. Barker, regardless of her frowns and struggles, would by no means
relinquish her hand; but leading, or rather pulling her forwards, he
went on with barbarous steadiness: "Dinah," said he, "'tis your
own niece. Hetty, 'tis your own aunt, that bred you up! What,
struggle--Burrage of Dorsetshire!"
"There certainly," said Lady Diana Chillingworth, in a solemn tone, "is
a conspiracy, this night, against my poor nerves. These people, amongst
them, will infallibly surprise me to death. What is the matter now?--why
do you drag the young lady, sir? She came here with _me_, sir,--with
Lady Diana Chillingworth; and, consequently, she is not a person to be
insulted."
"Insult her!" said Mr. Barker, whose sturdy simplicity was not to be
baffled or disconcerted either by the cunning of Miss Burrage, or by the
imposing manner and awful name of Lady Diana Chillingworth. "Insult her!
why, 'tis she insults us; she won't know us."
"How should Miss Burrage know you, sir, or any body here?" said Lady
Diana, looking round, as if upon beings of a species different from her
own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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