Dr. Orkborne had never felt so deeply hurt; the same commission
transferred to Edgar, or to Lionel, would have failed to affect him; he
considered them as of an age fitted for such frivolous employment, which
he thought as much below his dignity, as the young men themselves were
beneath his competition; but the comfort of contempt, a species of
consolation ever ready to offer itself to the impulsive pride of man,
was here an alleviation he could not call to his aid; the character of
Dr. Marchmont stood as high in erudition as his own; and, though his
acquaintance with him was merely personal, the fame of his learning, the
only attribute to which fame, in his conception, belonged, had reached
him from authority too unquestionable for doubt. The urbanity,
therefore, of his manners, his general diffusion of discourse, and his
universal complaisance, filled him with astonishment, and raised an
emotion of envy which no other person would have been deemed worthy of
exciting.
But though his long and fixed residence at Cleves had now removed the
timid circumspection with which he first sought to ensure his
establishment, he yet would not venture any positive refusal to the
baronet; he resigned, therefore, his young charge to his new and
formidable opponent, and even exerted himself to mark some alacrity in
assisting Sir Hugh. But his whole real attention was upon Dr. Marchmont,
whom his eye followed in every motion, to discover, if possible, by what
art unknown he had acquired such a command over his thoughts and
understanding, as to bear patiently, nay pleasantly, with the idle and
unequal companions of general society.
Dr. Marchmont, who was rector of Cleves, had been introduced to Sir Hugh
upon the baronet's settling in the large mansion-house of that village;
but he had not visited at the house, nor had his company been solicited.
Sir Hugh, who could never separate understanding from learning, nor want
of education from folly, concluded that such a man as Dr. Marchmont must
necessarily despise him; and though the extreme sweetness of his temper
made him draw the conclusion without resentment, it so effectually
prevented all wish of any intercourse, that they had never conversed
together till this morning; and his surprise, now, at such civilities
and good humour in so great a scholar, differed only from that of Dr.
Orkborne, in being accompanied with admiration instead of envy.
Eugenia thus disposed of, they were proceeding, when Sir Hugh next
observed the young Oxonian: He was speaking with Indiana, to whom his
passionate devotion was glaring from his looks, air, and whole manner.