第 5 节
作者:闲来一看      更新:2024-01-16 22:40      字数:9322
  consider   on   this   offer;   and   pray   remember;   that   your   union   with   Miss
  Weatherby will put it in your power to be more liberally the friend of Lucy
  Eldridge。 〃
  The   old gentleman   walked   in   a   stately  manner   out   of   the   room;   and
  Temple stood almost petrified with astonishment; contempt; and rage。
  CHAPTER V。
  SUCH THINGS ARE。
  MISS Weatherby was the only child of a wealthy man; almost idolized
  by her parents; flattered by  her dependants; and never contradicted  even
  by    those   who    called    themselves     her   friends:   I  cannot    give    a  better
  description than by the following lines。
  The lovely maid whose form and face Nature has deck'd with ev'ry
  grace;    But    in  whose     breast   no   virtues   glow;    Whose     heart   ne'er   felt
  another's   woe; Whose   hand   ne'er   smooth'd   the bed   of pain;  Or   eas'd   the
  captive's galling chain; But like the tulip caught the eye; Born just to be
  admir'd and die; When gone; no one regrets its loss; Or scarce remembers
  that it was。
  Such   was   Miss Weatherby:   her   form  lovely  as   nature   could   make   it;
  but   her   mind   uncultivated;   her   heart   unfeeling;   her   passions   impetuous;
  and   her   brain   almost   turned   with   flattery;   dissipation;   and   pleasure;   and
  such was the girl; whom a partial grandfather left independent mistress of
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  the fortune before mentioned。
  She   had   seen   Temple   frequently;   and   fancying   she   could   never   be
  happy   without   him;   nor   once   imagining   he   could   refuse   a   girl   of   her
  beauty and fortune; she prevailed on her fond father to offer the alliance to
  the old Earl of D; Mr。 Temple's father。
  The   Earl   had   received   the   offer   courteously:   he   thought   it   a   great
  match for Henry; and was too fashionable a man to suppose a wife could
  be   any   impediment   to   the   friendship   he   professed   for   Eldridge   and   his
  daughter。
  Unfortunately        for    Temple;      he    thought     quite     otherwise:     the
  conversation       he  had   just   had   with   his  father;   discovered     to  him   the
  situation of his heart; and he found that the most affluent fortune would
  bring no increase of happiness unless Lucy Eldridge shared it with him;
  and the knowledge of the purity of her sentiments; and the integrity of his
  own     heart;   made    him    shudder    at  the   idea   his  father   had   started;   of
  marrying a woman for no other reason than because the affluence of her
  fortune   would   enable   him   to   injure   her   by   maintaining   in   splendor   the
  woman   to   whom   his   heart   was   devoted:   he   therefore   resolved   to   refuse
  Miss Weatherby; and be the event what it might; offer his heart and hand
  to Lucy Eldridge。
  Full of this determination; he fought his father; declared his resolution;
  and was commanded never more to appear in his presence。 Temple bowed;
  his heart was too full to permit him to speak; he left the house precipitately;
  and hastened to relate the cause of his sorrows to his good old friend and
  his amiable daughter。
  In the mean time; the Earl; vexed to the soul that such a fortune should
  be   lost;   determined   to   offer   himself   a   candidate   for   Miss   Weatherby's
  favour。
  What wonderful changes are wrought by that reigning power; ambition!
  the love…sick   girl; when   first she heard of Temple's refusal;  wept;  raved;
  tore her hair; and vowed to found a protestant nunnery with her fortune;
  and    by   commencing        abbess;   shut   herself   up   from    the  sight   of  cruel
  ungrateful man for ever。
  Her father was a man of the world: he suffered this first transport to
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  subside;  and   then very  deliberately  unfolded   to   her   the   offers   of the   old
  Earl;    expatiated     on   the   many    benefits    arising    from    an   elevated    title;
  painted in glowing colours the surprise and vexation of Temple when he
  should see her figuring as a Countess and his mother…in…law; and begged
  her to consider well before she made any rash vows。
  The DISTRESSED fair one dried her tears; listened patiently; and   at
  length declared she believed the surest method to revenge the slight put on
  her by the son; would be to accept the father: so said so done; and in a few
  days she became the Countess D。
  Temple heard the news with emotion: he had lost his father's favour by
  avowing   his   passion   for   Lucy;   and   he   saw   now   there   was   no   hope   of
  regaining it: 〃but he shall not make me miserable;〃 said he。 〃Lucy and I
  have no ambitious notions: we can live on three hundred a year for some
  little time; till the mortgage is paid off; and then we shall have sufficient
  not only for the comforts but many of the little elegancies of life。 We will
  purchase      a  little  cottage;    my    Lucy;〃    said   he;   〃and   thither   with    your
  reverend   father   we   will   retire;   we   will   forget   there   are   such   things   as
  splendor;   profusion;   and   dissipation:   we   will   have   some   cows;   and   you
  shall be queen of the dairy; in a morning; while I look after my garden;
  you shall take a basket on your arm; and sally forth to feed your poultry;
  and   as   they   flutter   round   you   in   token   of   humble   gratitude;   your   father
  shall   smoke   his   pipe   in   a   woodbine   alcove;   and   viewing   the   serenity   of
  your   countenance;   feel   such   real   pleasure   dilate   his   own   heart;   as   shall
  make him forget he had ever been unhappy。〃
  Lucy smiled; and Temple saw it was a smile of approbation。 He sought
  and   found   a   cottage   suited   to   his   taste;   thither;   attended   by   Love   and
  Hymen; the happy trio retired; where; during many years of uninterrupted
  felicity;   they   cast   not   a   wish   beyond   the   little   boundaries   of   their   own
  tenement。   Plenty;   and   her   handmaid;   Prudence;   presided   at   their   board;
  Hospitality stood at their gate; Peace smiled on each face; Content reigned
  in each heart; and Love and Health strewed roses on their pillows。
  Such were the parents of Charlotte Temple; who was the only pledge
  of their mutual love; and who; at the earnest entreaty of a particular friend;
  was permitted to finish the education her mother had begun; at Madame
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  Du Pont's school; where we first introduced her to the acquaintance of the
  reader。
  CHAPTER VI。
  AN INTRIGUING TEACHER。
  MADAME   Du   Pont   was   a   woman   every  way   calculated   to   take   the
  care of young ladies; had that care entirely devolved on herself; but it was
  impossible to   attend   the   education   of   a numerous   school   without   proper
  assistants; and those assistants were not always the kind of people whose
  conversation   and   morals   were   exactly   such   as   parents   of   delicacy   and
  refinement would wish a daughter to copy。 Among the teachers at Madame
  Du   Pont's   school;   was   Mademoiselle   La   Rue;   who   added   to   a   pleasing
  person and insinuating address; a liberal education and the manners of a
  gentlewoman。        She   was    recommended        to  the   school   by   a  lady   whose
  humanity overstepped the bounds of discretion: for though she knew Miss
  La Rue had eloped from a convent with a young officer; and; on coming to
  England;   had   lived   with   several   different   men   in   open   defiance   of   all
  moral   and   religious   duties;   yet;   finding   her   reduced   to   the   most   abject
  want; and believing the penitence which she professed to be sincere; she
  took    her   into  her   own    family;   and   from    thence    recommended        her  to
  Madame Du Pont; as thinking the situation more suitable for a woman of
  her    abilities。  But   Mademoiselle        possessed     too   much    of   the  spirit  of
  intrigue     to  remain     long    without    adventures。      At   church;    where     she
  constantly   appeared;   her   person   attracted   the   attention   of   a   young   man
  who was upon a visit at a gentleman's seat in the neighbourhood: she had
  met   him  several   times   clandestinely;   and   being invited   to