CHAPTER XII.
_Miss Grandison Makes a Remarkable Discovery_.
IN THE mean time, while the gloomy morning which Ferdinand hadanticipated terminated with so agreeable an adventure, Henrietta andMiss Grandison, accompanied by Lord Montfort and Glastonbury, paid theirpromised visit to the British Museum.
'I am sorry that Captain Armine could not accompany us,' said LordMontfort. 'I sent to him this morning early, but he was already out.'
'He has many affairs to attend to,' said Glastonbury.
Miss Temple looked grave; she thought of poor Ferdinand and all hiscares. She knew well what were those affairs to which Glastonburyalluded. The thought that perhaps at this moment he was struggling withrapacious creditors made her melancholy. The novelty and strangeness ofthe objects which awaited her, diverted, however, her mind from thesepainful reflections. Miss Grandison, who had never quitted England, wasdelighted with everything she saw; but the Egyptian gallery principallyattracted the attention of Miss Temple. Lord Montfort, regardful of hispromise to Henrietta, was very attentive to Miss Grandison.
'I cannot help regretting that your cousin is not here,' said hislordship, returning to a key that he had already touched. But Katherinemade no answer.
'He seemed so much better for the exertion he made yesterday,' resumedLord Montfort. 'I think it would do him good to be more with us.'
'He seems to like to be alone,' said Katherine.
'I wonder at that,' said Lord Montfort; 'I cannot conceive a happierlife than we all lead.'
'You have cause to be happy, and Ferdinand has not,' said MissGrandison, calmly.
'I should have thought that he had very great cause,' said LordMontfort, enquiringly.
'No person in the world is so unhappy as Ferdinand,' said Katherine.
'But cannot we cure his unhappiness?' said his lordship. 'We are hisfriends; it seems to me, with such friends as Miss Grandison and MissTemple one ought never to be unhappy.'
'Miss Temple can scarcely be called a friend of Ferdinand,' saidKatherine.
'Indeed, a very warm one, I assure you.'
'Ah, that is your influence.'
'Nay, it is her own impulse.'
'But she only met him yesterday for the first time.'
'I assure you Miss Temple is an older friend of Captain Armine than Iam,' said his lordship.
'Indeed!' said Miss Grandison, with an air of considerable astonishment.
'You know they were neighbours in the country.'
'In the country!' repeated Miss Grandison.
'Yes; Mr. Temple, you know, resided not far from Armine.'
'Not far from Armine!' still repeated Miss Grandison.
'Digby,' said Miss Temple, turning to him at this moment, 'tell Mr.Glastonbury about your sphinx at Rome. It was granite, was it not?'
'And most delicately carved. I never remember having observed anexpression of such beautiful serenity. The discovery that, after all,they are male countenances is quite mortifying. I loved their mysteriousbeauty.'
What Lord Montfort had mentioned of the previous acquaintance ofHenrietta and her cousin made Miss Grandison muse. Miss Temple'saddress to Ferdinand yesterday had struck her at the moment as somewhatsingular; but the impression had not dwelt upon her mind. But now itoccurred to her as very strange, that Henrietta should have become sointimate with the Armine family and herself, and never have mentionedthat she was previously acquainted with their nearest relative. LadyArmine was not acquainted with Miss Temple until they met at BellairHouse. That was certain. Miss Grandison had witnessed their mutualintroduction. Nor Sir Ratcliffe. And yet Henrietta and Ferdinand werefriends, warm friends, old friends, intimately acquainted: so said LordMontfort, and Lord Montfort never coloured, never exaggerated. Allthis was very mysterious. And if they were friends, old friends, warmfriends, and Lord Montfort said they were, and, therefore, there couldbe no doubt of the truth of the statement, their recognition of eachother yesterday was singularly frigid.
It was not indicative of a very intimate acquaintance. Katherine hadascribed it to the natural disrelish of Ferdinand now to be introducedto anyone. And yet they were friends, old friends, warm friends.Henrietta Temple and Ferdinand Armine! Miss Grandison was so perplexedthat she scarcely looked at another object in the galleries.
The ladies were rather tired when they returned from the Museum. LordMontfort walked to the Travellers, and Henrietta agreed to remain anddine in Brook-street. Katherine and herself retired to Miss Grandison'sboudoir, a pretty chamber, where they were sure of being alone.Henrietta threw herself upon a sofa, and took up the last new novel;Miss Grandison seated herself on an ottoman by her side, and worked at apurse which she was making for Mr. Temple.
'Do you like that book?' said Katherine.
'I like the lively parts, but not the serious ones,' replied MissTemple; 'the author has observed but he has not felt.'
'It is satirical,' said Miss Grandison; 'I wonder why all this class ofwriters aim now at the sarcastic. I do not find life the constant sneerthey make it.'
'It is because they do not understand life,' said Henrietta, 'buthave some little experience of society. Therefore their works give aperverted impression of human conduct; for they accept as a principal,that which is only an insignificant accessory; and they make existencea succession of frivolities, when even the career of the most frivoloushas its profounder moments.'
'How vivid is the writer's description of a ball or a dinner,' said MissGrandison; 'everything lives and moves. And yet, when the hero makeslove, nothing can be more unnatural. His feelings are neither deep, norardent, nor tender. All is stilted, and yet ludicrous.'
'I do not despise the talent which describes so vividly a dinner and aball,' said Miss Temple. 'As far as it goes it is very amusing, butit should be combined with higher materials. In a fine novel, mannersshould be observed, and morals should be sustained; we require thoughtand passion, as well as costume and the lively representation ofconventional arrangements; and the thought and passion will be thebetter for these accessories, for they will be relieved in the novel asthey are relieved in life, and the whole will be more true.'
'But have you read that love scene, Henrietta? It appeared to me soridiculous!'
'I never read love scenes,' said Henrietta Temple.
'Oh, I love a love story,' said Miss Grandison, smiling, 'if it benatural and tender, and touch my heart. When I read such scenes, Iweep.'
'Ah, my sweet Katherine, you are soft-hearted.'
'And you, Henrietta, what are you?'
'Hard-hearted. The most callous of mortals.'
'Oh, what would Lord Montfort say?'
'Lord Montfort knows it. We never have love scenes.'
'And yet you love him?'
'Dearly; I love and esteem him.'
'Well,' said Miss Grandison, 'I may be wrong, but if I were a man I donot think I should like the lady of my love to esteem me.'
'And yet esteem is the only genuine basis of happiness, believe me,Kate. Love is a dream.'
'And how do you know, dear Henrietta?'
'All writers agree it is.'
'The writers you were just ridiculing?'
'A fair retort; and yet, though your words are the more witty, believeme, mine are the more wise.'
'I wish my cousin would wake from his dream,' said Katherine. 'To tellyou a secret, love is the cause of his unhappiness. Don't move, dearHenrietta,' added Miss Grandison; 'we are so happy here;' for MissTemple, in truth, seemed not a little discomposed.
'You should marry your cousin,' said Miss Temple.
'You little know Ferdinand or myself, when you give that advice,' saidKatherine. 'We shall never marry; nothing is more certain than that.In the first place, to be frank, Ferdinand would not marry me, nothingwould induce him; and in the second place, I would not marry him,nothing would induce me.'
'Why not?' said Henrietta, in a low tone, holding her book very near toher face.
'Because I am sure t
hat we should not be happy,' said Miss Grandison. 'Ilove Ferdinand, and once could have married him. He is so brilliant thatI could not refuse his proposal. And yet I feel it is better for me thatwe have not married, and I hope it may yet prove better for him, for Ilove him very dearly. He is indeed my brother.'
'But why should you not be happy?' enquired Miss Temple.
'Because we are not suited to each other. Ferdinand must marry some onewhom he looks up to, somebody brilliant like himself, some one who cansympathise with all his fancies. I am too calm and quiet for him. Youwould suit him much better, Henrietta.'
'You are his cousin; it is a misfortune; if you were not, he would adoreyou, and you would sympathise with him.'
'I think not: I should like to marry a very clever man,' said Katherine.'I could not endure marrying a fool, or a commonplace person; I shouldlike to marry a person very superior in talent to myself, some one whoseopinion would guide me on all points, one from whom I could not differ.But not Ferdinand; he is too imaginative, too impetuous; he wouldneither guide me, nor be guided by me.'
Miss Temple did not reply, but turned over a page of her book.
'Did you know Ferdinand before you met him yesterday at our house?'enquired Miss Grandison, very innocently.
'Yes!' said Miss Temple.
'I thought you did,' said Miss Grandison, 'I thought there was somethingin your manner that indicated you had met before. I do not think youknew my aunt before you met her at Bellair House?'
'I did not.'
'Nor Sir Ratclifle?'
'Nor Sir Ratclifle.'
'But you did know Mr. Glastonbury?'
'I did know Mr. Glastonbury.'
'How very odd!' said Miss Grandison.
'What is odd?' enquired Henrietta.
'That you should have known Ferdinand before.'
'Not at all odd. He came over one day to shoot at papa's. I remember himvery well.'
'Oh,' said Miss Grandison. 'And did Mr. Glastonbury come over to shoot?'
'I met Mr. Glastonbury one morning that I went to see the picturegallery at Armine. It is the only time I ever saw him.'
'Oh!' said Miss Grandison again, 'Armine is a beautiful place, is itnot?'
'Most interesting.'
'You know the pleasaunce.'
'Yes.'
'I did not see you when I was at Armine.'
'No; we had just gone to Italy.'
'How beautiful you look to-day, Henrietta!' said Miss Grandison. 'Whocould believe that you ever were so ill!'
'I am grateful that I have recovered,' said Henrietta. 'And yet I neverthought that I should return to England.'
'You must have been so very ill in Italy, about the same time as poorFerdinand was at Armine. Only think, how odd you should both have beenso ill about the same time, and now that we should all be so intimate!'
Miss Temple looked perplexed and annoyed. 'Is it so odd?' she at lengthsaid in a low tone.
'Henrietta Temple,' said Miss Grandison, with great earnestness, 'I havediscovered a secret; you are the lady with whom my cousin is in love.'