Chapter xiii.
The behaviour of Sophia on the present occasion; which none of her sexwill blame, who are capable of behaving in the same manner. And thediscussion of a knotty point in the court of conscience.
Sophia had passed the last twenty-four hours in no very desirablemanner. During a large part of them she had been entertained by heraunt with lectures of prudence, recommending to her the example of thepolite world, where love (so the good lady said) is at presententirely laughed at, and where women consider matrimony, as men dooffices of public trust, only as the means of making their fortunes,and of advancing themselves in the world. In commenting on which textMrs Western had displayed her eloquence during several hours.
These sagacious lectures, though little suited either to the taste orinclination of Sophia, were, however, less irksome to her than her ownthoughts, that formed the entertainment of the night, during which shenever once closed her eyes.
But though she could neither sleep nor rest in her bed, yet, having noavocation from it, she was found there by her father at his returnfrom Allworthy's, which was not till past ten o'clock in the morning.He went directly up to her apartment, opened the door, and seeing shewas not up, cried, "Oh! you are safe then, and I am resolved to keepyou so." He then locked the door, and delivered the key to Honour,having first given her the strictest charge, with great promises ofrewards for her fidelity, and most dreadful menaces of punishment incase she should betray her trust.
Honour's orders were, not to suffer her mistress to come out of herroom without the authority of the squire himself, and to admit none toher but him and her aunt; but she was herself to attend her withwhatever Sophia pleased, except only pen, ink, and paper, of which shewas forbidden the use.
The squire ordered his daughter to dress herself and attend him atdinner; which she obeyed; and having sat the usual time, was againconducted to her prison.
In the evening the gaoler Honour brought her the letter which shereceived from the gamekeeper. Sophia read it very attentively twice orthrice over, and then threw herself upon the bed, and burst into aflood of tears. Mrs Honour expressed great astonishment at thisbehaviour in her mistress; nor could she forbear very eagerly beggingto know the cause of this passion. Sophia made her no answer for sometime, and then, starting suddenly up, caught her maid by the hand, andcried, "O Honour! I am undone." "Marry forbid," cries Honour: "I wishthe letter had been burnt before I had brought it to your la'ship. I'msure I thought it would have comforted your la'ship, or I would haveseen it at the devil before I would have touched it." "Honour," saysSophia, "you are a good girl, and it is vain to attempt concealinglonger my weakness from you; I have thrown away my heart on a man whohath forsaken me." "And is Mr Jones," answered the maid, "such aperfidy man?" "He hath taken his leave of me," says Sophia, "for everin that letter. Nay, he hath desired me to forget him. Could he havedesired that if he had loved me? Could he have borne such a thought?Could he have written such a word?" "No, certainly, ma'am," criesHonour; "and to be sure, if the best man in England was to desire meto forget him, I'd take him at his word. Marry, come up! I am sureyour la'ship hath done him too much honour ever to think on him;--ayoung lady who may take her choice of all the young men in thecountry. And to be sure, if I may be so presumptuous as to offer mypoor opinion, there is young Mr Blifil, who, besides that he is comeof honest parents, and will be one of the greatest squires allhereabouts, he is to be sure, in my poor opinion, a more handsomer anda more politer man by half; and besides, he is a young gentleman of asober character, and who may defy any of the neighbours to say blackis his eye; he follows no dirty trollops, nor can any bastards be laidat his door. Forget him, indeed! I thank Heaven I myself am not somuch at my last prayers as to suffer any man to bid me forget himtwice. If the best he that wears a head was for to go for to offer tosay such an affronting word to me, I would never give him my companyafterwards, if there was another young man in the kingdom. And as Iwas a saying, to be sure, there is young Mr Blifil." "Name not hisdetested name," cries Sophia. "Nay, ma'am," says Honour, "if yourla'ship doth not like him, there be more jolly handsome young men thatwould court your la'ship, if they had but the least encouragement. Idon't believe there is arrow young gentleman in this county, or in thenext to it, that if your la'ship was but to look as if you had a mindto him, would not come about to make his offers directly." "What awretch dost thou imagine me," cries Sophia, "by affronting my earswith such stuff! I detest all mankind." "Nay, to be sure, ma'am,"answered Honour, "your la'ship hath had enough to give you a surfeitof them. To be used ill by such a poor, beggarly, bastardlyfellow."--"Hold your blasphemous tongue," cries Sophia: "how dare youmention his name with disrespect before me? He use me ill? No, hispoor bleeding heart suffered more when he writ the cruel words thanmine from reading them. O! he is all heroic virtue and angelicgoodness. I am ashamed of the weakness of my own passion, for blamingwhat I ought to admire. O, Honour! it is my good only which heconsults. To my interest he sacrifices both himself and me. Theapprehension of ruining me hath driven him to despair." "I am veryglad," says Honour, "to hear your la'ship takes that into yourconsideration; for to be sure, it must be nothing less than ruin togive your mind to one that is turned out of doors, and is not worth afarthing in the world." "Turned out of doors!" cries Sophia hastily:"how! what dost thou mean?" "Why, to be sure, ma'am, my master nosooner told Squire Allworthy about Mr Jones having offered to makelove to your la'ship than the squire stripped him stark naked, andturned him out of doors!" "Ha!" says Sophia, "I have been the cursed,wretched cause of his destruction! Turned naked out of doors! Here,Honour, take all the money I have; take the rings from my fingers.Here, my watch: carry him all. Go find him immediately." "For Heaven'ssake, ma'am," answered Mrs Honour, "do but consider, if my mastershould miss any of these things, I should be made to answer for them.Therefore let me beg your la'ship not to part with your watch andjewels. Besides, the money, I think, is enough of all conscience; andas for that, my master can never know anything of the matter." "Here,then," cries Sophia, "take every farthing I am worth, find him outimmediately, and give it him. Go, go, lose not a moment."
Mrs Honour departed according to orders, and finding Black Georgebelow-stairs, delivered him the purse, which contained sixteenguineas, being, indeed, the whole stock of Sophia; for though herfather was very liberal to her, she was much too generous to be rich.
Black George having received the purse, set forward towards thealehouse; but in the way a thought occurred to him, whether he shouldnot detain this money likewise. His conscience, however, immediatelystarted at this suggestion, and began to upbraid him with ingratitudeto his benefactor. To this his avarice answered, That his conscienceshould have considered the matter before, when he deprived poor Jonesof his L500. That having quietly acquiesced in what was of so muchgreater importance, it was absurd, if not downright hypocrisy, toaffect any qualms at this trifle. In return to which, Conscience, likea good lawyer, attempted to distinguish between an absolute breach oftrust, as here, where the goods were delivered, and a bare concealmentof what was found, as in the former case. Avarice presently treatedthis with ridicule, called it a distinction without a difference, andabsolutely insisted that when once all pretensions of honour andvirtue were given up in any one instance, that there was no precedentfor resorting to them upon a second occasion. In short, poorConscience had certainly been defeated in the argument, had not Fearstept in to her assistance, and very strenuously urged that the realdistinction between the two actions, did not lie in the differentdegrees of honour but of safety: for that the secreting the L500 was amatter of very little hazard; whereas the detaining the sixteenguineas was liable to the utmost danger of discovery.
By this friendly aid of Fear, Conscience obtained a compleat victoryin the mind of Black George, and, after making him a few complimentson his honesty, forced him to deliver the money to Jones.