THE next morning, Camilla, eager to try once more her influence with her brother, accompanied him into the park, and renewed her remonstrances1, but with no better success; and while they were passing by a private gate, that opened to the high road, they saw Sir Sedley Clarendel driving by in his phaeton.
Lionel, bursting from his sister, opened the gate, called to Sir Sedley to give his reins3 to one of his servants, and brought him, not unwilling4, though much surprised, into the park.
Camilla, in dismay unspeakable at this conduct, and the idea of such a meeting, had run forward instantly to hide herself in the summer-house, to avoid re-passing the gate in her way to the mansion5; but her scheme was more precipitate6 than wise; Lionel caught a glimpse of her gown as she went into the little building, and shouted aloud: ‘Look! look! Sir Sedley! there’s Camilla making believe to run away from you!’
‘Ah, fair fugitive7!’ cried the baronet, springing forward, and entering the summer-house almost as soon as herself, ‘fly only thus, where you may be pursued!’
Camilla, utterly8 confounded, knew not where to cast her eyes, where to hide her face; and her quick-changing colour, and short-heaved breath, manifested an excess of confusion, that touched, flattered, and penetrated9 the baronet so deeply and so suddenly, as to put him off from all guard of consequences, and all recollection of matrimonial distaste: ‘Beautiful, resistless Camilla!’ he cried; ‘how vain is it to struggle against your witchery! Assure me but of your clemency10, and I will adore the chains that shackle11 me!’
Camilla, wholly overcome, by sorrow, gratitude12, repentance13, and shame, sunk upon a chair, and shed a torrent14 of tears that she even sought not to restrain. The shock of refusing one, to whose error in believing himself acceptable she had largely contributed, or the horror of yielding to him her hand, while her heart was in the possession of another, made her almost wish, at this moment, he should divine her distress15, that his own pride might conclude it.
But far different from what would produce such an effect, were the feelings of pride now working in his bosom16. He imagined her emotion had its source in causes the softest and most flattering. Every personal obstacle sunk before this idea, and with a seriousness in his manner he had not yet used: ‘This evening, lovely Camilla,’ he cried, ‘let me beg, for this evening, the audience accorded me upon that which I lost at Tunbridge.’
He was then going; but Camilla, hastily rising, cried, ‘Sir Sedley, I beseech17...’ when Lionel capering18 into the little apartment, danced round it in mad ecstasy19, chanting ‘Lady Clarendel, Lady Clarendel, my dear Lady Clarendel!’
Camilla now was not confused alone. Sir Sedley himself could gladly have pushed him out of the building; but neither the looks of surprise and provocation20 of the baronet, nor the prayers nor reprimands of Camilla, could tame his wild transport. He shook hands, whether he would or not, with the one; he bowed most obsequiously21, whether she would regard him or not, to the other; and still chanting the same burden, made a clamour that shook the little edifice22 to its foundation.
The strong taste for ridicule23, that was a prominent part of the character of Sir Sedley, was soon conquered by. this ludicrous behaviour, and both his amazement24 and displeasure ended in a hearty25 fit of laughter. But Camilla suffered too severely26 to join in the mirth; she blushed for her brother, she blushed for herself, she hung her head in speechless shame, and covered her eyes with her hand.
The noisy merriment of Lionel preventing any explanation, though rendering27 it every moment more necessary, Sir Sedley, repeating his request for the evening, took leave.
Camilla looked upon his departing in this manner as her sentence of misery28, and was pursuing him, to decline the visit; but Lionel, seizing her two hands, swung her round the room, in defiance29 of her even angry expostulations and sufferings, which he neither credited nor conceived, and then skipt after the baronet himself, who was already out of the park.
She became now nearly frantic30. She thought herself irretrievably in the power of Sir Sedley, and by means so forced and indelicate, that she was scarcely more afflicted32 at the event, than shocked by its circumstances; and though incapable33 to really harbour rancour against a brother she sincerely loved, she yet believed at this moment she never should forgive, nor willingly see him more.
In this state she was found by Lavinia. The history was inarticulately told, but Lavinia could give only her pity; she saw not any avenue to an honourable34 retreat, and thought, like Eugenia, she could now only free herself by the breach35 of what should be dearer to her even than happiness, her probity36 and honour.
Utterly inconsolable she remained, till again she heard the voice of Lionel, loudly singing in the park.
‘Go to him! go to him! my dearest Lavinia,’ she cried, ‘and, if my peace is dear to you, prevail with him to clear up the mistakes of Sir Sedley, and to prevent his dreaded37, killing38 visit this evening!’
Lavinia only answered by compliance39; but, after an half hour’s useless contest with her riotous40 brother, returned to her weeping sister, not merely successless with regard to her petition, but loaded with fresh ill tidings that she knew not how to impart. Lionel had only laughed at the repugnance41 of Camilla, which he regarded as something between childishness and affectation, and begged Lavinia to be wiser than to heed42 to it: ‘Brother Sedley has desired me, however,’ he added, ‘not to speak of the matter to Numps nor my father, till he has had a little more conversation with his charmer; and he intends to call to-night as if only upon a visit to me.’
When Camilla learnt, at length, this painful end of her embassy, she gave herself up so completely to despair, that Lavinia, affrighted, ran to the house for Eugenia, whose extreme youth was no impediment, in the minds of her liberal sisters, to their belief nor reverence43 of her superior wisdom. Her species of education had early prepossessed them with respect for her knowledge, and her unaffected fondness for study, had fixed45 their opinion of her extraordinary understanding. The goodness of her heart, the evenness of her temper, and her natural turn to contemplation, had established her character alike for sanctity and for philosophy throughout the family.
She listened with the sincerest commiseration46 to the present state of the case: ‘Certainly,’ she cried, ‘you cannot, in honour, now refuse him; but deal with him sincerely, and he may generously himself relinquish47 his claims. Write to him, my dear Camilla; tell him you grieve to afflict31, yet disdain48 to deceive him; assure him of your perfect esteem49 and eternal gratitude; but confess, at once, your heart refuses to return his tenderness. Entreat50 him to forgive whatever he may have mistaken, and nobly to restore to you the liberty of which your obligations, without his consent, must rob you.’
To Lavinia this advice appeared infallible; but Camilla, though she felt an entanglement51 which fettered52 herself, thought it by no means sufficiently53 direct or clear to authorise a rejection54 of Sir Sedley; since, strangely as she seemed in his power, circumstances had placed her there, and not his own solicitation55.
Yet to prevent a visit of which her knowledge seemed consent, and which her consent must be most seriously to authorise, she deemed as indispensable to her character, as to her fears. She hesitated, therefore, not a moment in preferring writing to a meeting; and after various conversations, and various essays, the following billet was dispatched to Clarendel Place, through the means of Molly Mill, and by her friend Tommy Hodd.
To Sir Sedley Clarendel.
I SHOULD ill return what I owe to Sir Sedley Clarendel by causing him any useless trouble I can spare him. He spoke56 of a visit hither this evening, when I was too much hurried to represent that it could not be received, as my brother’s residence is at Etherington, and my father and my uncle have not the honour to be known to Sir Sedley. For me, my gratitude must ever be unalterable; and where accident occasions a meeting, I shall be most happy to express it; but I have nothing to say, nothing to offer, that could recompense one moment of Sir Sedley’s time given voluntarily to such a visit.
CAMILLA TYROLD.
Ill as this letter satisfied her, she could devise nothing better; but though her sisters had both thought it too rigorous, she would not risk anything gentler.
During the dinner, they all appeared absent and dejected; but Sir Hugh attributed it to the non-arrival of Clermont, in watching for whom his own time was completely occupied, by examining two weather-cocks, and walking from one to the other, to see if they agreed, or how they changed; Indiana was wholly engrossed57 in consultations58 with Miss Margland, upon the most becoming dress for a bride’s maid; and Mr. Tyrold, having observed that his three girls had spent the morning together, concluded Camilla had divulged59 to them her unhappy perplexity, and felt soothed60 himself in considering she had soothers so affectionate and faithful.
Early in the evening Tommy Hodd arrived, and Molly Mill brought Camilla the following answer of Sir Sedley.
To Miss Camilla Tyrold.
AH! what in this lower sphere can be unchequered, when even a correspondence with the most lovely of her sex, brings alarm with its felicity? Must I come, then, to Cleves, fair Insensible, but as a visitor to Mr. Lionel? Have you taken a captive only to see him in fetters61? Allured62 a victim merely to behold63 him bleed? Ah! tomorrow, at least, permit the audience that today is denied, and at your feet, let your slave receive his doom64.
SEDLEY CLARENDEL,
Camilla turned cold. She shrunk from a remonstrance2 she conceived she had merited, and regarded herself to be henceforth either culpable65 or unhappy. Unacquainted with the feminine indulgence which the world, by long prescription66, grants to coquetry, its name was scarcely known to her; and she saw in its own native egotism the ungenerous desire to please, where she herself was indifferent, and anticipated from Sir Sedley reproach, if not contempt. No sophistications of custom had warped67 the first innocence68 of her innate69 sense of right, and to trifle with the feelings of another for any gratification of her own, made success bring a blush to her integrity, not exultation70 to her vanity.
The words victim and bleeding, much affected44 the tender Lavinia, while those of fetters, captive, and insensible, satisfied the heroic Eugenia that Sir Sedley deserved the hand of her sister; but neither of them spoke.
‘You say nothing?’ cried Camilla, turning paler and paler, and sitting down lest she should fall.
They both wept and embraced her, and Eugenia said, if, indeed, she could not conquer her aversion, she saw no way to elude71 the baronet, but by openly confessing her repugnance, in the conversation he demanded.
Camilla saw not less strongly the necessity of being both prompt and explicit72; but how receive Sir Sedley at Cleves? and upon what pretence73 converse74 with him privately75? Even Lionel the next day was to return to the university, though his presence, if he staid, would, in all probability, but add to every difficulty.
At length, they decided76, that the conference should take place at the Grove77; and to prevent the threatened visit of the next day, Camilla wrote the following answer:
To Sir Sedley Clarendel.
I SHOULD be grieved, indeed, to return my obligations to Sir Sedley Clarendel by meriting his serious reproach; yet I cannot have the honour of seeing him at Cleves, since my brother is immediately quitting it for Oxford78. As soon as I hear Mrs. Arlbery is again at the Grove, I shall wait upon her, and always be most happy to assure Sir Sedley of my gratitude, which will be as lasting79 as it is sincere.
CAMILLA TYROLD.
Though wretched in this strange state of things, she knew not how to word her letter more positively80, since his own, notwithstanding its inferences, had so much more the style of florid gallantry than plain truth. Molly Mill undertook that Tommy Hodd should carry it early the next morning.
* * *
Lionel was so enraged81 at the non-appearance of the young baronet at night, that Camilla was compelled to confess she had promised to see him, and to give him his answer at Mrs. Arlbery’s . He was out of humour, nevertheless, lest Sir Sedley should be affronted82 by the delay, and feared that the best match in the whole county would prove abortive83, from his sister’s foolish trimmings, and silly ignorance of life.
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1
remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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precipitate
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| adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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shackle
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| n.桎梏，束缚物；v.加桎梏，加枷锁，束缚 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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capering
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| v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的现在分词 )；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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obsequiously
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edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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afflict
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| vt.使身体或精神受痛苦，折磨 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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probity
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| n.刚直；廉洁，正直 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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compliance
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| n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从 | |
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riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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commiseration
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| n.怜悯，同情 | |
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relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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entreat
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| v.恳求，恳请 | |
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entanglement
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| n.纠缠，牵累 | |
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fettered
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| v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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solicitation
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| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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consultations
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| n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找 | |
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divulged
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| v.吐露，泄露( divulge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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fetters
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| n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 )；束缚v.给…上脚镣，束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 ) | |
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allured
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| 诱引，吸引( allure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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culpable
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| adj.有罪的，该受谴责的 | |
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prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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affronted
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| adj.被侮辱的，被冒犯的v.勇敢地面对( affront的过去式和过去分词 )；相遇 | |
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abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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