on the other point he was firm. She would listen to nothing: she
affected that her mandate had gone forth, and must be obeyed; tapped with
her foot, fanned deliberately, and was a consummate queen, till he turned
the handle of the door, when her complexion deadened, she started up,
trembling, and tripping towards him, caught him by the arm, and said:
'Stop! After all that I have sacrificed for you! As well try to raise
the dead as a Dawley from the dust he grovels in! Why did I consent to
visit this place? It was for you. I came, I heard that you had
disgraced yourself in drunkenness at Fallow field, and I toiled to
eclipse that, and I did. Young Jocelyn thought you were what you are I
could spit the word at you! and I dazzled him to give you time to win
this minx, who will spin you like a top if you get her. That Mr. Forth
knew it as well, and that vile young Laxley. They are gone! Why are
they gone? Because they thwarted me--they crossed your interests--I said
they should go. George Uplift is going to-day. The house is left to us;
and I believe firmly that Mrs. Bonner's will contains a memento of the
effect of our frequent religious conversations. So you would leave now?
I suspect nobody, but we are all human, and Wills would not have been
tampered with for the first time. Besides, and the Countess's
imagination warmed till she addressed her brother as a confederate, 'we
shall then see to whom Beckley Court is bequeathed. Either way it may be
yours. Yours! and you suffer their plots to drive you forth. Do you
not perceive that Mama was brought here to-day on purpose to shame us and
cast us out? We are surrounded by conspiracies, but if our faith is pure
who can hurt us? If I had not that consolation--would that you had it,
too!--would it be endurable to me to see those menials whispering and
showing their forced respect? As it is, I am fortified to forgive them.
I breathe another atmosphere. Oh, Evan! you did not attend to Mr.
Parsley's beautiful last sermon. The Church should have been your
vocation.'