Yet as "restless I rolled around my weary bed," and revolved the renewal
of Vivian's connection with a man of character so equivocal as Peacock;
the establishment of an able and unscrupulous tool of his own in the
service of Trevanion; the care with which he had concealed from me his
change of name, and his intimacy at the very house to which I had
frankly offered to present him; the familiarity which his creature had
contrived to effect with Miss Trevanion's maid; the words that had
passed between them,--plausibly accounted for, it is true, yet still
suspicious; and, above all, my painful recollections of Vivian's
reckless ambition and unprincipled sentiments,--nay, the effect that a
few random words upon Fanny's fortune, and the luck of winning an
heiress, had sufficed to produce upon his heated fancy and audacious
temper,--when all these thoughts came upon me, strong and vivid, in the
darkness of night, I longed for some confidant, more experienced in the
world than myself, to advise me as to the course I ought to pursue.
Should I warn Lady Ellinor? But of what? The character of the servant,
or the designs of the fictitious Gower? Against the first I could say,
if nothing very positive, still enough to make it prudent to dismiss
him. But of Gower or Vivian, what could I say without--not indeed
betraying his confidence, for that he had never given me--but without
belying the professions of friendship that I myself had lavishly made to
him? Perhaps, after all, he might have disclosed whatever were his real
secrets to Trevanion; and, if not, I might indeed ruin his prospects by
revealing the aliases he assumed. But wherefore reveal, and wherefore
warn? Because of suspicions that I could not myself analyze,--
suspicions founded on circumstances most of which had already been
seemingly explained away. Still, when morning came, I was irresolute
what to do; and after watching Roland's countenance, and seeing on his
brow so great a weight of care that I had no option but to postpone the
confidence I pined to place in Iris strong understanding and unerring