Cecilia, almost petrified by the excess of her surprise, at an attack so violent, so bold, and apparently so sanguine, was for some time scarce able to speak or to defend herself; but when Sir Robert, presuming on her silence, said she had made him the happiest of men, she indignantly drew back her hand, and with a look of displeasure that required little explanation, would have walked out of the room; when Mr Harrel, in a tone of bitterness and disappointment, called out Is this lady-like tyranny then never to end? And Sir Robert, impatiently following her, said And is my suspense to endure for ever? After so many months attendance
This, indeed, is something too much, said Cecilia, turning back, You have been kept, Sir, in no suspense; the whole tenor of my conduct has uniformly declared the same disapprobation I at present avow, and which my letter, at least, must have put beyond all doubt.
Harrel, exclaimed Sir Robert, did not you tell me
Pho, Pho, cried Harrel, what signifies calling upon me? I never saw in Miss Beverley any disapprobation beyond what it is customary for young ladies of a sentimental turn to shew; and every body knows that where a gentleman is allowed to pay his devoirs for any length of time, no lady intends to use him very severely.
And can you, Mr Harrel, said Cecilia, after such conversations as have passed between us, persevere in this wilful misapprehension? But it is vain to debate where all reasoning is disregarded, or to make any protestations where even rejection is received as a favour.
And then, with an air of disdain, she insisted upon passing them, and went to her own room.
Mrs Harrel, however, still followed, and clinging round her, still supplicated her pity and compliance.
What infatuation is this! cried Cecilia, is it possible that you, too, can suppose I ever mean to accept Sir Robert?
To be sure I do, answered she, for Mr Harrel has told me a thousand times, that however you played the prude, you would be his at last.
Cecilia, though doubly irritated against Mr Harrel, was now appeased with his lady, whose mistake, however ill-founded, offered an excuse for her behaviour; but she assured her in the strongest terms that her repugnance to the Baronet was unalterable, yet told her she might claim from her every good office that was not wholly unreasonable.
These were words of slender comfort to Mrs Harrel, who well knew that her wishes and reason had but little affinity, and she soon, therefore, left the room.
Cecilia then resolved to go instantly to Mrs Delvile, acquaint her with the necessity of her removal, and make her decision whither, according to the manner in which her intelligence should be received.
She sent, therefore, to order a chair, and was already in the hall, when she was stopt by the entrance of Mr Monckton, who, addressing her with a look of haste and earnestness, said, I will not ask whither you are going so early, or upon what errand, for I must beg a moments audience, be your business what it may.
Cecilia then accompanied him to the deserted breakfast room, which none but the servants had this morning entered, and there, grasping her hand, he said, Miss Beverley, you must fly this house directly! it is the region of disorder and licentiousness, and unfit to contain you.
She assured him she was that moment preparing to quit it, but begged he would explain himself.
I have taken care, he answered, for some time past, to be well informed of all the proceedings of Mr Harrel; and the intelligence I procured this morning is of the most alarming nature. I find he spent the night before the last entirely at a gaming table, where, intoxicated by a run of good luck, he passed the whole of the next day in rioting with his profligate intimates, and last night, returning again to his favourite amusement, he not only lost all he had gained, but much more than he could pay. Doubt not, therefore, but you will be called upon to assist him; he still considers you as his resource in times of danger, and while he knows you are under his roof, he will always believe himself secure.
Every thing indeed conspires, said Cecilia, more shocked than surprised at this account, to make it necessary I should quit his house; yet I do not think he has at present any further expectations from me, as he came into the room this morning not merely without speaking to me, but behaved with a brutality to Mrs Harrel that he must be certain would give me disgust. It shewed me, indeed, a new part of his character, for ill as I have long thought of him, I did not suspect he could be guilty of such unmanly cruelty.
The character of a gamester, said Mr Monckton, depends solely upon his luck; his disposition varies with every throw of the dice, and he is airy, gay and good humoured, or sour, morose and savage, neither from nature nor from principle, but wholly by the caprice of chance.
Cecilia then related to him the scene in which she had just been engaged with Sir Robert Floyer.
This, cried he, is a manoeuvre I have been some time expecting; but Mr Harrel, though artful and selfish, is by no means deep. The plan he had formed would have succeeded with some women, and he therefore concluded it would with all. So many of your sex have been subdued by perseverance, and so many have been conquered by boldness, that he supposed when he united two such powerful besiegers in the person of a Baronet, he should vanquish all obstacles. By assuring you that the world thought the marriage already settled, he hoped to surprise you into believing there was no help for it, and by the suddenness and vehemence of the attack, to frighten and hurry you into compliance. His own wife, he knew, might have been managed thus with ease, and so, probably, might his sister, and his mother, and his cousin, for in love matters, or what are so called, women in general are, readily duped. He discerned not the superiority of your understanding to tricks so shallow and impertinent, nor the firmness of your mind in maintaining its own independence. No doubt but he was amply to have been rewarded for his assistance, and probably had you this morning been propitious, the Baronet in return was to have cleared him from his present difficulty.
Even in my own mind, said Cecilia, I can no longer defend him, for he could never have been so eager to promote the interest of Sir Robert, in the present terrible situation of his own affairs, had he not been stimulated by some secret motives. His schemes and his artifices, however, will now be utterly lost upon me, since your warning and advice, aided by my own suffering experience of the inutility of all I can do for him, will effectually guard me from all his future attempts.
Rest no security upon yourself, said Mr Monckton, since you have no knowledge of the many tricks and inventions by which you may yet be plundered. Perhaps he may beg permission to reside in your house in Suffolk, or desire an annuity for his wife, or chuse to receive your first rents when you come of age; and whatever he may fix upon, his dagger and his bowl will not fail to procure him. A heart so liberal as yours can only be guarded by flight. You were going, you said, when I came,and whither?
Toto St Jamess-square, answered she, with a deep blush.
Indeed!is young Delvile, then, going abroad?
Abroad?no,I believe not.
Nay, I only imagined it from your chusing to reside in his house.
I do not chuse it, cried Cecilia, with quickness, but is not any thing preferable to dwelling with Mr Briggs?
Certainly, said Mr Monckton coolly, nor should I have supposed he had any chance with you, had I not hitherto observed that your convenience has always been sacrificed to your sense of propriety.
Certainly, said Mr Monckton coolly, nor should I have supposed he had any chance with you, had I not hitherto observed that your convenience has always been sacrificed to your sense of propriety.
Cecilia, touched by praise so full of censure, and earnest to vindicate her delicacy, after an internal struggle, which Mr Monckton was too subtle to interrupt, protested she would go instantly to Mr Briggs, and see if it were possible to be settled in his house, before she made any attempt to fix herself elsewhere.
And when? said Mr Monckton.
I dont know, answered she, with some hesitation, perhaps this afternoon.
Why not this morning?
I can go out no where this morning; I must stay with Mrs Harrel.
You thought otherwise when I came, you were then content to leave her.
Cecilias alacrity, however, for changing her abode, was now at an end, and she would fain have been left quietly to re-consider her plans; but Mr Monckton urged so strongly the danger of her lengthened stay in the house of so designing a man as Mr Harrel, that he prevailed with her to quit it without delay, and had himself the satisfaction of handing her to her chair.
CHAPTER viii. A MISERS MANSION
Mr Briggs was at home, and Cecilia instantly and briefly informed him that it was inconvenient for her to live any longer at Mr Harrels, and that if she could be accommodated at his house, she should be glad to reside with him during the rest of her minority.
Shall, shall, cried he, extremely pleased, take you with all my heart. Warrant Master Harrels made a good penny of you. Not a bit the better for dressing so fine; many a rogue in a gold lace hat.
Cecilia begged to know what apartments he could spare for her.
Take you up stairs, cried he, shew you a place for a queen.
He then led her up stairs, and took her to a room entirely dark, and so close for want of air that she could hardly breathe in it. She retreated to the landing-place till he had opened the shutters, and then saw an apartment the most forlorn she had ever beheld, containing no other furniture than a ragged stuff bed, two worn-out rush-bottomed chairs, an old wooden box, and a bit of broken glass which was fastened to the wall by two bent nails.
See here, my little chick, cried he, everything ready! and a box for your gimcracks into the bargain.
You dont mean this place for me, Sir! cried Cecilia, staring.
Do, do; cried he, a deal nicer by and by. Only wants a little furbishing; soon put to rights. Never sweep a room out of use; only wears out brooms for nothing.
But, Sir, can I not have an apartment on the first floor?
No, no, something else to do with it; belongs to the club; secrets in all things! Make this do well enough. Come again next week; wear quite a new face. Nothing wanting but a table; pick you up one at a brokers.
But I am obliged, Sir, to leave Mr Harrels house directly.
Well, well, make shift without a table at first; no great matter if you hant one at all, nothing particular to do with it. Want another blanket, though. Know where to get one; a very good broker hard by. Understand how to deal with him! A close dog, but warm.
I have also two servants, Sir, said Cecilia.
Wont have em! Shant come! Eat me out of house and home.
Whatever they eat, Sir, answered she, will be wholly at my expence, as will everything else that belongs to them.
Better get rid of them; hate servants; all a pack of rogues; think of nothing but stuffing and guzzling.
Then opening another door, See here, he cried, my own room just by; snug as a church!
Cecilia, following him into it, lost a great part of her surprise at the praise he had lavished upon that which he destined for herself, by perceiving that his own was yet more scantily furnished, having nothing in it but a miserable bed without any curtains, and a large chest, which, while it contained his clothes, sufficed both for table and chair.
What are doing here? cried he angrily, to a maid who was making the bed, cant you take more care? beat out all the feathers, see! two on the ground; nothing but waste and extravagance! never mind how soon a mans ruined. Come to want, you slut, see that, come to want!
I can never want more than I do here, said the girl, so thats one comfort.
Cecilia now began to repent she had made known the purport of her visit, for she found it would be utterly impossible to accommodate either her mind or her person to a residence such as was here to be obtained and she only wished Mr Monckton had been present, that he might himself be convinced of the impracticability of his scheme. Her whole business, therefore, now, was to retract her offer, and escape from the house.
I see, Sir, said she, when he turned from his servant, that I cannot be received here without inconvenience, and therefore I will make some new arrangement in my plan.
No, no, cried he, like to have you, tis but fair, all in our turn; wont be chorused; Master Harrels had his share. Sorry could not get you that sweetheart! would not bite; soon find out another; never fret.
But there are so many things with which I cannot possibly dispense, said Cecilia, that I am certain my removing hither would occasion you far more trouble than you at present foresee.
No, no; get all in order soon; go about myself; know how to bid; understand trap; always go shabby; no making a bargain in a good coat. Look sharp at the goods; say they wont do; come away; send somebody else for em. Never go twice myself; nothing got cheap if one seems to have a hankering.
But I am sure it is not possible, said Cecilia, hurrying down stairs, that my room, and one for each of my servants, should be ready in time.
Yes, yes, cried he, following her, ready in a trice. Make a little shift at first; double the blanket till we get another; lie with the maid a night or two; never stand for a trifle.
And, when she was seated in her chair, the whole time disclaiming her intention of returning, he only pinched her cheek with a facetious smirk, and said, By, by, little duck; come again soon. Warrant Ill have the room ready. Shant half know it again; make it as smart as a carrot.
And then she left the house; fully satisfied that no one could blame her refusing to inhabit it, and much less chagrined than she was willing to suppose herself, in finding she had now no resource but in the Delviles.
Yet, in her serious reflections, she could not but think herself strangely unfortunate that the guardian with whom alone it seemed proper for her to reside, should by parsimony, vulgarity, and meanness, render riches contemptible, prosperity unavailing, and economy odious; and that the choice of her uncle should thus unhappily have fallen upon the lowest and most wretched of misers, in a city abounding with opulence, hospitality, and splendour, and of which the principal inhabitants, long eminent for their wealth and their probity, were now almost universally rising in elegance and liberality.
CHAPTER ix. A DECLARATION
Cecilias next progress, therefore, was to St Jamess-square, whither she went in the utmost anxiety, from her uncertainty of the reception with which her proposal would meet.
The servants informed her that Mr and Mrs Delvile were at breakfast, and that the Duke of Derwent and his two daughters were with them.
Before such witnesses to relate the reasons of her leaving the Harmless was impossible; and from such a party to send for Mrs Delvile, would, by her stately guardian, be deemed an indecorum unpardonable. She was obliged, therefore, to return to Portman-square, in order to open her cause in a letter to Mrs Delvile.