Precaution eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 539 pages of information about Precaution.

Precaution eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 539 pages of information about Precaution.
acquired by himself abroad.  The dutiful son might have added, if respect and feeling had not kept him silent, that his offers of settling a large jointure upon his elder sister had been accepted, and that the following week was to make her the bride of the emaciated debauchee who now sat by her side.  He might also have said, that when the proposition was made to himself and Grace, both had shrunk from the alliance with disgust:  and that both had united in humble though vain remonstrances to their mother, against the sacrifice, and in petitions to their sister, that she would not be accessary to her own misery.  There was no pecuniary sacrifice they would not make to her, to avert such a connexion; but all was fruitless—­Kate was resolved to be a viscountess, and her mother was equally determined that she should be rich.

Chapter XXX.

A day elapsed between the departure of Denbigh and the reappearance of Emily amongst her friends.  An indifferent observer would have thought her much graver and less animated than usual.  A loss of the rich color which ordinarily glowed on her healthful cheek might be noticed; but the placid sweetness and graceful composure which regulated her former conduct pervaded all she did or uttered.  Not so with Jane:  her pride had suffered more than her feelings—­her imagination had been more deceived than her judgment—­and although too well bred and soft by nature to become rude or captious, she was changed from a communicative, to a reserved; from a confiding, to a suspicious companion.  Her parents noticed this alteration with an uneasiness that was somewhat embittered by the consciousness of a neglect of some of those duties that experience now seemed to indicate, could never be forgotten with impunity.

Francis and Clara had arrived from their northern tour, so happy in each other, and so contented with their lot, that it required some little exercise of fortitude in both Lady Moseley and her daughters, to expel unpleasant recollections while they contemplated it.  Their relation of the little incidents of their tour had, however, an effect to withdraw the attention of their friends in some degree from late occurrences; and a melancholy and sympathizing kind of association had taken place of the unbounded confidence and gaiety; which so lately prevailed at Benfield Lodge.  Mr. Benfield mingled with his solemnity an air of mystery; and he was frequently noticed by his relatives looking over old papers, and was apparently employed in preparations that indicated movements of more than usual importance.

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Precaution from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.