The Heiress Part 10

[_Sees MISS ALTON._

_Enter MISS ALTON._

Miss Alscrip, you have certainly the most elegant companion in the world.

_Miss Als._ Dear, do you think so? an ungain, dull sort of a body, in my mind; but we'll try her in the present business. Miss Alton, you must do me a favour.--I want to plague my husband that is to be--you must take my part--you must double me like a second actress at Paris, when the first has the vapours.

_Miss Alton._ Really, madam, the task you would impose upon me--

_Miss Als._ Will be a great improvement to you, and quite right for me.--Don't be grave, Lady Emily--[_Whose attention is fixed on MISS ALTON._] Your brother's penance shall be short, and I'll take the reconciliation scene upon myself.

_Lady E._ [_Endeavouring to recover herself._] I cannot but pity him; especially as I am sure, that do what you will, he will always regard you with the same eyes. And so, my sweet sister, I leave him to your mercy, and to that of your representative, whose disposition, if I have any judgment, is ill suited to a task of severity.

_Mrs. Blandish._ Dear Lady Emily, carry me away with you. When a lover is coming, it shall never be said I am in the way.

_Lady E._ [_Looking at MISS ALTON.--Aside._] What a painful suspense am I to suffer? another instant, and I shall betray myself--adieu, Miss Alscrip.

_Miss Als._ Call Lady Emily's servants.

_Lady E._ You sha'n't stir--remember nimini primini. I am at your orders.

[_Exit._

_Mrs. Blandish._ I follow you, my sweet volatile. [_Coming back, and squeezing MISS ALSCRIP's Hand, in a half whisper._] She'd give her eyes, to be like you.

[_Exit._

_Miss Als._ Now for it, Miss Alton--Only remember that you are doubling me, the woman he adores.

_Miss Alton._ Indeed, madam, I am quite incapable of executing your orders to your satisfaction. The utmost I can undertake is a short message.

_Miss Als._ Never fear. [_Knock at the Door._] There he comes--Step aside, and I'll give you your very words.

[_Exeunt._

_Enter LORD GAYVILLE, conducted by a SERVANT._

_Lord G._ So, now to get thorough this piece of drudgery. There's a meanness in my proceeding, and my compunction is just. Oh, the dear, lost possessor of my heart; lost, irrecoverably lost!

_Enter MISS ALTON, from the Bottom of the Scene._

_Miss Alton._ A pretty employment I am sent upon!

_Lord G._ [_To himself._] Could she but know the sacrifice I am ready to make!

_Miss Alton._ [_To herself._] The very picture of a lover, if absence of mind marks one. It is unpleasant for me to interrupt a man I never saw, but I shall deliver my message very concisely.--My lord----

_Lord G._ [_Turning._] Madam. [_Both start and stand in surprise._]

Astonishment! Miss Alton! my charming fugitive?

_Miss Alton._ How, Mr. Heartly--Lord Gayville!

_Lord G._ My joy and my surprise are alike unutterable. But I conjure you, madam, tell me by what strange circ.u.mstance do I meet you here?

_Miss Alton._ [_Aside._] Now a.s.sist me, honest pride! a.s.sist me, resentment.

_Lord G._ You spoke to me--Did you know me?

_Miss Alton._ No otherwise, my lord, than as Miss Alscrip's lover.

I had a message from her to your lordship.

_Lord G._ For Heaven's sake, madam, in what capacity?

_Miss Alton._ In one, my lord, not very much above the cla.s.s of a servant.

_Lord G._ Impossible, sure! It is to place the brilliant below the foil--to make the inimitable work of nature secondary to art and defect.

_Miss Alton._ It is to take refuge in a situation that offers me security against suspicious obligation; against vile design; against the attempts of a seducer--It is to exercise the patience, that the will, and perhaps the favour, of Heaven meant to try.

_Lord G._ Cruel, cruel to yourself and me--Could I have had a happiness like that of a.s.sisting you against the injustice of fortune--and when to be thus degraded was the alternative?--

_Miss Alton._ My lord, it is fit I should be explicit. Reflect upon the language you have held to me; view the character in which you present yourself to this family; and then p.r.o.nounce in whose breast we must look for a sense of degradation.

_Lord G._ In mine, and mine alone. I confess it--Hear nevertheless my defence--My actions are all the result of love. And culpable as I may seem, my conscience does not reproach me with----

_Miss Alton._ Oh, my lord, I readily believe you--You are above its reproaches--qualities, that are infamous and fatal, in one cla.s.s of life, create applause and conscientious satisfaction in another.

_Lord G._ Infamous and fatal qualities! What means my lovely accuser?

_Miss Alton._ That to steal or stab is death in common life: but when one of your lordship's degree sets his hard heart upon the destruction of a woman, how glorious is his success! How consummate his triumph, when he can follow the theft of her affections by the murder of her honour.

_Enter MISS ALSCRIP softly behind._

_Miss Als._ I wonder how it goes on.

_Lord G._ Exalted! Adorable woman!

_Miss Als._ Adorable! Ay, I thought how 'twould be!

_Lord G._ Hear me! I conjure you--

_Miss Als._ Not a word, if she knows her business.

_Miss Alton._ My lord! I have heard too much.

_Miss Als._ Brava. I could not have played it better myself.

_Lord G._ Oh! Still more charming than severe.