Jane Austen 14 страница

with the more decided promise of a longer visit on the morrow.

Mrs Smith gave a most good-humoured acquiescence.

 

"By all means," said she; "only tell me all about it, when you do come.

Who is your party?"

 

Anne named them all. Mrs Smith made no reply; but when she was

leaving her said, and with an expression half serious, half arch,

"Well, I heartily wish your concert may answer; and do not fail me

to-morrow if you can come; for I begin to have a foreboding

that I may not have many more visits from you."

 

Anne was startled and confused; but after standing in a moment`s suspense,

was obliged, and not sorry to be obliged, to hurry away.

 

Chapter 20

 

 

Sir Walter, his two daughters, and Mrs Clay, were the earliest

of all their party at the rooms in the evening; and as Lady Dalrymple

must be waited for, they took their station by one of the fires

in the Octagon Room. But hardly were they so settled, when the door

opened again, and Captain Wentworth walked in alone. Anne was

the nearest to him, and making yet a little advance, she instantly spoke.

He was preparing only to bow and pass on, but her gentle "How do you do?"

brought him out of the straight line to stand near her, and make enquiries

in return, in spite of the formidable father and sister in the back ground.

Their being in the back ground was a support to Anne; she knew nothing

of their looks, and felt equal to everything which she believed

right to be done.

 

While they were speaking, a whispering between her father and Elizabeth

caught her ear. She could not distinguish, but she must guess the subject;

and on Captain Wentworth`s making a distant bow, she comprehended

that her father had judged so well as to give him that

simple acknowledgement of acquaintance, and she was just in time

by a side glance to see a slight curtsey from Elizabeth herself.

This, though late, and reluctant, and ungracious, was yet

better than nothing, and her spirits improved.

 

After talking, however, of the weather, and Bath, and the concert,

their conversation began to flag, and so little was said at last,

that she was expecting him to go every moment, but he did not;

he seemed in no hurry to leave her; and presently with renewed spirit,

with a little smile, a little glow, he said--

 

"I have hardly seen you since our day at Lyme. I am afraid you must have

suffered from the shock, and the more from its not overpowering you

at the time."

 

She assured him that she had not.

 

"It was a frightful hour," said he, "a frightful day!" and he

passed his hand across his eyes, as if the remembrance were still

too painful, but in a moment, half smiling again, added,

"The day has produced some effects however; has had some consequences

which must be considered as the very reverse of frightful.

When you had the presence of mind to suggest that Benwick would be

the properest person to fetch a surgeon, you could have little idea

of his being eventually one of those most concerned in her recovery."

 

"Certainly I could have none. But it appears--I should hope it would be

a very happy match. There are on both sides good principles

and good temper."

 

"Yes," said he, looking not exactly forward; "but there, I think,

ends the resemblance. With all my soul I wish them happy, and rejoice

over every circumstance in favour of it. They have no difficulties

to contend with at home, no opposition, no caprice, no delays.

The Musgroves are behaving like themselves, most honourably and kindly,

only anxious with true parental hearts to promote their daughter`s comfort.

All this is much, very much in favour of their happiness;

more than perhaps--"

 

He stopped. A sudden recollection seemed to occur, and to give him

some taste of that emotion which was reddening Anne`s cheeks

and fixing her eyes on the ground. After clearing his throat, however,

he proceeded thus--

 

"I confess that I do think there is a disparity, too great a disparity,

and in a point no less essential than mind. I regard Louisa Musgrove

as a very amiable, sweet-tempered girl, and not deficient in understanding,

but Benwick is something more. He is a clever man, a reading man;

and I confess, that I do consider his attaching himself to her

with some surprise. Had it been the effect of gratitude,

had he learnt to love her, because he believed her to be preferring him,

it would have been another thing. But I have no reason to suppose it so.

It seems, on the contrary, to have been a perfectly spontaneous,

untaught feeling on his side, and this surprises me. A man like him,

in his situation! with a heart pierced, wounded, almost broken!

Fanny Harville was a very superior creature, and his attachment to her

was indeed attachment. A man does not recover from such

a devotion of the heart to such a woman. He ought not; he does not."

 

Either from the consciousness, however, that his friend had recovered,

or from other consciousness, he went no farther; and Anne who,

in spite of the agitated voice in which the latter part had been uttered,

and in spite of all the various noises of the room, the almost ceaseless

slam of the door, and ceaseless buzz of persons walking through,

had distinguished every word, was struck, gratified, confused,

and beginning to breathe very quick, and feel an hundred things

in a moment. It was impossible for her to enter on such a subject;

and yet, after a pause, feeling the necessity of speaking,

and having not the smallest wish for a total change, she only deviated

so far as to say--

 

"You were a good while at Lyme, I think?"

 

"About a fortnight. I could not leave it till Louisa`s doing well

was quite ascertained. I had been too deeply concerned in the mischief

to be soon at peace. It had been my doing, solely mine.

She would not have been obstinate if I had not been weak.

The country round Lyme is very fine. I walked and rode a great deal;

and the more I saw, the more I found to admire."

 

"I should very much like to see Lyme again," said Anne.

 

"Indeed! I should not have supposed that you could have found

anything in Lyme to inspire such a feeling. The horror and distress

you were involved in, the stretch of mind, the wear of spirits!

I should have thought your last impressions of Lyme must have been

strong disgust."

 

"The last hours were certainly very painful," replied Anne;

"but when pain is over, the remembrance of it often becomes a pleasure.

One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it,

unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering, which was

by no means the case at Lyme. We were only in anxiety and distress

during the last two hours, and previously there had been a great deal

of enjoyment. So much novelty and beauty! I have travelled so little,

that every fresh place would be interesting to me; but there is real beauty

at Lyme; and in short" (with a faint blush at some recollections),

"altogether my impressions of the place are very agreeable."

 

As she ceased, the entrance door opened again, and the very party appeared

for whom they were waiting. "Lady Dalrymple, Lady Dalrymple,"

was the rejoicing sound; and with all the eagerness compatible

with anxious elegance, Sir Walter and his two ladies stepped forward

to meet her. Lady Dalrymple and Miss Carteret, escorted by Mr Elliot

and Colonel Wallis, who had happened to arrive nearly at the same instant,

advanced into the room. The others joined them, and it was

a group in which Anne found herself also necessarily included.

She was divided from Captain Wentworth. Their interesting,

almost too interesting conversation must be broken up for a time,

but slight was the penance compared with the happiness which brought it on!

She had learnt, in the last ten minutes, more of his feelings

towards Louisa, more of all his feelings than she dared to think of;

and she gave herself up to the demands of the party, to the needful

civilities of the moment, with exquisite, though agitated sensations.

She was in good humour with all. She had received ideas which

disposed her to be courteous and kind to all, and to pity every one,

as being less happy than herself.

 

The delightful emotions were a little subdued, when on stepping back

from the group, to be joined again by Captain Wentworth, she saw

that he was gone. She was just in time to see him turn into

the Concert Room. He was gone; he had disappeared, she felt

a moment`s regret. But "they should meet again. He would look for her,

he would find her out before the evening were over, and at present,

perhaps, it was as well to be asunder. She was in need of

a little interval for recollection."

 

Upon Lady Russell`s appearance soon afterwards, the whole party

was collected, and all that remained was to marshal themselves,

and proceed into the Concert Room; and be of all the consequence

in their power, draw as many eyes, excite as many whispers,

and disturb as many people as they could.

 

Very, very happy were both Elizabeth and Anne Elliot as they walked in.

Elizabeth arm in arm with Miss Carteret, and looking on the broad back

of the dowager Viscountess Dalrymple before her, had nothing to wish for

which did not seem within her reach; and Anne--but it would be

an insult to the nature of Anne`s felicity, to draw any comparison

between it and her sister`s; the origin of one all selfish vanity,

of the other all generous attachment.

 

Anne saw nothing, thought nothing of the brilliancy of the room.

Her happiness was from within. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks glowed;

but she knew nothing about it. She was thinking only of

the last half hour, and as they passed to their seats, her mind took

a hasty range over it. His choice of subjects, his expressions,

and still more his manner and look, had been such as she could see

in only one light. His opinion of Louisa Musgrove`s inferiority,

an opinion which he had seemed solicitous to give, his wonder

at Captain Benwick, his feelings as to a first, strong attachment;

sentences begun which he could not finish, his half averted eyes

and more than half expressive glance, all, all declared that he had

a heart returning to her at least; that anger, resentment, avoidance,

were no more; and that they were succeeded, not merely by friendship

and regard, but by the tenderness of the past. Yes, some share of

the tenderness of the past. She could not contemplate the change

as implying less. He must love her.

 

These were thoughts, with their attendant visions, which occupied

and flurried her too much to leave her any power of observation;

and she passed along the room without having a glimpse of him,

without even trying to discern him. When their places were determined on,

and they were all properly arranged, she looked round to see

if he should happen to be in the same part of the room, but he was not;

her eye could not reach him; and the concert being just opening,

she must consent for a time to be happy in a humbler way.

 

The party was divided and disposed of on two contiguous benches:

Anne was among those on the foremost, and Mr Elliot had manoeuvred so well,

with the assistance of his friend Colonel Wallis, as to have a seat by her.

Miss Elliot, surrounded by her cousins, and the principal object

of Colonel Wallis`s gallantry, was quite contented.

 

Anne`s mind was in a most favourable state for the entertainment

of the evening; it was just occupation enough: she had feelings for

the tender, spirits for the gay, attention for the scientific,

and patience for the wearisome; and had never liked a concert better,

at least during the first act. Towards the close of it,

in the interval succeeding an Italian song, she explained

the words of the song to Mr Elliot. They had a concert bill between them.

 

"This," said she, "is nearly the sense, or rather the meaning of the words,

for certainly the sense of an Italian love-song must not be talked of,

but it is as nearly the meaning as I can give; for I do not pretend

to understand the language. I am a very poor Italian scholar."

 

"Yes, yes, I see you are. I see you know nothing of the matter.

You have only knowledge enough of the language to translate at sight

these inverted, transposed, curtailed Italian lines, into clear,

comprehensible, elegant English. You need not say anything more

of your ignorance. Here is complete proof."

 

"I will not oppose such kind politeness; but I should be sorry to be

examined by a real proficient."

 

"I have not had the pleasure of visiting in Camden Place so long,"

replied he, "without knowing something of Miss Anne Elliot;

and I do regard her as one who is too modest for the world in general

to be aware of half her accomplishments, and too highly accomplished

for modesty to be natural in any other woman."

 

"For shame! for shame! this is too much flattery. I forget what we are

to have next," turning to the bill.

 

"Perhaps," said Mr Elliot, speaking low, "I have had a longer acquaintance

with your character than you are aware of."

 

"Indeed! How so? You can have been acquainted with it only since

I came to Bath, excepting as you might hear me previously spoken of

in my own family."

 

"I knew you by report long before you came to Bath. I had heard you

described by those who knew you intimately. I have been acquainted

with you by character many years. Your person, your disposition,

accomplishments, manner; they were all present to me."

 

Mr Elliot was not disappointed in the interest he hoped to raise.

No one can withstand the charm of such a mystery. To have been

described long ago to a recent acquaintance, by nameless people,

is irresistible; and Anne was all curiosity. She wondered,

and questioned him eagerly; but in vain. He delighted in being asked,

but he would not tell.

 

"No, no, some time or other, perhaps, but not now. He would mention

no names now; but such, he could assure her, had been the fact.

He had many years ago received such a description of Miss Anne Elliot

as had inspired him with the highest idea of her merit, and excited

the warmest curiosity to know her."

 

Anne could think of no one so likely to have spoken with

partiality of her many years ago as the Mr Wentworth of Monkford,

Captain Wentworth`s brother. He might have been in Mr Elliot`s company,

but she had not courage to ask the question.

 

"The name of Anne Elliot," said he, "has long had an interesting sound to me.

Very long has it possessed a charm over my fancy; and, if I dared,

I would breathe my wishes that the name might never change."

 

Such, she believed, were his words; but scarcely had she

received their sound, than her attention was caught by other sounds

immediately behind her, which rendered every thing else trivial.

Her father and Lady Dalrymple were speaking.

 

"A well-looking man," said Sir Walter, "a very well-looking man."

 

"A very fine young man indeed!" said Lady Dalrymple. "More air

than one often sees in Bath. Irish, I dare say."

 

"No, I just know his name. A bowing acquaintance. Wentworth;

Captain Wentworth of the navy. His sister married my tenant

in Somersetshire, the Croft, who rents Kellynch."

 

Before Sir Walter had reached this point, Anne`s eyes had caught

the right direction, and distinguished Captain Wentworth standing

among a cluster of men at a little distance. As her eyes fell on him,

his seemed to be withdrawn from her. It had that appearance.

It seemed as if she had been one moment too late; and as long as she

dared observe, he did not look again: but the performance

was recommencing, and she was forced to seem to restore her attention

to the orchestra and look straight forward.

 

When she could give another glance, he had moved away. He could not have

come nearer to her if he would; she was so surrounded and shut in:

but she would rather have caught his eye.

 

Mr Elliot`s speech, too, distressed her. She had no longer

any inclination to talk to him. She wished him not so near her.

 

The first act was over. Now she hoped for some beneficial change;

and, after a period of nothing-saying amongst the party, some of them

did decide on going in quest of tea. Anne was one of the few who

did not choose to move. She remained in her seat, and so did Lady Russell;

but she had the pleasure of getting rid of Mr Elliot; and she did not mean,

whatever she might feel on Lady Russell`s account, to shrink from

conversation with Captain Wentworth, if he gave her the opportunity.

She was persuaded by Lady Russell`s countenance that she had seen him.

 

He did not come however. Anne sometimes fancied she discerned him

at a distance, but he never came. The anxious interval

wore away unproductively. The others returned, the room filled again,

benches were reclaimed and repossessed, and another hour of pleasure

or of penance was to be sat out, another hour of music was to give

delight or the gapes, as real or affected taste for it prevailed.

To Anne, it chiefly wore the prospect of an hour of agitation.

She could not quit that room in peace without seeing Captain Wentworth

once more, without the interchange of one friendly look.

 

In re-settling themselves there were now many changes, the result of which

was favourable for her. Colonel Wallis declined sitting down again,

and Mr Elliot was invited by Elizabeth and Miss Carteret, in a manner

not to be refused, to sit between them; and by some other removals,

and a little scheming of her own, Anne was enabled to place herself

much nearer the end of the bench than she had been before,

much more within reach of a passer-by. She could not do so,

without comparing herself with Miss Larolles, the inimitable Miss Larolles;

but still she did it, and not with much happier effect;

though by what seemed prosperity in the shape of an early abdication

in her next neighbours, she found herself at the very end of the bench

before the concert closed.

 

Such was her situation, with a vacant space at hand, when Captain Wentworth

was again in sight. She saw him not far off. He saw her too;

yet he looked grave, and seemed irresolute, and only by very slow degrees

came at last near enough to speak to her. She felt that something

must be the matter. The change was indubitable. The difference

between his present air and what it had been in the Octagon Room

was strikingly great. Why was it? She thought of her father,

of Lady Russell. Could there have been any unpleasant glances?

He began by speaking of the concert gravely, more like the Captain

Wentworth of Uppercross; owned himself disappointed, had expected singing;

and in short, must confess that he should not be sorry when it was over.

Anne replied, and spoke in defense of the performance so well,

and yet in allowance for his feelings so pleasantly, that his countenance

improved, and he replied again with almost a smile. They talked

for a few minutes more; the improvement held; he even looked down

towards the bench, as if he saw a place on it well worth occupying;

when at that moment a touch on her shoulder obliged Anne to turn round.

It came from Mr Elliot. He begged her pardon, but she must be applied to,

to explain Italian again. Miss Carteret was very anxious to have

a general idea of what was next to be sung. Anne could not refuse;

but never had she sacrificed to politeness with a more suffering spirit.

 

A few minutes, though as few as possible, were inevitably consumed;

and when her own mistress again, when able to turn and look

as she had done before, she found herself accosted by Captain Wentworth,

in a reserved yet hurried sort of farewell. "He must wish her good night;

he was going; he should get home as fast as he could."

 

"Is not this song worth staying for?" said Anne, suddenly struck

by an idea which made her yet more anxious to be encouraging.

 

"No!" he replied impressively, "there is nothing worth my staying for;"

and he was gone directly.

 

Jealousy of Mr Elliot! It was the only intelligible motive.

Captain Wentworth jealous of her affection! Could she have believed it

a week ago; three hours ago! For a moment the gratification was exquisite.

But, alas! there were very different thoughts to succeed.

How was such jealousy to be quieted? How was the truth to reach him?

How, in all the peculiar disadvantages of their respective situations,

would he ever learn of her real sentiments? It was misery to think

of Mr Elliot`s attentions. Their evil was incalculable.

 

Chapter 21

 

 

Anne recollected with pleasure the next morning her promise

of going to Mrs Smith, meaning that it should engage her from home

at the time when Mr Elliot would be most likely to call; for to avoid

Mr Elliot was almost a first object.

 

She felt a great deal of good-will towards him. In spite of

the mischief of his attentions, she owed him gratitude and regard,

perhaps compassion. She could not help thinking much of the extraordinary

circumstances attending their acquaintance, of the right which

he seemed to have to interest her, by everything in situation,

by his own sentiments, by his early prepossession. It was altogether

very extraordinary; flattering, but painful. There was much to regret.

How she might have felt had there been no Captain Wentworth in the case,

was not worth enquiry; for there was a Captain Wentworth;

and be the conclusion of the present suspense good or bad,

her affection would be his for ever. Their union, she believed,

could not divide her more from other men, than their final separation.

 

Prettier musings of high-wrought love and eternal constancy,

could never have passed along the streets of Bath, than Anne

was sporting with from Camden Place to Westgate Buildings.

It was almost enough to spread purification and perfume all the way.

 

She was sure of a pleasant reception; and her friend seemed this morning

particularly obliged to her for coming, seemed hardly to have expected her,

though it had been an appointment.

 

An account of the concert was immediately claimed; and Anne`s recollections

of the concert were quite happy enough to animate her features

and make her rejoice to talk of it. All that she could tell

she told most gladly, but the all was little for one who had been there,

and unsatisfactory for such an enquirer as Mrs Smith, who had

already heard, through the short cut of a laundress and a waiter,

rather more of the general success and produce of the evening

than Anne could relate, and who now asked in vain for several particulars

of the company. Everybody of any consequence or notoriety in Bath

was well know by name to Mrs Smith.

 

"The little Durands were there, I conclude," said she, "with their mouths

open to catch the music, like unfledged sparrows ready to be fed.

They never miss a concert."

 

"Yes; I did not see them myself, but I heard Mr Elliot say they were

in the room."

 

"The Ibbotsons, were they there? and the two new beauties,

with the tall Irish officer, who is talked of for one of them."

 

"I do not know. I do not think they were."

 

"Old Lady Mary Maclean? I need not ask after her. She never misses,

I know; and you must have seen her. She must have been in your own circle;

for as you went with Lady Dalrymple, you were in the seats of grandeur,

round the orchestra, of course."

 

"No, that was what I dreaded. It would have been very unpleasant to me

in every respect. But happily Lady Dalrymple always chooses

to be farther off; and we were exceedingly well placed, that is,

for hearing; I must not say for seeing, because I appear to have seen

very little."

 

"Oh! you saw enough for your own amusement. I can understand.

There is a sort of domestic enjoyment to be known even in a crowd,

and this you had. You were a large party in yourselves,

and you wanted nothing beyond."

 

"But I ought to have looked about me more," said Anne, conscious

while she spoke that there had in fact been no want of looking about,

that the object only had been deficient.

 

"No, no; you were better employed. You need not tell me that you

had a pleasant evening. I see it in your eye. I perfectly see

how the hours passed: that you had always something agreeable

to listen to. In the intervals of the concert it was conversation."

 

Anne half smiled and said, "Do you see that in my eye?"

 

"Yes, I do. Your countenance perfectly informs me that you were

in company last night with the person whom you think the most agreeable

in the world, the person who interests you at this present time

more than all the rest of the world put together."

 

A blush overspread Anne`s cheeks. She could say nothing.

 

"And such being the case," continued Mrs Smith, after a short pause,

"I hope you believe that I do know how to value your kindness

in coming to me this morning. It is really very good of you

to come and sit with me, when you must have so many pleasanter demands

upon your time."

 

Anne heard nothing of this. She was still in the astonishment and

confusion excited by her friend`s penetration, unable to imagine