ABSTRACT
Ellesmere had been talked to till he had no inclination to hear even the sound of his own voice; and D’Alonville was still less disposed to speak. They rode near a mile together before this silence was broken, by Ellesmere’s checking his horse suddenly, and asking his friend whether he thought Captain Caverly would not have something to undergo for having suffered them to keep his dinner waiting so long? D’Alonville, who by no means understood the question, asked an explanation. ‘Why, don’t you know, my friend,’ said he, ‘that our good uncle, who never could be prevailed upon to submit to the yoke of matrimony, of which he entertained the most formidable ideas, is under the dominion of an housekeeper, who governs him with more severity than the most imperious dame of family would probably ever [have] thought84 of exercising? As she does not love me much, for she has taken up, I know not how, a notion that I make the honest Captain restless under her authority; and as she always suspects I may come in for a share of his fortune, for which she has provided other claimants, she has made several attempts to shut me out from ever appearing in her little despotic government. In this instance, however, our old soldier has stoutly resisted her tyranny; but the knowledge that it gives her an opportunity of teazing him, always shortens my visits, and renders them less pleasant to me while they last. Heaven knows, that to possess, or even to share, the little fortune of Captain Caverly, never made any part of my scheme of life; but I love my uncle, and wish he had made out for himself a happier destiny.’ ‘I beseech you,’ said D’Alonville, ‘if our delay is likely to be the occasion of a moment’s uneasiness to him, let us make more haste.’ ‘No,’ answered Ellesmere, ‘it is not so much that which just now struck me; for though a dinner spoiled is a very serious grievance, yet with a few hours grumbling and pouting, it may be got over; but what led me to think and to speak of my uncle’s governante, was, the difficulty he will have to escape from her wrath, when it is known that he is about to 266make an acquaintance with these French ladies, and even proposed receiving them into his house.’
