Ernest Maltravers, Book 8

ut of occasions, that has an eye can sta

ace is never seen

e two kinsmen were on their way to London in the earl's chariot, "

n and a man of genius; but gentlemen are plentiful, and his geni

son-in-law vot

arliamentary influence, and all the wealth that ought to go with the family and with the party, g

a rental of L100,000 a year. It is too ridiculous.

ed for the worse of late year

ld rather, of the two, have

t Ernest's fortune-I cannot make such settlements: my lin

00 a year, if he settled it all. As for family, connections tell more nowadays than Norman descent,-and for the rest, you are likely to be old Templeton's heir, to have a peerage (a large sum of ready money is alw

erie, and Lord Saxingham took up his official red box, became deep

to give it him. The Signor generally called every day for his notes, but no one at the club knew where he lodged. Ferrers wrote, and left with the porter a line requesting Cesarini to call on him as soon as possible, and he bent his way to his house in Great George Street. He went straight into his library, unlocke

and conf

AR CES

race-to content herself with the homage of a single heart? I do not know her enough to decide the question; but I know her enough to feel deep solicitude and anxiety for your happiness, if centred in a nature so imperious and so vain. But you will remind me of her fortune, her station. You will say that such are the sources from which, to an ambitious mind, happiness may well be drawn! Alas! I fear that the man who marries Lady Floren

ou

LTRAV

h out 'your,' and put 'my.' All the rest good, good-till we come to 'affections which you ascribe to her, and suppose devoted to /yourself/'-for '/yourself/' write '/myself/'-the rest will do. Now, then, the date-we must change it to the present month, and the work is done. I wish that Italian blockhead would come. If I can but once make an irreparable breach between her and Maltravers, I think I cannot fail of securing his place; her pique, her resentment, will hurry her in

-sad waste-must send out for one." He rang the bell, ordered a penknife to be purchased, and the

you will excuse my having written to you so unceremoniously. You received my no

laconically, "wine; you

wine appeared; he was rather surprised to observe Cesarini pour out and drink off glass upon glass, with an evident craving for the excitement. When h

true diviner. I make no doubt Othello was quite right, and Desdemona was no bett

ghastly; his whole frame shook like a

breath, and betwixt his grinded teeth-"curse h

t?-here it is. He warns you against Lady Florence,

the passions of his climate in his face, "and I will be avenged! Bankrupt in fortune, ruined i

is worth thinking about; if not, it is a mockery-your shot misses, his goes in the air, se

arini, fiercely, "this

what is more, I so detest Maltravers, I am so stung by his cold superiority, so wroth with his success, so loathe the thought of his alliance,

oomily, clenched his hand, and st

so would I. Now what sh

rr

him to the

and stamp not; but sit down, and be reas

have alarmed a man less resolute than Ferrers

when you should be devising and plotting for the attainment of boundless wealth. Revenge and ambit

e do? and what but his

ur aim, or he, being the stronger man, strike you down, you will be locked up in a madhouse for the next

are you to me? I wil

esarini about to leave the room; "stay, take

and then, as it were

hed-well-now observe-if Florence sees that letter she will not

are words in this letter no woman so proud could

much of Lady Florence. He himself has confessed to her that he did not then love her-so much the more would she valu

n? Did you not just now say that, did she see

tter from you, demanding his advice and opinion as to your marriage with Lady Florence, but in answer to a letter of yours in which you congratulate him on his approaching marriag

he trifling substitutions he proposed, might i

o through a part that requires subtlety, delicacy, address, and, above all,

s, it may be base; but I care not, Maltravers sh

re you l

of town a

cannot trust you out of my sight. Send for

ls the awe of solitude, and the necessity of a companion. He wen

irtiest trick that ever I played; but the glorious end sanctifies the pal

rite, Ferrers completed his task, with the exception of the change of date, whi

ini must read the letter to her, then if she glances over it herself it will be with bewildered eyes and a dizzy brain. Above all, he must not leave it with her, and must bind her to t