Depend upon it, my dear Betty, romance
carried the day; and the damsel is more enamoured of the mysterious
voice in the dark, than she would be of any lusty swain in the ordinary
light of day."
"All that may be, madam, but she is scarce yet sixteen, and it is
our duty to be assured of her inclinations and of the gentleman's
condition."
"You will not trust me, who have watched them both," said Lady
Belamour, with her most engaging manner. "Now look here, my dear,
since we are two women together, safe out of the hearing of the men,
I will be round with you. I freely own myself imprudent in sending
your sister to Bowstead to take charge of my poor little girls, but
if you had seen the little savages they were, you would not wonder
that I could not take them home at once, nor that I should wish to
see them acquire the good manners that I remembered in the children
of this house; I never dreamt of Mr. Belamour heeding the little
nursery. He has always been an obstinate melancholic lunatic,
confined to his chamber by day, and wandering like a ghost by night,
refusing all admission. Moreover my good Aylward had appeared
hitherto a paragon of a duenna for discretion, only over starched
in her precision. Little did I expect to find my young lady spending
all her evenings alone with him, and the solitary hermit transformed
into a gay and gallant bachelor like the Friar of Orders Gray in the
song.
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