Complete Works of Jane Austen (316 page)

‘Good Heavens!’ said Kitty, ‘what can all this mean! And who can it possibly be! Did you never see him before! And did not he tell you his name!’

‘No, ma’am, he never said anything about it — So then I asked him to walk into the parlour, and he was prodigious agreeable, and —

‘Whoever he is,’ said her mistress, ‘he has made a great impression upon you, Nanny — But where did he come from? and what does he want here?’

‘Oh! Ma’am, I was going to tell you, that I fancy his business is with you; for he asked me whether you were at leisure to see anybody, and desired I would give his compliments to you, and say he should be very happy to wait on you — However I thought he had better not come up into your dressing room, especially as everything is in such a litter, so I told him if he would be so obliging as to stay in the parlour, I would run up stairs and tell you he was come, and I dared to say that you would wait upon him. Lord, ma’am, I’d lay anything that he is come to ask you to dance with him tonight, and has got his chaise ready to take you to Mr Dudley’s.’

Kitty could not help laughing at this idea, and only wished it might be true, as it was very likely that she would be too late for any other partner — But what, in the name of wonder, can he have to say to me! Perhaps he is come to rob the house — he comes in style at least; and it will be some consolation for our losses to be robbed by a gentleman in a chaise and four — . What livery has his servants?’

‘Why that is the most wonderful thing about him, ma’am, for he has not a single servant with him, and came with hack horses; but he is as handsome as a Prince for all that, and has quite the look of one. Do, dear ma’am, go down, for I am sure you will be delighted with him—’

‘Well, I believe I must go; but it is very odd! What can he have to say to me.’ Then giving one look at herself in the glass, she walked with great impatience, tho’ trembling all the while from not knowing what to expect, down stairs, and after pausing a moment at the door to gather courage for opening it, she resolutely entered the room. The stranger, whose appearance did not disgrace the account she had received of it from her maid, rose up on her entrance, and laying aside the newspaper he had been reading, advanced towards her with an air of the most perfect ease and vivacity, and said to her, ‘It is certainly a very awkward circumstance to be thus obliged to introduce myself, but I trust that the necessity of the case will plead my excuse, and prevent your being prejudiced by it against me — . Your name, I need not ask, ma’am — .Miss Percival is too well known to me by description to need any information of that.’

Kitty, who had been expecting him to tell his own name, instead of hers, and who from having been little in company, and never before in such a situation, felt herself unable to ask it, tho’ she had been planning her speech all the way down stairs, was so confused and distressed by this unexpected address that she could only return a slight curtsy to it, and accepted the chair he reached her, without knowing what she did. The gentleman then continued. ‘You are, I dare say, surprised to see me returned from France so soon, and nothing indeed but business could have brought me to England; a very melancholy affair has now occasioned it, and I was unwilling to leave it without paying my respects to the family in Devonshire whom I have so long wished to be acquainted with — .’ Kitty, who felt much more surprised at his supposing her to be so, than at seeing a person in England, whose having ever left it was perfectly unknown to her, still continued silent from wonder and perplexity, and her visitor still continued to talk.

‘You will suppose, madam, that I was not the less desirous of waiting on you, from your having Mr and Mrs Stanley with you — . I hope they are well? And Mrs Percival, how does she do?’ Then without waiting for an answer he gaily added, But my dear Miss Percival, you are going out I am sure; and I am detaining you from your appointment. How can I ever expect to be forgiven for such injustice! Yet how can I, so circumstanced, forbear to offend! You seem dressed for a ball! But this is the land of gaiety I know; I have for many years been desirous of visiting it. You have dances I suppose at least every week — But where are the rest of your party gone, and what kind angel in compassion to me, has excluded you from it?’

‘Perhaps sir,’ said Kitty extremely confused by his manner of speaking to her, and highly displeased with the freedom of his conversation towards one who had never seen him before and did not now know his name, ‘perhaps sir, you are acquainted with Mr and Mrs Stanley; and your business may be with them?’

‘You do me too much honour, ma’am,’ replied he laughing, ‘in supposing me to be acquainted with Mr and Mrs Stanley; I merely know them by sight; very distant relations; only my father and mother. Nothing more I assure you.’

‘Gracious Heaven! said Kitty,’are you Mr Stanley then? — I beg a thousand pardons — Though really upon recollection I do not know for what — for you never told me your name—’

‘I beg your pardon — I made a very fine speech when you entered the room, all about introducing myself; I assure you it was very great for me.’

The speech had certainly great merit,’ said Kitty smiling; ‘I thought so at the time; but since you never mentioned your name in it, as an introductory one it might have been better.’

There was such an air of good humour and gaiety in Stanley, that Kitty, tho’ perhaps not authorized to address him with so much familiarity on so short an acquaintance, could not forbear indulging the natural unreserve and vivacity of her own disposition, in speaking to him, as he spoke to her. She was intimately acquainted too with his family who were her relations, and she chose to consider herself entitled by the connexion to forget how little a while they had known each other. ‘Mr and Mrs Stanley and your sister are extremely well,’ said she, ‘and will I dare say be very much surprised to see you — But I am sorry to hear that your return to England has been occasioned by an unpleasant circumstance.’

‘Oh, don’t talk of it,’ said he, ‘it is a most confounded shocking affair, and makes me miserable to think of it; But where are my father and mother, and your aunt gone! Oh! Do you know that I met the prettiest little waiting maid in the world, when I came here; she let me into the house; I took her for you at first.’

‘You did me a great deal of honour, and give me more credit for good nature than I deserve, for I never go to the door when any one comes.’

‘Nay do not be angry; I mean no offence. But tell me, where are you going to so smart? Your carriage is just coming round.’

‘I am going to a dance at a neighbour’s, where your family and my aunt are already gone.’

‘Gone, without you! what’s the meaning of that? But I suppose you are like myself, rather long in dressing.’

‘I must have been so indeed, if that were the case for they have been gone nearly these two hours; The reason however was not what you suppose — I was prevented going by a pain—’

‘By a pain!’ interrupted Stanley, ‘Oh! heavens, that is dreadful indeed! No matter where the pain was. But my dear Miss Percival, what do you say to my accompanying you! And suppose you were to dance with me too? I think it would be very pleasant.’

‘I can have no objection to either I am sure,’ said Kitty laughing to find how near the truth her maid’s conjecture had been; ‘on the contrary I shall be highly honoured by both, and I can answer for your being extremely welcome to the family who give the ball.’

‘Oh! hang them; who cares for that; they cannot turn me out of the house. But I am afraid I shall cut a sad figure among all your Devonshire beaux in this dusty, travelling apparel, and I have not wherewithal to change it. You can procure me some powder perhaps, and I must get a pair of shoes from one of the men, for I was in such a devil of a hurry to leave Lyons that I had not time to have anything pack’d up but some linen.’ Kitty very readily undertook to procure for him everything he wanted, and telling the footman to show him into Mr Stanley’s dressing room, gave Nanny orders to send in some powder and pomatum, which orders Nanny chose to execute in person. As Stanley’s preparations in dressing were confined to such very trifling articles, Kitty of course expected him in about ten minutes; but she found that it had not been merely a boast of vanity in saying that he was dilatory in that respect, as he kept her waiting for him above half an hour, so that the clock had struck ten before he entered the room and the rest of the party had gone by eight.

‘Well,’ said he as he came in, ‘have not I been very quick! I never hurried so much in my life before.’

‘In that case you certainly have,’ replied Kitty, ‘for all merit you know is comparative.’

‘Oh! I knew you would be delighted with me for making so much haste — . But come, the carriage is ready; so, do not keep me waiting.’ And so saying he took her by the hand, and led her out of the room.

‘Why, my dear Cousin,’ said he when they were seated, ‘this will be a most agreeable surprise to everybody to see you enter the room with such a smart young fellow as I am — I hope your aunt won’t be alarmed.’

‘To tell you the truth,’ replied Kitty, ‘I think the best way to prevent it, will be to send for her, or your mother before we go into the room, especially as you are a perfect stranger, and must of course be introduced to Mr and Mrs Dudley—’

‘Oh! Nonsense,’ said he; ‘I did not expect you to stand upon such ceremony; Our acquaintance with each other renders all such prudery, ridiculous; Besides, if we go in together, we shall be the whole talk of the country—’

‘To me’ replied Kitty, ‘that would certainly be a most powerful inducement; but I scarcely know whether my aunt would consider it as such — . Women at her time of life, have odd ideas of propriety you know.’

‘Which is the very thing that you ought to break them of; and why should you object to entering a room with me where all our relations are, when you have done me the honour to admit me without any chaperone into your carriage? Do not you think your aunt will be as much offended with you for one, as for the other of these mighty crimes?’

‘Why really’ said Catharine, ‘I do not know but that she may; however, it is no reason that I should offend against decorum a second time, because I have already done it once.’

‘On the contrary, that is the very reason which makes it impossible for you to prevent it, since you cannot offend for the first time again.’

‘You are very ridiculous,’ said she laughing, ‘but I am afraid your arguments divert me too much to convince me.’

‘At least they will convince you that I am very agreeable, which after all, is the happiest conviction for me, and as to the affair of propriety we will let that rest till we arrive at our journey’s end — . This is a monthly ball I suppose. Nothing but dancing here — .’

‘I thought I had told you that it was given by a Mr and Mrs Dudley—’

‘Oh! aye so you did; but why should not Mr Dudley give one every month! By the bye who is that man? Everybody gives balls now I think; I believe I must give one myself soon — . Well, but how do you like my father and mother? And poor little Camilla too, has not she plagued you to death with the Halifaxes’ Here the carriage fortunately stopped at Mr Dudley’s, and Stanley was too much engaged in handing her out of it, to wait for an answer, or to remember that what he had said required one. They entered the small vestibule which Mr Dudley had raised to the dignity of a hall, and Kitty immediately desired the footman who was leading the way upstairs, to inform either Mrs Percival, or Mrs Stanley of her arrival, and beg them to come to her, but Stanley unused to any contradiction and impatient to be amongst them, would neither allow her to wait, or listen to what she said, and forcibly seizing her arm within his, overpowered her voice with the rapidity of his own, and Kitty half angry, and half laughing was obliged to go with him up stairs, and could even with difficulty prevail on him to relinquish her hand before they entered the room.

Mrs Percival was at that very moment engaged in conversation with a lady at the upper end of the room, to whom she had been giving a long account of her niece’s unlucky disappointment, and the dreadful pain that she had with so much fortitude, endured the whole day—’I left her however,’ said she, ‘thank heaven, a little better, and I hope she has been able to amuse herself with a book, poor thing! for she must otherwise be very dull. She is probably in bed by this time, which while she is so poorly, is the best place for her you know, ma’am.’ The lady was going to give her assent to this opinion, when the noise of voices on the stairs, and the footman’s opening the door as if for the entrance of company, attracted the attention of every body in the room; and as it was in one of those intervals between the dances when every one seemed glad to sit down, Mrs Percival had a most unfortunate opportunity of seeing her niece whom she had supposed in bed, or amusing herself as the height of gaiety with a book, enter the room most elegantly dressed, with a smile on her countenance, and a glow of mingled cheerfulness and confusion on her cheeks, attended by a young man uncommonly handsome, and who without any of her confusion, appeared to have all her vivacity. Mrs Percival, colouring with anger and astonishment, rose from her seat, and Kitty walked eagerly towards her, impatient to account for what she saw appeared wonderful to every body, and extremely offensive to her, while Camilla on seeing her brother ran instantly towards him, and very soon explained who he was by her words and actions. Mr Stanley, who so fondly doted on his son, that the pleasure of seeing him again after an absence of three months prevented his feeling for the time any anger against him for returning to England without his knowledge, received him with equal surprise and delight; and soon comprehending the cause of his journey, forbore any further conversation with him, as he was eager to see his mother, and it was necessary that he should be introduced to Mr Dudley’s family. This introduction to any one but Stanley would have been highly unpleasant, for they considered their dignity injured by his coming uninvited to their house, and received him with more than their usual haughtiness: But Stanley who with a vivacity of temper seldom subdued, and a contempt of censure not to be overcome, possessed an opinion of his own consequence, and a perseverance in his own schemes which were not to be damped by the conduct of others, appeared not to perceive it. The civilities therefore which they coldly offered, he received with a gaiety and ease peculiar to himself, and then attended by his father and sister walked into another room where his mother was playing at cards, to experience another meeting, and undergo a repetition of pleasure, surprise and explanations. While these were passing, Camilla eager to communicate all she felt to some one who would attend to her, returned to Catharine, and seating herself by her, immediately began—’Well, did you ever know anything so delightful as this! But it always is so; I never go to a ball in my life but what something or other happens unexpectedly that is quite charming!’