The Manoeuvring Mother (Vol. 1-3). Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury
in your room altogether, for she may learn odd words from the nursery-maids, and that would distract me."
"I will remove her from the nursery immediately, my lady," replied the obedient Thompson.
"There now, take every thing away, and keep the door shut, that I may not hear the baby scream. I suppose the nurse is healthy, and all that, Thompson?"
"I believe so, my lady."
"Very well, I think I am going to sleep now, so do not come near me till I ring."
Thompson departed with stealthy steps, and closed the scarlet baized doors which separated the nursery apartments from the wing which contained her lady's boudoir and sleeping chamber; but no precautions could deaden the piercing screams which issued from the unfortunate Anna Maria during the operation of transplanting her little person from the pleasures of companionship to the desolate advantages of Thompson's sitting-room.
Rage crimsoned every feature, and swelled her little heart almost to bursting. In vain Thompson assured the angry girl how necessary the translation would prove towards her future establishment—how impossible it was for a young lady to succeed in after life if her hands were purple, and her nose red, with giving way to excessive emotion. Anna Maria became more intractable, and her three sisters advocated her cause. There was an "emeute" in the nurseries of Wetheral Castle. Anna Maria screamed violently, and the shrill sound was caught up and perpetuated by her party. Thompson was at fault, but she tried to gain time by the protocol system.
"Listen, my dear Miss Anna Maria, while I explain to you the system your mamma wishes you to pursue."
"I won't listen!" screamed Anna Maria.
"We won't listen!" shouted her supporters.
"Then you will never marry Master Pynsent," cried Thompson, with incautious indignation.
This threat raised the defiance of the whole group, and the tumult became deafening. A bell rang violently.
"There, young ladies!" exclaimed Thompson, "now you will get into a fine scrape!"
Lady Wetheral was scandalized at the rude sounds which had penetrated into her chamber, and Thompson's statement utterly confounded her.
"I am sure, Thompson, I do not know how to make arrangements for such conduct. I suppose they must have their own way, which is very disagreeable, but you know I cannot produce Miss Anna Maria at Court Herbert, with swelled features and a sulky face. Let her do as she likes then, Thompson; we can't help ourselves."
Thus ended the insurrection in Wetheral Castle, which even the infant appeared to enjoy, as it crowed, and nearly kicked itself out of her nurse's arms, when the tumult was loudest. She then predicted it would delight in stirring sounds, and become a fearless character.
This emeute produced serious results, which Lady Wetheral had not anticipated, but which ever succeeds to power wielded by weak and unsteady hands. Miss Anna Maria became gradually dictator, and maintained her opinions and determinations with such unshaken obstinacy, that her mother as gradually resigned her will, and submitted to the imperious dictates of her eldest daughter. Her mind was exclusively bent upon securing Tom Pynsent; and, in the anxious hope of forwarding her plans, she suffered her power to depart into other hands, and beheld her own children forming a strong party in opposition to all her expressed opinions. She lamented her weakness when too late, to Thompson.
"The young ladies, Thompson, put me quite on the shelf, and oppose me in every thing. They will never marry properly. Anna Maria's hands are not so white as they were when I could insist upon her wearing gloves; and Julia's feet are getting extremely broad. She will insist upon walking in easy shoes. All my arrangements are useless; and it makes me miserable to find Sir John as lax as ever in his notions. What a thing he will make of that ugly little Christobel!"
"Every one thinks, my lady, little Miss Chrissy will turn out a very fine child," said poor Thompson, who detested the new dynasty.
"Nonsense, Thompson, don't tell me any thing called Christobel can be decent-looking; and, as I do not attend to her, I am sure her hands and feet will be unproducible, but I never trouble myself about it, for she is Sir John's pet; and men's pets are always masculine, coarse women. Perhaps, when Anna Maria is Mrs. Pynsent, she will introduce her sister to somebody who may not object to a coarse kind of wife; but, I confess, I have no hopes for a young woman called Christobel, and named, too, after a frightful spinster."
This latter conversation took place on the eve of Anna Maria's introduction, five years subsequent to the rebellion which decided the downfall of Lady Wetheral's power, and transferred the sceptre into the hands of her children. The daily occurrences of the nursery are marked by sameness; there is little to vary its routine. Let us turn now to the period when the lives of the sisters began to take their colouring from the sentiments of their parents, and to suffer the trials and sorrows incidental to existence.
CHAPTER II.
The introduction of Miss Wetheral produced an immense sensation in Wetheral Castle. Nothing could exceed Lady Wetheral's delight in the confusion of selecting becoming articles of dress. How great was her pride of heart, her smile of triumph, as she gazed upon Anna Maria in her gay apparel, preparing for her first entrée into public! Yet, the occasion was melancholy, and ill-suited to be the chosen hour to launch youth and beauty upon the ocean of life.
It was at an assize-ball, at Shrewsbury, then the metropolis of the north midland counties, where Miss Wetheral burst upon the astonished sight. When the wretched felon, under sentence of death, lay languishing in his cell, awaiting the approaching hour of execution; while the clergyman was speaking hope to the soul, and leading the despairing heart to rest for forgiveness on the mercy and sufferings of its Redeemer; then did the irons which bound his trembling hands vibrate to the roar of carriages which rolled rapidly and furiously to the scene of festivity. Then did the neighbouring country pour forth her highest and loveliest; and the moans of repentant sinners, on the verge of ascending the scaffold, were forgotten in the brilliant throng, and lost in the lively repartee, or well-turned compliment.
The assize-ball was then the arena for debutants; the one green spot which decorated the dullness of a long twelvemonth; the hope, the anxiety of hundreds. That ill-judged hour for gaiety is now consigned to silence. The march of intellect has trodden down that unholy practice, and given an outward semblance, at least, of better feelings. It is assuredly better taste.
It was a proud moment when Anna Maria visited the nursery, to display her first ball dress, and receive expressions of wonder and delight at her appearance. The sisters broke from their romps to examine the ornaments which glittered on her neck; and a row of maid-servants, who were introduced into the nursery to see Miss Wetheral, curtseyed in profound admiration. She was indeed a creature to be gazed at. Isabel received an incurable wound upon her peace from the interview, and never more returned to her once happy games of puss in the corner. Anna Maria was but one year her senior, yet she was dressed in muslin and satin, wore a diamond necklace, and had been to the assize-ball. Why could not she also partake in such delights? Why was she to play with her sisters in the nursery, while Anna Maria was dancing at assize-balls?
Lady Wetheral tried to argue Isabel into docility, but her mind could not perceive the sense of her parent's reasoning. "My dear child, your sister will soon marry, and then you will appear in her place. You know nothing is so inconvenient as having two daughters out at the same time. While gentlemen are disputing which is the best looking, the young ladies lose their novelty, and cannot expect to marry well."
"But, mamma, I don't want to marry; I want to dance, and look as handsomely-dressed as Anna Maria did at the assize-ball."
"Nonsense, Isabel! you are as pertinacious as your father, and just as blind. Wait till your sister is married, and she will introduce you. Perhaps next year may produce wonders; your sister is exceedingly admired."
"So she may be, while I am out. I shall not