The Manoeuvring Mother (Vol. 1-3). Lady Charlotte Campbell Bury
with her, you know, for I shall be dancing all the time."
"I cannot argue with such a limited intellect as you appear to possess, Isabel. I have made my arrangements, and cannot break through them. You will appear when your sister is Mrs. Pynsent. Tom Pynsent was very attentive to Anna Maria at the ball."
"Then I'll beg Tom Pynsent to make haste, I declare!" exclaimed Isabel.
"Do not be vulgar and unladylike, Isabel, and promise me you will make no coarse allusions to Tom Pynsent. I should be extremely shocked at such a line of conduct. I do not absolutely say Anna Maria will secure Tom, but I trust and hope such an event is in fruition; and if so, you shall immediately be brought forward. Two girls out at once is folly."
Isabel was nothing daunted by her mother's objection; and she returned openly and constantly to the attack, which soon exhausted the few efficient reasons urged by her antagonist. An incident at once decided the propriety of stopping the mouth of an alarming witness, and put an end to further discussion. Isabel was allowed to descend into the drawing-room, after Anna Maria's début, as Lady Wetheral observed it would prove a judicious step towards giving her manner its first polish; and the transition from the nursery to the trials of society would be less felt by a gradual initiation into its forms.
Isabel was not to converse, or offer an opinion, upon any subject; she was not in any wise to infringe upon her sister's prerogative, or draw attention towards herself; but she was to observe silently the proprieties of life—to learn by close attention the observances, the graceful bend of reception, the easy flow of local conversation, and the thousand agreeable nothings comprised in receiving company. Upon all this was Isabel to meditate; but no silly compliment offered by a young man was to be understood or replied to by herself; no gracious invitation was to be accepted, no remark whatsoever was to induce her to put herself forward. Upon these hard terms, Isabel was received in her mother's apartments; and she endured the sight of her "senior by only one year," receiving the crowds which frequented Wetheral Castle, dressed with elegance, admired, courted, and surrounded with flattery in all its proteus forms.
Isabel long suffered the keen feelings of envy to war in her heart; not envy towards Anna Maria, whom she equally admired and loved—but envy of that state which she longed ardently to partake. In one hapless hour, Isabel forgot her vow of silence, and spoke, as most backward young ladies will speak, when pressed beyond endurance, most rashly and unadvisedly. Lady Spottiswoode and her daughter had been long dilating on the forthcoming races, and the full ordinary and ball which every one anticipated, when Miss Spottiswoode, turning to Isabel, asked when they should have the pleasure of including her among the gay young ladies. Isabel, thrown off her guard by the question, instantly replied, colouring with her earnest feelings—
"Oh! Miss Spottiswoode, I hope I shall soon be out; but it depends upon Anna Maria's marrying Tom Pynsent." Lady Wetheral for one instant completely lost her self-possession. Sir John laughed aloud. The Spottiswoodes were too delicate to take notice of the remark. They rose and examined some portfolios of prints which lay upon the table, and endeavoured to change the current of thought, by again dwelling upon the ordinary and race-ball; but the shock was too severely felt to be easily overcome. There was a painful silence, and the Spottiswoodes kindly took their leave.
"There!" said Lady Wetheral, applying the vinaigrette to her nose, "Lady Spottiswoode is gone to report my arrangements to the world, and Isabel's stupid folly has occasioned it. Did I not insist upon her silence?"
"You should have taught your girls discretion, Gertrude," replied Sir John, "by being discreet yourself. Why did you commit your arrangements, as you call them, to the keeping of a child who is suffering under them? You should teach them to practise the art of speaking, before you thrust your children headlong from the nursery into company. You are rightly served: this will prevent all future mistakes."
"You may say what you please, Sir John; I cannot exhaust myself by arguing with such very limited ideas. I am very ill, and extremely shocked at Isabel's conduct: pray let her attend the race-ball, or do what she likes: I am unequal to combat determined obstinacy."
"May I go to the race-ball, then? Shall I go out with Anna Maria, and see her admired, and dance myself for hours together?" exclaimed Isabel, throwing herself on her knees in a transport.
"Go just where you like," replied her mother, languidly; "you will be stupid and vulgar whenever you emerge, therefore time or place is a matter of little moment. Take your own way, for my authority is quite set aside."
Up rose Isabel, attentive only to the words which pronounced her release, and, bounding round the room, careless of remark, she rushed upstairs to make known her triumph.
"Thompson, Thompson! I am going to the race-ball in July. I am to go out with Anna Maria, and dance like mad! here goes!"
And Isabel began dancing round the nursery in the wildest spirits, imitating, to the best of her ability, Anna Maria's elegant manner and step.
Thus was Lady Wetheral a second time defeated in the nearest wish of her heart; but her resentment only extended to keeping her bed for two days, during which she complained to Thompson of illness and excessively shocked feelings. On the third day, she was eagerly and agreeably employed in selecting a proper wardrobe for Isabel.
There could not be a more striking contrast than that which was displayed in the person and manners of the two elder sisters, and their effect upon society was equally distinct. Anna Maria concealed an irritable temper under an exterior peculiarly elegant, and manners strikingly gentle and fascinating: her popularity, therefore, was great, and her steps attended by admirers of both sex, who were drawn towards her by the force of extreme sweetness of manner. All men toasted the lovely Miss Wetheral, and all women confessed she was agreeable as she was charming, yet Anna Maria passed on her way without receiving offers from one sex, or forming a friendship with an individual of the other.
Isabel's artless high spirits and warm heart was, on the other hand, misunderstood, and few did her justice in public. She danced too much, and laughed too loud, and gentlemen sought her often as an agreeable relief from the refined insipidity of her companions, which told against her in society. Lady Wetheral cautioned her in vain.
"I wish, Isabel, you would not jump so high, and look so pleased with your partners; it is quite inelegant, and will make you disliked. No other young lady looks pleased, and the gentlemen get grinning and talking round you, to the exclusion of your sister and many others. Pray refrain."
"It is my nature to be happy," replied Isabel, laughing, "and my friends may out-talk me if they like. I only desire to chat and enjoy myself in peace."
"For shame, Isabel! you are not aware how you create enemies by such conduct. I was ashamed to see you racing down the middle and up again, with Tom Pynsent, at Lady Spottiswoode's carpet-dance. A young lady should never engross a gentleman's attention so conspicuously."
"Tom Pynsent amused me extremely, mamma: he was telling college stories, and off we capered without caring who remarked us."
"You are remarkably vulgar and underbred, my dear," resumed her mother, "and I have no hopes of your establishment. I am very much surprised at Anna Maria's beauty failing to elicit an offer; perhaps Julia may do better when she appears, but my hopes chiefly rest upon Clara. Her style of beauty is very magnificent."
Isabel's happy disposition received these shocks with inimitable good humour. She listened to daily remarks upon her want of elegance, and believed in her total exemption from the gifts which Nature had lavished upon her elder sister; but her mind scorned the idea of mourning over a useless grief. She cared not for extraneous advantages which could not reach the mind: she never entered a ball-room without a profusion of dancing engagements; and if she was liked and followed, even in the presence of her handsome sister, what did she care for mere beauty?
Lady Wetheral at last yielded the point, and allowed Isabel to choose her own mode of pleasing. Her taste turned with horror from her "unfortunate Isabel," but she ceased to look at, or remark upon, her brusquerie. She told Thompson, "some men took odd fancies to healthy, fat-looking, smiling girls, and probably Isabel might please some old rich widower or stupid retired bachelor, and marry