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Olivier Dalibard had accompanied the marquis and his family in one of the frequent visits they paid to Laughton; and when the marquis finally quitted England, and fixed his refuge at Vienna, with some connections of his wife's, he felt a lively satisfaction at the thought of leaving his friend honourably, if unambitiously, provided for as secretary and librarian to Sir Miles St. John.
That Sir Miles should have been blind to the position of the lovers is less disparaging to his penetration than it may appear; for the very imprudence with which Lucretia abandoned herself to the society of Mainwaring during his visits at Laughton took a resemblance to candour.
Here I am, then, dear Lady Mary, at Southampton, and within an easy drive of the old Hall. A file of Galignani's journals, which I found on the road between Marseilles and Paris, informed me, under the head of "fashionable movements," that Percival St. John, Esquire, was gone to his seat at Laughton.
She has lost Laughton, it is true; but 10,000 pounds will make a fair commencement to fortune, even at Paris. Well, what do you want with me, worthy godson of Honore Gabriel Mirabeau?" "Sir, if you will let me, I will go with you." Dalibard shaded his brow with his hand, and reflected on the filial proposal.
And when Percival returns, his Helen dead or dying, I will attend on him! Silent still? Recall your son! Soon you will clasp him in your arms as a beggar, or as the lord of Laughton!" Lucretia shuddered, but did not rise; she drew forth a ring of keys from her bosom, and pointed towards a secretary.
"If poor Sir Miles could have known you!" he said, with a sigh; and though the gardeners were at work on the lawn, he bowed his head and kissed the blushing cheek of his wife as heartily as if he had been really a farmer. From the terrace at Laughton, turn to the humbler abode of our old friend the vicar, the same day, the same hour.
He then brought before her the prospect of that son's succession to Laughton: but two lives now between him and those broad lands, those two lives associated with just cause of revenge. Two lives!
Sir Miles paused a moment, and struck his crutch-stick thrice firmly on the ground. "I see no great objection to that; but by the address of this letter, the poor girl is too far from Laughton to send Lucretia to her." "I can obviate that objection, Sir Miles. It is my wish to continue to Susan her present home amongst my own children.
Pleasant auspices, these, for matrimony to a poor invalid who wishes at least to decline and to die in peace! Moreover, if I were rich enough to marry as I pleased; if I were what, perhaps, I ought to be, heir to Laughton, why, there is a certain sweet Mary in the world, whose eyes are softer than Lucretia Clavering's. But that is a dream!
But hitherto no communication had passed between them; and this was strange if he retained the same intentions which he had announced at Laughton. Putting aside, we say, however, all such considerations, Vernon had sought her friendship, called her "cousin," enforced the distant relationship between them.
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