Rosalie gave a hurried sketch of the individual who so imperiously demanded an immediate interview with her master; and Charles found that his conjecture was correct—too correct, indeed!
“Go to him—and say that I shall be with him in five minutes,” he observed, in a tone expressive of deep vexation;—and Rosalie retired.
Charles immediately rose from the couch, but without awaking Perdita; and, having hastily slipped on some clothing, he proceeded to the sitting-room belonging to the suite of apartments which he had hired at the hotel.
He now found himself face to face with his father!
Mr. Hatfield was pacing the parlour in an agitated manner, when the young man entered;—his countenance was very pale, and wore an expression of deep care: indeed, Charles was shocked when his parent, turning round to accost him, thus presented to his view an aspect so profoundly wretched—so eloquently woe-begone.
The young man, during the few minutes which had intervened from the time that Rosalie quitted his bed-chamber until the instant when he repaired to the sitting-room, had nerved himself with all his energy—braced himself with all his courage—mustered all his resolution, to undergo what he knew must prove a painful trial; for he expected accusations of disobedience and ingratitude—reproaches for unmanly conduct towards Lady Frances Ellingham,—in fine, a repetition of those scenes which had bitterly occurred at the Earl’s mansion in Pall Mall, and which, characterised by so much misconception as they had been, had materially tended to diminish the authority of the father and the respect of the son.
Yes: he had made up his mind to bear upbraidings and encounter the most painful remonstrances;—he had even resolved to recriminate in the old style—reproaching his father for the wrongs which he imagined himself to have sustained at his hands relative to the secrets attendant upon his birth and social position. But when he beheld the expression of deep care and the ashy pallor which sate upon that father’s countenance, his rebellious heart softened—his stern resolves gave way—his better feelings once more stirred within him;—and all on a sudden it struck him that there must be some reason for his parent’s altered appearance, of a nature more grave—more serious, than the mere grief which this runaway match could possibly occasion.
The thought that evil had happened to his mother flashed to his mind;—and in an instant all his imaginary wrongs were forgotten.
“Father—dear father,” he exclaimed, in a tone of earnest appeal; “keep me not in suspense! My mother——”
“Is as well, I hope, as under circumstances she can possibly be,” interrupted Mr. Hatfield, in a hollow and sombre tone.