Let those whose hearts have bled on the shrine of fashion and of ton—who have mourned the loss of all that was valuable in character, or beautiful in mental existence, sacrificed to the insatiable appetite of pleasure, the degrading occupations of frivolous pursuit,—let them say if colours can be too deep, or language too strong, to paint so destructive an evil as that of the whole false, futile system of the exclusiveness of ton.
Lady Glenmore was evidently one of those persons marked out to become its victim, and when the character of Mr. Leslie Winyard is taken into account, as being the man who attempted above all others to lead her to her ruin, it cannot be wondered at, circumstanced as she was, that the pit of degradation yawned at her feet. Mr. Winyard was one of those who to the gentlest manners united the hardest of hearts: he had not, perhaps, always merited such a description; but the being who lives entirely for pleasure, becomes gradually hardened to every natural sentiment, and selfishness is the invariable consequence of a life of idle dissipation. From selfishness springs every other evil, and as it is the meanest of all principles of action, when considered in the baldness of the term, so it is, perhaps, the most common, and the one which above all others no person will like to avow—no, not even Mr. Leslie Winyard.
Yet he was a man who, after having by every sort of riot and debauchery ruined himself, proceeded to ruin his own mother and sister, bringing the grey hairs of the one to the grave with sorrow, and leaving the other to work out her existence in a situation unfitting her rank, but far more honourable and desirable than the one he filled; yet this was a man, the beauty of whose personal appearance, the refinement of whose manners, the powers of whose understanding and charm of fascination, were calculated to destroy every innocent mind; and it was difficult to arm against such a powerful enemy—a very Proteus in the power of becoming all things at pleasure, and suiting himself precisely to the taste and habits of the victim whom he was insidiously endeavouring to undermine.
What could protect an unsuspecting, youthful mind against such an enemy? Nothing but religion; nothing but that habitual looking for wisdom, where alone it may be found; and perhaps, Lady Glenmore was in this only security fatally defective; she was good and pure, in as much as human nature can be said to be so. And how totally valueless this goodness is, without it rests on a firmer basis, may be seen in her, as in every other person to whom the same vital want attaches: for her character was not built on that rock which when the floods come, and the storm beats, will remain unmoved by them: she had yet the greatest of all lessons to learn, not to depend on self.
CHAPTER VI.
RETROSPECTION.
When Lady Hamlet Vernon drew Lord Albert D'Esterre aside, at Lady Tilney's supper party, it was, he conceived, with an intention of explaining to him the words contained in her note at Restormel alluding to Lady Adeline Seymour—and he was confirmed in this idea by the violent agitation which her manner betrayed, although she strove to retain that composure which the circumstances of the time and place particularly demanded. For several minutes after they had sat down, she seemed labouring for breath; and Lord Albert, notwithstanding his own anxiety and impatience felt exceedingly for her distress.
"My dear Lady Hamlet Vernon," he said, "I beseech you be not thus agitated; remember, whatever you have to say, however painful it may be to me to hear, I am certain that it must be from friendly motives alone that you make such communication, and I must always feel grateful to you for your intention; but keep me no longer in suspense I entreat, for I am prepared for whatever you may have to tell me."