Selina's impatience to reach the end of her journey made her consider it tedious in its progress, notwithstanding the velocity with which Lady Eltondale always travelled; who was too much a woman of fashion not to increase as much as possible her own consequence along the king's highway, by the trifling exertion of keeping the poor goaded animals which had the honor of drawing her vehicle at their utmost speed, thereby endangering the lives of such of his majesty's peaceful subjects as happened to approach them. As to Lord Eltondale, he seldom found leisure to reflect on the consequence attending any direction her Ladyship pleased to give; and even had he reflected, he would scarcely have ventured to dissent, so confirmed was his habit of passive acquiescence. Indeed, poor man, he was in a situation something similar to the coronet on his own equipage,—an external appendage to Lady Eltondale, which, while hurried along under the direction of her caprice, gave her a dignity in the eyes of the many, who merely look on the outside of every thing, but, in reality, totally disregarded by all those who were admitted into the interior.
At last, from a little eminence on the road, the first view of London broke on Selina's delighted eye. And yet such had been the exaggerated picture of this queen of cities, which her vivid imagination had drawn, that the coup d'œil almost disappointed her. It is true, a long line of smoke darkened the whole horizon, yet she could scarcely believe, the towers she saw so pre-eminent in the distance were really the St. Paul's, and Westminster Abbey, she had so long wished to see. Judgment must be corrected by experience, before it can form a true scale for grandeur either moral or physical. However, as by degrees Selina discovered the immensity of the parts, she formed some idea of the comparative magnitude of the whole; and as she approached the metropolis, the throng of passengers of every rank, the crowd of carriages of all descriptions, the protracted suburbs, and the bustling scene altogether, nearly overcame her agitated spirits; and, at last, when the carriage was suddenly stopped, and for some minutes detained in Bond Street by the concourse of people, her heart became oppressed with contending feelings. She experienced that worst pang of solitude—a consciousness of being alone in a crowd; and, leaning back in the carriage, she burst into tears. This was, however, but a momentary depression; her elastic spirits soon recovered their spring; and when the barouche stopped in Portman Square, she bounded out of it, and gaily followed Lady Eltondale into her new abode.
For a moment she paused to look round the splendid drawing rooms, as if to ascertain that the scene was real, and no fleeting vision of her fancy. Then darting forward, she roamed from room to room, admiring every thing, examining nothing: the china, the mirrors, the statues, the lamps, the chandeliers, all in turn caught her attention, and all were in turn abandoned;
"Gold, silver, iv'ry, vases sculptur'd high,
Paint, marbles, gems, and robes of Persian dye."
At last she noticed the balcony, that "rifled all the breathing spring," and flew to the open French window, expressing aloud all her admiration.
"All that does vastly well, my dear Selina, now we are tête a tête," quietly said the Viscountess, who, in the mean time, had been looking over the cards that nearly covered one of her tables. "But, pray child, don't be too naïve. You must learn to suppress your feelings; indeed, my dear, you must. If you choose to adopt the ton of natural manners, do so, cela vous sied bien; but make the proper distinction between simplicity and ignorance. I will never act the chaperone to La contadina in corte." Then perceiving her rebuke had, at the moment, all the effect she desired, she took Selina's arm, and familiarly leaning on it, "Come, my love," added she, "let me introduce you to your own apartments: I feel you are so much my child, I quite forget to play the Lady Macbeth, and kindly bid you welcome." Lady Eltondale knew so well how to soften the asperity of reproof, without weakening its effect, that, perhaps, there were no moments in which her fascinating powers were more displayed, than when she finely touched a string a less skilful hand would jar: and, having once hinted to Selina that possibility of her unrestrained emotions being construed into the affectation of naïveté; she knew the diffidence that suggestion would occasion, would have the effect of making her still more pliable to her well versed instructress in the arts of fashion.
Selina's toilet was soon made, and she repaired to the drawing room, long before her aunt was dressed. Here she prepared to renew, at leisure, her entertaining examination; and, for this purpose, leaned on a marble table, to admire the perfection of bijouterie, as it was fully exemplified in a French clock that it supported. She had not long remained thus employed, when she was disturbed by a voice close behind her ear, exclaiming, "Beautiful! enchanting! divine, upon my soul!" and turning round, she perceived a gentleman, who, in the mean time, had been as attentively, and, to all appearance, not less delightedly examining her. She colored, but made him a slight curtsy, to which he returned a bow, as obsequious as he could accomplish without withdrawing his eyes from her countenance; whilst his own was intended to express the most reverential admiration: but so little obedient were his features to his feelings, that their expression bordered on the ludicrous, and thereby served as an antidote to his ardent, and almost impertinent gaze. The ceremonious salute was prolonged by both, to enable each to assume a proper, though different, control over their features: but Selina, finding her risible muscles moved almost beyond the power of restraint, turned towards a chair, which her spell-struck admirer presented to her in silence, and with protracted admiration.
The figure that thus offered incense at her shrine was one, that would more properly have served as a prototype to a Silenus than a Cupid. He was habited in the very extreme of fashion, apparently unconscious that his ill-proportioned limbs, and corpulent form, "made by nature's journeymen," were but ill adapted to the exhibition of a tailor's art. His head, which was immense, rose out of a filleting of neckcloth, that seemed to impede his respiration; at least such might be inferred from the deepened color of his swoln cheeks. In one hand he held a newspaper, and in the other a glass, which he always applied to his eye when he meant to recognize an acquaintance, always saving and reserving to himself the privilege of "cutting" an old friend on the plea of short-sightedness.
He had neither the graces of youth, nor the respectability of age; and yet, merely because he had become, nobody knew how or why, the ton, he was a welcome inmate of every fashionable mansion. His recommendations, such as they were, consisted in a capability of relating a good story in the best possible manner, and of submitting patiently to a hoax from his superiors, always knowing how and when to return the compliment with interest: besides,