“Evelyn,” said Mr. Dale, severely, “I am surprised at your conduct; you have gone farther than a modest girl ought, with any man who is not to be her husband. Your reputation—if you do not now marry—is lost. You will acquire the name of flirt and jilt, and no honorable man will ever again look at you.”
“But, sir, how could I know whether I should like him?”
“I tell you, young lady,” said her stepfather, “as one who knows the world, and can speak with authority, you have been too much together, and I will add, that as in your unconverted state, you could never hope to marry a Christian, you should consider yourself most fortunate in having attached to you so amiable a worldling. Now, say no more, foolish child,” (kissing her brow with some show of affection. “Go to your mother, talk all this over with her, and may God bless you.”
We were leaving the room, when Mr. Dale called Evelyn back, and I heard him tell her, that she must, now that she was going to be married, prepare also to become a woman of business; adding, “but your mother will explain all”—then, in a louder voice, “Mind, child, I have nothing to do with it.”
Evelyn joined Mrs. Dale, who usually sat working in her morning room. The result of their conference (to which I was not admitted,) was, that a letter was dispatched from his future belle-mère, to Captain Travers, giving her formal consent to his projected union with her daughter; and, two days later, I was sent to Paris, on a visit to the dear old school, with full and ample instructions as to the Corbeille de mariage, which the fair fiancée was to provide for herself. Nor was the little business affair alluded to by the Rev. Mr. Dale forgotten. A letter of instructions was written by Evelyn, under her mother’s dictation, to her solicitors, Messrs. Takeall & Co., the result of which was highly advantageous to the reverend gentleman.
Let us charitably hope, that in thus sacrificing a young, beautiful, and talented daughter, to a man she did not love, Mrs. Dale was in a measure actuated by her desire to fulfil the dying wish of Evelyn’s father. We fear, however, that another less praiseworthy motive had some influence on her decision.
By no means so saint-like as her spouse, this lady had a great hankering after forbidden pleasure, and she doubtless thought in her inmost heart, that a yearly visit to a gay and worldly house, she might, in fact, term her second home, would be a most agreeable change from the rather monotonous society of the elect. If such were her idea, she was doomed to disappointment.
Early in the morning of the eventful day, Evelyn was summoned to the sitting room of her mother. She was there introduced to the very respectable legal adviser of the family, Mr. Takeall, a gentleman of some fifty summers, with a pair of uncomfortable, restless eyes, whose expression was somewhat concealed by a pair of spectacles.
“Well, well, young lady,” said the man of law, very blandly; “so we are going to be married, are we?—and we wish to be quite a woman of business, do we? That’s right—that’s right. Now, here’s just a little paper, to which we must put our name—of course, with mama’s sanction—quite so?” looking at Mrs. Dale, who made a signal in the affirmative.
The worthy attorney then proceeded to business. He emptied his large blue bag of various parchments, sealed with large red seals, and tied with red tape. Among these, (as I afterwards learned,) was a deed by which Evelyn signed away in favor of her stepfather and his children, her interest in the reversion of her mother’s fortune. This small sum of £15,000 had long been coveted by the Vicar. The manner of obtaining it, worldlings would be apt to call swindling; the reverend gentleman, probably, termed it, “ministering to the necessities of the saints.” Be this as it may, it was none the less an illegal transaction, and caused, eventually, a complete break between the Travers and Dale families.