Clarissa Harlowe; or the history of a young lady — Volume 5

by Samuel Richardson

>>> Say—my dear creature—say—Shall I not exe-
crate the wretch?—But words are weak—What
can I say, that will suitably express my abhorrence
of such a villain as he must have been, when he
meditated to carry a Clarissa to such a place!
'Miss Lardner kept this to herself some days,
not knowing what to do; for she loves you, and
admires you of all women. At last she revealed it,
but in confidence, to Miss Biddulph, by letter.
Miss Biddulph, in like confidence, being afraid it
would distract me, were I to know it, communi-
cated it to Miss Lloyd; and so, like a whispered
scandal, it passed through several canals, and then
it came to me; which was not till last Monday.'
I thought I should have fainted upon the surpris-
ing communication. But rage taking place, it blew
away the sudden illness. I besought Miss Lloyd
to re-enjoin secrecy to every one. I told her that
>>> I would not for the world that my mother, or any
of your family, should know it. And I instantly
caused a trusty friend to make what inquiries he
could about Tomlinson.

>>> I had thoughts to have done it before I had this
intelligence: but not imagining it to be needful, and
little thinking that you could be in such a house, and
as you were pleased with your changed prospects, I
>>> forbore. And the rather forbore, as the matter is
so laid, that Mrs. Hodges is supposed to know
nothing of the projected treaty of accommodation;
but, on the contrary, that it was designed to be a
secret to her, and to every body but immediate
parties; and it was Mrs. Hodges that I had pro-
posed to sound by a second hand.

>>> Now, my dear, it is certain, without applying to
that too-much-favoured housekeeper, that there is
not such a man within ten miles of your uncle.—
Very true!—One Tomkins there is, about four miles
off; but he is a day-labourer: and one Thompson,
about five miles distant the other way; but he is a
parish schoolmaster, poor, and about seventy.

>>> A man, thought but of £.800 a year, cannot come
from one country to settle in another, but every
body in both must know it, and talk of it.

>>> Mrs. Hodges may yet be sounded at a distance,
if you will. Your uncle is an old man. Old men
imagine themselves under obligation to their para-
>>> mours, if younger than themselves, and seldom
keep any thing from their knowledge. But if we
suppose him to make secret of this designed treaty,
it is impossible, before that treaty was thought of,
but she must have seen him, at least have heard
your uncle speak praisefully of a man he is said to
be so intimate with, let him have been ever so little
a while in those parts.

>>> Yet, methinks, the story is so plausible—Tom-
linson, as you describe him, is so good a man, and
so much of a gentleman; the end to be answered
>>> by his being an impostor, so much more than neces-
sary if Lovelace has villany in his head; and as
>>> you are in such a house—your wretch's behaviour
to him was so petulant and lordly; and Tomlin-
son's answer so full of spirit and circumstance;
>>> and then what he communicated to you of Mr.
Hickman's application to your uncle, and of Mrs.
Norton's to your mother, [some of which particu-
>>> lars, I am satisfied, his vile agent, Joseph Leman,
could not reveal to his vile employer;] his press-
ing on the marriage-day, in the name of your
uncle, which it could not answer any wicked pur-
>>> pose for him to do; and what he writes of your
uncle's proposal, to have it thought that you were
married from the time that you have lived in one
house together; and that to be made to agree with
the time of Mr. Hickman's visit to your uncle.
>>> The insisting on a trusty person's being present at
the ceremony, at that uncle's nomination—These
things make me willing to try for a tolerable construc-
tion to be made of all. Though I am so much
puzzled by what occurs on both sides of the ques-
>>> tion, that I cannot but abhor the devilish wretch,
whose inventions and contrivances are for ever em-
ploying an inquisitive head, as mine is, without
affording the means of absolute detection.
But this is what I am ready to conjecture, that
Tomlinson, specious as he is, is a machine of Love-
>>> lace; and that he is employed for some end, which
has not yet been answered. This is certain, that
not only Tomlinson, but Mennell, who, I think,
attended you more than once at this vile house,
must know it to be a vile house.
What can you then think of Tomlinson's declar-
ing himself in favour of it upon inquiry?
Lovelace too must know it to be so; if not
before he brought you to it, soon after.

>>> Perhaps the company he found there, may be the
most probable way of accounting for his bearing
with the house, and for his strange suspensions of
marriage, when it was in his power to call such an
angel of a woman his.—

>>> O my dear, the man is a villain!—the greatest
of villains, in every light!—I am convinced that he
is.—And this Doleman must be another of his
implements!

>>> There are so many wretches who think that to
be no sin, which is one of the greatest and most
ungrateful of all sins,—to ruin young creatures of
our sex who place their confidence in them; that
the wonder is less than the shame, that people, of
appearance at least, are found to promote the horrid
purposes of profligates of fortune and interest!

>>> But can I think [you will ask with indignant
astonishment] that Lovelace can have designs upon
your honour?