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Authors: Maria Edgeworth
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cousins should never marry, because they form no new connexions to
strengthen the family interest, or raise its consequence. This doctrine
her ladyship had repeated for years so often and so dogmatically, that
she conceived it to be incontrovertible, and of as full force as any law
of the land, or as any moral or religious obligation. She would as
soon have suspected her niece of an intention of stealing her diamond
necklace as of purloining Colambre's heart, or marrying this heir of the
house of Clonbrony.
Miss Nugent was so well apprised, and so thoroughly convinced of all
this, that she never for one moment allowed herself to think of Lord
Colambre as a lover. Duty, honour, and gratitude—gratitude, the strong
feeling and principle of her mind—forbade it; she had so prepared and
habituated herself to consider him as a person with whom she could not
possibly be united that, with perfect ease and simplicity, she behaved
towards him exactly as if he was her brother—not in the equivocating
sentimental romance style in which ladies talk of treating men as
their brothers, whom they are all the time secretly thinking of and
endeavouring to please as lovers—not using this phrase as a convenient
pretence, a safe mode of securing herself from suspicion or scandal, and
of enjoying the advantages of confidence and the intimacy of friendship,
till the propitious moment, when it should be time to declare or
avow THE SECRET OF THE HEART. No; this young lady was quite above
all double-dealing; she had no mental reservation—no metaphysical
subtleties—but, with plain, unsophisticated morality, in good faith
and simple truth, acted as she professed, thought what she said, and was
that which she seemed to be.
As soon as Lady Clonbrony was able to see anybody, her niece sent to
Mrs. Broadhurst, who was very intimate with the family; she used to
come frequently, almost every evening, to sit with the invalid. Miss
Broadhurst accompanied her mother, for she did not like to go out with
any other chaperon—it was disagreeable to spend her time alone at home,
and most agreeable to spend it with her friend Miss Nugent. In this
she had no design, no coquetry; Miss Broadhurst had too lofty and
independent a spirit to stoop to coquetry: she thought that, in their
interview at the gala, she understood Lord Colambre, and that
he understood her—that he was not inclined to court her for her
fortune—that she would not be content with any suitor who was not a
lover. She was two or three years older than Lord Colambre, perfectly
aware of her want of beauty, yet with a just sense of her own merit,
and of what was becoming and due to the dignity of her sex. This, she
trusted, was visible in her manners, and established in Lord Colambre's
mind; so that she ran no risk of being misunderstood by him; and as to
what the rest of the world thought, she was so well used to hear weekly
and daily reports of her going to be married to fifty different people,
that she cared little for what was said on this subject. Indeed,
conscious of rectitude, and with an utter contempt for mean and
commonplace gossiping, she was, for a woman, and a young woman, rather
too disdainful of the opinion of the world. Mrs. Broadhurst, though her
daughter had fully explained herself respecting Lord Colambre, before
she began this course of visiting, yet rejoiced that, even on this
footing, there should be constant intercourse between them. It was Mrs.
Broadhurst's warmest wish that her daughter should obtain rank, and
connect herself with an ancient family: she was sensible that the young
lady's being older than the gentleman might be an obstacle; and
very sorry she was to find that her daughter had so imprudently, so
unnecessarily, declared her age; but still this little obstacle might
be overcome; much greater difficulties in the marriage of inferior
heiresses were every day got over, and thought nothing of. Then, as to
the young lady's own sentiments, her mother knew
cousins should never marry, because they form no new connexions to
strengthen the family interest, or raise its consequence. This doctrine
her ladyship had repeated for years so often and so dogmatically, that
she conceived it to be incontrovertible, and of as full force as any law
of the land, or as any moral or religious obligation. She would as
soon have suspected her niece of an intention of stealing her diamond
necklace as of purloining Colambre's heart, or marrying this heir of the
house of Clonbrony.
Miss Nugent was so well apprised, and so thoroughly convinced of all
this, that she never for one moment allowed herself to think of Lord
Colambre as a lover. Duty, honour, and gratitude—gratitude, the strong
feeling and principle of her mind—forbade it; she had so prepared and
habituated herself to consider him as a person with whom she could not
possibly be united that, with perfect ease and simplicity, she behaved
towards him exactly as if he was her brother—not in the equivocating
sentimental romance style in which ladies talk of treating men as
their brothers, whom they are all the time secretly thinking of and
endeavouring to please as lovers—not using this phrase as a convenient
pretence, a safe mode of securing herself from suspicion or scandal, and
of enjoying the advantages of confidence and the intimacy of friendship,
till the propitious moment, when it should be time to declare or
avow THE SECRET OF THE HEART. No; this young lady was quite above
all double-dealing; she had no mental reservation—no metaphysical
subtleties—but, with plain, unsophisticated morality, in good faith
and simple truth, acted as she professed, thought what she said, and was
that which she seemed to be.
As soon as Lady Clonbrony was able to see anybody, her niece sent to
Mrs. Broadhurst, who was very intimate with the family; she used to
come frequently, almost every evening, to sit with the invalid. Miss
Broadhurst accompanied her mother, for she did not like to go out with
any other chaperon—it was disagreeable to spend her time alone at home,
and most agreeable to spend it with her friend Miss Nugent. In this
she had no design, no coquetry; Miss Broadhurst had too lofty and
independent a spirit to stoop to coquetry: she thought that, in their
interview at the gala, she understood Lord Colambre, and that
he understood her—that he was not inclined to court her for her
fortune—that she would not be content with any suitor who was not a
lover. She was two or three years older than Lord Colambre, perfectly
aware of her want of beauty, yet with a just sense of her own merit,
and of what was becoming and due to the dignity of her sex. This, she
trusted, was visible in her manners, and established in Lord Colambre's
mind; so that she ran no risk of being misunderstood by him; and as to
what the rest of the world thought, she was so well used to hear weekly
and daily reports of her going to be married to fifty different people,
that she cared little for what was said on this subject. Indeed,
conscious of rectitude, and with an utter contempt for mean and
commonplace gossiping, she was, for a woman, and a young woman, rather
too disdainful of the opinion of the world. Mrs. Broadhurst, though her
daughter had fully explained herself respecting Lord Colambre, before
she began this course of visiting, yet rejoiced that, even on this
footing, there should be constant intercourse between them. It was Mrs.
Broadhurst's warmest wish that her daughter should obtain rank, and
connect herself with an ancient family: she was sensible that the young
lady's being older than the gentleman might be an obstacle; and
very sorry she was to find that her daughter had so imprudently, so
unnecessarily, declared her age; but still this little obstacle might
be overcome; much greater difficulties in the marriage of inferior
heiresses were every day got over, and thought nothing of. Then, as to
the young lady's own sentiments, her mother knew
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