Julia (Chapter_6)

50 Chapter sixth At breakfast the next morning, Julia was pale & languid; her eyes dark & heavy; instead of joining as normal in the lively prattle of her children she was so sad & thoughtful, that she scarcely listened to what they said, and D'aubigni lost all courage to execute the plan he had designed of conversing seriously with her concerning her next situation.

She begged D'aubigni to amuse himself in the library, until dinner, as she should be enjoyed.

"Pray Uncle, take me with you," said Rosa, "or I shall be all alone." D'aubigni heard her not; on Julia's leaving the room he had strolled to the window & was now leaning against it, lost in thought. Sometime afterwards he perceived her light figure gliding down the avenue. He took of his hat, & pursuing a path which led in a contrary direction, & was soon lost in the wild & unfrequented paths that led among the hills.

Mrs Clifton, meanwhile pursued her way to her firned Madam Luneville's. This lady had gone to France while young, with her father, & while he was engaged by mercantile pursuits in [?? various] parts of the kingdom, she had been placed in a convent, where she was educated; had afterwards lived some years at Marseilles, & married a young French gentleman, the son of her father's partner who resided in that place. She was left a widow at an early age, & after the death of her father-in-law returned to the U. Sates, bringing with her the manners & ideas of the country in which she had passed the greatest part of her life. She was a woman of sprightly parts, & good natural understanding which were improved more by obser -vation than reading. She had travelled through most parts of Europe, had passed her summers at fashionable watering-places & several winters at Paris, & was completely a woman of the world.

Accident had made Mrs Clifton acquainted with her, & ena-bled Madam Luneville to bestow on her some kind of attentions, which Julia was of too grateful a disposition ever to forget. Thus commenced an intimacy between too persons, of totaly different character. Mrs Clifton was the creation of impulse & in all her actions was governed

51 by the feelings of her heart. - Madam Luneville was one of [??] & [??] feelings, as much as actions to the decisions of her head.

On her arrival in her native country, when she found herself a stran -ger, she soon perceived the advantages to be derived from a connection with the admired & fashionable Mrs Clifton, & accordingly made her arrangements for that purpose. To be beloved, was something more than the first wish of Julia Clifton, it was a necessity of her nature. Madam Luneville threw into her manner & language an enthusiastic & devoted tenderness, which penetrated the very soul of Julia, & won not only her affection, but her confidence. The lapse of several years, had formed this acquaintance in to the oldest intimacy. These years, were the most eventful of her life, for it was during this period that her husband's affections had first wandered from her, & those habits of dissipation formed, which were so ruinous to his domestic happiness, his reputation & his fortune. At this momentous part of her life, had the chosen friend & confidant of Mrs Clifton, been a woman of earnest judgement & enlightened piety, she might more easily have been preserved in the paths of propriety & peace, than misled, as she now was, into those of indiscretion imprudence & levity. -- Advice & warnings - precepts & exhortations are not wanting, to deter young women from forming intimacies with persons of the other sex, while they are too often left without instruction to choose friends & confidants from their own. Fatal error! A young female, who receives into her bosom confidence, a friend of her own sex, destitute of religious & moral principles, is in as much danger as a cititadel that receives into its walls its greatest enemy, who being made acquainted with the wants & weaknesses of the garrison within, can at pleasure open the gates to the enemies without. - Whle on the other hand, a young woman even with the most beloved & trusted friend of the other sex, never opens to him the inmost recesses of her heart, never confides to him these weak -nesses, which constitute her greatest danger; but is gaurded by the outer [??], with which the delicacy & [??] of sex, surrounds her. -- Jealousy, rivalships & vanitys, often lead to treachery between parties whose interests are the same, & therefore [??] the danger of an indiscreet choice of a female friend; a danger

52 which cannot exist, whose difference of sex, produces difference of interest. These observations on female friends apply only, to a choice, an unfortunate & imprudent as that of Mrs Clifton, & not to that sacred & endeared sentiment which unites virtuous women in the bonds of friendship; a sentiment not only the most pure, but most replete with the highest enjoyment of which the human heart is capable. The friendship of each souls, has all the tenderness, without the anxieties of love; blended with a delicacy more pure & a sympathy more perfect. Oh ye who have enjoyed this union of souls; this confidence undisturbed by suspicion, this tenderness unreproved by delicacy, this sympathy & participation, which similar natures alone can feel, ye, only can estimate the value & the joy of this pure & holy sentiment! But higher still is the value, sweeter still the joy, when the ties of friendship are strengthened by those of consanguinity, & when in a sister we find a friend.

Ah, had Julia Clifton been so fortunate, from how many dan-gers & sorrows might she have been preserved. Then identity of interest would have made her honor, her sister's honor -- her shame, her sister's shame; & the interest & pride of family, would have been a strong motive to gaurd & guide her steps, while it would have received the tenderness that soothed, & the sympathy that shared every sorrow & disappointment. -- But Julia had no natural friend of her own age & disposition, & was left to the guidance of an erring judgment & impassioned heart.

At the birth of Rosa, Mrs Clifton had been so ill, that her life was despaired of; during this trying hour & a long succeeding convales-cence, Madam Luneville had become an inmate of her family, the frequent companion of her husband, & her assiduous nurse.

Those faults & frailties which the privacy of domestic life, hide from general knowledge, became thus revealed to her & thus dangerous confidence gave her ever after an undue ascendancy, over her unhappy friend. During the first years of their marriage, Clifton had been to Julia, all that her fondest wishes, her keen sensibility could desire. But time while it increased the

53 the ardour of Julia's affection, diminished that of her husband -- The only child, & the spoilt child of doting parents, she had been ever used to be the exclusive object of the fondest affection. To be so still, was necessary to her happiness, & the slightest indifference was to her heart a deeper wound, than positive unkindness would have been to most others. Perhaps Clifton is not the only man, whom such exclusive claims would have disgusted; it deprived him of that liberty which all men love. He could ill brook being called to account for every accidental absence or indifferent action, & her overweaning fondness instead of attracting him to home, often drove him from it.

In the early part of her marriage, she wished for no society but his, tho' by the querelousness of her sensibility she deprived her society of its power to please, him, whom she most desired to please. By almost imperceptible degrees he became weaned from home, & when after longer absences, he returned, he was received with tears & reproaches, which quickly drove him again away, in search of some object more amusing & interesting, than a complaining & weeping wife. --

A man of his talents * his fortune is always a welcome guest, & he soon gave himself up to a circle of gay friends by whom he was always received with smiles & flattery.

Such was the situation of the family, when Madam Luneville became its inmate. A woman of the world, has but one principle of action. Her own enjoyment. She looks not to another state of being, for any happiness, & therefore seeks in the present, for all the pleasures it can yield. A woman of the world, has no motives for virtue beyond the advantages which virtue bestows on the present life; there indeed are many, for corrupt as society may be, virtue is so pure & lovely, that it commands the homage even of the vicious, & in order to enjoy public respect & consideration, its semblance is worn, even by those who obey not its principles. "Hypocricy is the homage vice pays to virtue," & thus far Mdm Luneville showed her respect & observance of its requisitions. Without neglecting her friend, as she called Julia, continual opportunities occured of rendering herself [??] -ble to Clifton; here she assiduously improved, & the many hours & days which common decency required he should

54 pass at home during the illness of his wife, were most charmingly beguiled by the amusing & lively Madam Luneville.

The coquetry natural to her disposition, she had indulged during her youth simply for amusement & the gratification of her vanity, It had now become so habitual, that whenever opportunity offer -ed she could not resist using the power she felt she possessed, of exciting love & admiration. Sometimes she was prompted to this trial of her powers, by a curiosity to know if her attractions were as yet undiminished -- at other times she was stimulated by the coldness & indifference which she had a secret delight in vanquishing; to triumph over positive dis-like was a matter of still greater exultation; in fact Alexan -der's desire of conquering kingdoms, was not greater than she felt to conquer hearts, & like him she would have wept had no more remained to conquer. It was not that she cared for them after they were won, no, she was prompted by the love of conquest, & like every one who possesses power, she loved to use it.

It is not then to be supposed she would neglect the oppor-tunity now thrown in her way. Clifton was young & handsome & according to her morals she thought it no sin to possess herself of those affections which she soon discovered were not occupied by his wife. At first she had no design beyond her usual love of conquest; but the intimacy in which she lived with him, & his absolute indifference to Julia, suggested to her the idea of supplanting her friend, not only in the affections, but the rights of a wife. If she could by any means effect a seaparation, -- procure a divorce, she could then fill the vacated place & gain the heart, fortune & name of Clifton. Some change in her situation had become absolutely necessary. Always living beyond her means, she had now long lived beyond her credit, she had failed in several of her matrimonial speculations & was somewhat disheartened, when by becoming the inmate of Clifton's family, she discovered all the secrets of his domestic circumstances -- obtained a thorough know-ledge of his & Julia's characters -- & determined to turn the