Julia_Chapter_21

When Mrs Brunel heard from her husband of the situation in which he had found Mrs Clifton. Her child ill--her husband in prison--her fortune sacrificed. The kindness of her heart, { ?} every sample and tho' she blamed --she pitied Julia. Severe to herself, she was indulgent to others, and a deep and thorough conviction of natural depravity of her own heart, taught her to compassionate the weakness of which nature was so prone, and inspired her with a truly christian zeal to guard and guide those over whom she had any influence. She balanced Julia's errors with her temptations and exclaimed with a humility as genuine as it was rare--"If I have been exempt from the same faults, it is because I have been exempt from the same temptations, let me reverse our situations, and now do to her, what in similar circumstances I would which her to do to me. Under the influence of such sentiments she hastened to Mrs Clifton. Julia was prepared to receive her as a friend, for Clifton had explained to her, the motive of his { ?} to that lady and laid open all the artifices of Madam Luneville. In feeling and action, equally ardent and impetuous, she no sooner discovered her injustice to this excellent woman, than the coldness and reserve with which she had met her former advances, gave place to a warmth and confidence which is seldom elicited but by long and intimate intercourse. Her feelings knew no medium, but always impelled her to extremes;--Grateful for her support on the evening they last met--Regretting her past avoidance--she now received this kind visit of Mrs Brunel with eagerness and gratitude. The barriers which had hitherto separated them being thus broken down,they met as friends--The benevolence of Mrs Brunel, the gratitude of Julia, were sentiments which opened the bosom of each to mutual affection. After a few interviews, Julia had nothing more to confess, her whole heart was laid open to her new friend

from whose enlightened piety she received support and consolation. D'aubigne too, was as Julia declared a thousand times more kind and indulgent than she deserved. She had no concealments from either of these two excellent friends, and they believed tho' weak and erring, she was exempt from that guilt which the world imputed to her, and in their presence she could still look up. Never would the reports, secretly circulated by Madam Luneville for the vilest purposes have been so implicitly credited, had not Julia's own imprudent conduct given a colour to and confirmed these allegations. Her undisguised coldness to her husband--her open encouragement to and undoubted intimacy with Capt Mirvan--her friendship for a woman destitute of moral or religious principles, her neglect of her children and domestic duties--her fondness for admiration--the general levity of her manners --were circumstances which by giving the semblance of truth these whispered stories--excused, perhaps justified the opinion society had formed and the sentence it had passed. Mrs Brunel helped to reverse this unfavorable decision, and if sustained by a reform in Julia's manners and conduct, she trusted that Mrs Clifton might be once more restored to society. At this proposition Julia shook her head--" I have done with what is called the world, " said she," and it is done with me--oh let me but retain the { ?} and love of this little circle and I care not for the whole world besides" and as she said so, her eyes beamed with affection on her husband--D'aubigne and Mrs Brunel , and the little Rosa who lay on her bosom. "Even could I return to the busy scenes of life with an unspotted reputation and undimished fortune--I would not return--No--I have tried all its boasted pleasures and have found them insufficient--inadequate to that capacity of enjoyment I feel it here--and she pressed her hand against her bosom. Both she and Clifton had strenuously declined D'aubigne's generous interference--But the transfer was made and it was impossible to make him resume his gift--"It was always yours," said he to Julia, "You only have it a little sooner than might otherwise have been --for it has long been legally

bequeathest to you and yours"-" Dear D'aubigne" said she, tenderly pressing his hand-speak not so--long, long may you live to enjoy the best blessings of life--He mournfully shook his head and rising, went to the window and while he seemed looking at some distant object--wiped away the tears, that he found it impossible to repress. Clifton's eyes followed Julia's as they were fixed on the feeble and slender form of her friend--she now observed it more closely, and was shocked at the emaciation she discovered the colour on his cheek and the brightness of his eye, had concealed from her the ravages of disease--but now that her feelings were less agitated and self-absorbed, she watched more attentively and when that colour faded from the cheek and the brightness from the eye--she with the keenest regret she discovered, that some fatal disorder was preying on his health. Her concern for her friend, was not however the only cause of anxiety that disturbed her new found happiness. As yet only a few days had passed since her re-union to her husband and she already perceived that he had some concealed cause of grief. It was in vain she would urge him, to open his whole heart to her--it was in vain that he proposed that he { ?} so--She was sure his{ ?} could not be{ occasioned?} by any remaining embarrassment in his affairs--Could it be that Capt Mirvan still had some dark fatal inflence over him? this he denied--could it then be that the perfidious the treacherous woman, who had been the cause of so much error and misery to her--was still connected by any secret tho' to her husband? This was a question too horrible to ask; never had she articulated that woman's name, since the dreadful discovery--she endeavoured even not to think of her-but now her image pressed on her mind in a form the most appalling. Her anxiety increased every hour. She watched every motion of her husband--would mark his long fits of abstraction--his sudden starts--the frequent gloom that would over spread his face--when some future plan was disrupted or when his children, (for Henry had returned) were sitting near him

She would mark the fond, the ardent gaze he would unconsciously fix on her face. He often wandered alone over the grounds--and always seemed on his return more { ?} and restless. Even in his sleep--he would mutter strange and threating words which would awaken Julia to new alarm and terror. "Alas!", thought Julia, is this newly found treasure of domestic bliss --to be again ravished from me? Are not the fatal consequences of my error, yet exhausted?" Clifton was indeed, a prey to violent and conflicting passions --love and honor--Love, would have easily made him forget his injuries and quelled the feelings of resentment which the basement of Capt Mirvan's conduct had excited-But honor, imperious honor, urged him on to seek what the world deemed the only reparation for injuries such as his--The day previous to his arrest--a scene had taken place; words had been uttered to which there were too many witnesses to remain concealed, even had the parties concerned, desired it. Since his release--these witnesses--his former companions, had stimulated him to resist Capt Mirvan's conduct by new proof of his baseness and treachery--Capt Mirvan, in aparting that it was by Clifton's own permission that he { ? } his wife, had likewise aported what was false, which if believed must { ?} destroy Clifton's character, even in the estimation of those worldly men. This story had been propagated, and Clifton thought he could disprove not only by the sacrifice of his, or Capt Mirvan's life--There are never wanting friends who adminster provocations to offended honor--Yet, to tear himself from his wife-his children--to blast the happiness of a being so more than ever beloved--how could he resolve on this? He felt a gloomy certainty of the fated termination of such an affair. He and Capt Mirvan were equally versed in the use of arms--equally irritated against each other--they each had causes of resentment, which {blood,blade?} only could {erase?}. As yet they had not met since

since the scene of renewed provocation that had taken place, Capt Mirvan was only restrained from being the first to send the challenge, by the wish of choosing his weapon, which if challenged would of right be his privilege. And Clifton--poor Clifton never so clung to life, as since the moment that restored to him--all that gave it value. While Rosa's life was in suspence--it was impossible for him to expose Julia to such a blow as his death would occasion. But his child was now out of all danger--the fated moment was arrived--the challenge was sent--was accepted--Notwithstanding the remonstrancesth of the gentlemen who attended as seconds--Capt Mirvan insisted on rifles. Such a choice decided the event of the combat--They fired at the same moment and both fell to rise no more. Oh, who can paint the scene that followed when unprepared for--unthinking of the event that had taken place--Julia in entering the hall, as she returned from a walk in the grounds, where she had been to seek her husband, saw his pale and lifeless body. No one--no language can paint such scenes--such feelings. Even the human frame cannot sustain them-At this stunning sight--Julia was transformed to a statue--for days she neither spoke or wept, and her deep oppressive breathing was the only proof that she yet lived. During these hours of unutterable grief, D'aubigne watched beside his almost lifeless friend-The amiable Mrs Brunel shared the sad tasks, and supported him in a moment of trial--when his keen sensibility might have proved too powerful for his debilitated frame. Many weeks elapsed, once Julia's mind was sufficiently composed, to attend to the consolation offered by her friends--But when she did attend, how powerful were the motives offered by Mrs Brunel