Camilla | Page 8

partiality, however, struggled vainly against that of Sir Hugh, who still,
in every the most trivial particular, gave the preference to Camilla.
The baronet had ordered that his own garden chair should follow him to
young Mandlebert's park, that he might take Camilla by his side, and go
about the grounds without fatigue; the rest were to walk. Here Indiana
received again the homage of her two young beaus; they pointed out to
her the most beautiful prospects, they gathered her the fairest flowers,
they loaded her with the best and ripest fruits.
This was no sooner observed by Sir Hugh, than hastily stopping his
chair, he called after them aloud, 'Holloa! come hither, my boys! here,
you Mr. young Mandlebert, what are you all about; Why don't you
bring that best bunch of grapes to Camilla?'
'I have already promised it to Miss Lynmere, Sir.'
'O ho have you so? well, give it her then if you have. I have no right to

rob you of your choice. Indiana, my dear, how do you like this place?'
'Very much, indeed, uncle; I never saw any place I liked so much in my
life.'
'I am sure else,' said Edgar, 'I should never care for it again myself.'
'I could look at it for ever,' cried Indiana, 'and not be tired!'
Sir Hugh gravely paused at these speeches, and regarded them in turn
with much steadiness, as if settling their future destinies; but ever
unable to keep a single thought to himself, he presently burst forth
aloud with his new mental arrangement, saying: 'Well, my dears, well;
this is not quite the thing I had taken a fancy to in my own private brain,
but it's all for the best, there's no doubt; though the estate being just in
my neighbourhood, would have made it more suitable for Camilla; I
mean provided we could have bought, among us, the odd three miles
between the Parks; which how many acres they make, I can't pretend to
say, without the proper calculation; but if it was all joined, it would be
the finest domain in the county, as far as I know to the contrary:
nevertheless, my dear young Mr. Mandlebert, you have a right to
choose for yourself; for as to beauty, 'tis mere fancy; not but what
Indiana has one or other the prettiest face I ever saw, though I think
Camilla's so much prettier; I mean in point of winningness. However,
there's no fear as to my consent, for nothing can be a greater pleasure to
me than having two such good girls, both being cousins, live so near
that they may overlook one another from park to park, all day long, by
the mode of a telescope.'
Edgar, perfectly understanding him, blushed deeply, and, forgetting
what he had just declared, offered his grapes to Lavinia. Indiana,
conceiving herself already mistress of so fine a place, smiled with
approving complacency; and the rest were too much occupied with the
objects around them, to listen to so long a speech.
They then all moved on; but, soon after, Lionel, flying up to his uncle's
chair, informed Camilla he had just heard from the gardener, that only
half a mile off, at Northwick, there was a fair, to which he begged she

would ask to go. She found no difficulty in obliging him; and Sir Hugh
was incapable of hesitating at whatever she could desire. The carriage
and the horses for the boys were again ordered, and to the regret of only
Edgar and Indiana, the beautiful plantations of Beech Park were
relinquished for the fair.
They had hardly proceeded twenty yards, when the smiles that had
brightened the face of Lavinia, the eldest daughter of Mr. Tyrold, were
suddenly overcast, giving place to a look of dismay, which seemed the
effect of some abruptly painful recollection; and the moment Sir Hugh
perceived it, and enquired the cause, the tears rolled fast down her
checks, and she said she had been guilty of a great sin, and could never
forgive herself.
They all eagerly endeavoured to console her, Camilla fondly taking her
hand, little Eugenia sympathetically crying over and kissing her,
Indiana begging to know what was the matter, and Sir Hugh, holding
out to her the finest peach from his stores for Camilla, and saying,
'Don't cry so, my dear, don't cry: take a little bit of peach; I dare say
you are not so bad as you think for.'
The weeping young penitent besought leave to get out of the coach
with Camilla, to whom alone she could explain herself. Camilla almost
opened the door herself, to hasten the discovery; and the moment they
had run up a bank by the road side, 'Tell me what it is, my dear
Lavinia,'