Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 452 | Page 4

It was not
gay, for the place was retired, and Mrs Gaskoin being in ill health, they
saw little company; but they were young, cheerful, and accomplished
people, and in their society Frances soon forgot the vexations she had
left behind her. She even ceased to miss the admiration she was
accustomed to; what was amiable and good in her character--and there
was much--regained the ascendant; her host and hostess congratulated
themselves on having so agreeable an inmate as much as she did herself
on the judicious move she had made, till her equanimity was disturbed
by learning that Mr Gaskoin was expecting a visitor, and that this
visitor was his old friend and brother-officer, Major Elliott, the person
of all others, Vincent Dunbar excepted, she had the greatest desire to
avoid.
'I cannot express how much I should dislike meeting him,' she said to
Mrs Gaskoin, to whom she thought it better to explain how she was
situated. 'You must allow me to keep my room whilst he is here.'
'If you are determined not to see him, I think you had better go back to
the Dunbars for a little while,' answered the hostess; 'but I really think
you should stay, and let things take their course. If your aversion
continues, you need not marry him; but my husband tells me he's
charming; and in point of character, I know no one whom he estimates
so highly.'
But Frances objected, that she should feel so embarrassed and
awkward.

'In short, you apprehend that you will appear to a great disadvantage,'
said Mrs Gaskoin. 'That is possible, certainly; but as Major Elliott is
only coming for a day or two, I think we might obviate that difficulty,
by introducing you as my husband's niece, Fanny Gaskoin. What do
you say? You can declare yourself whenever you please, or keep the
secret till he goes, if you prefer it.'
Frances said she should like it very much; the scheme would afford
them a great deal of amusement, and any expedient was preferable to
going back to Dunbar House. Neither, as regarded themselves, was it at
all difficult of execution, since they always addressed her as Fanny or
Frances; the danger was with the servants, who, however cautioned to
call the visitor by no other name than Miss Fanny, might inadvertently
betray the secret. Still, if they did, a few blushes and a hearty laugh
were likely to be the only consequences of the disclosure; so the little
plot was duly framed, and successfully executed; Major Elliott not
entertaining the most remote suspicion that this beautiful, fascinating
Fanny Gaskoin was his own fiancée.
Whether they might have fallen in love with each other had they met
under more prosaic circumstances, there is no saying. As it was, they
did so almost at first sight. It is needless to say, that Major Elliott
extended his visit beyond the day or two he had engaged for; and when
Mr and Mrs Gaskoin saw how matters were going, they recommended
an immediate avowal of the little deception that had been practised, lest
some ill-timed visitor should inopportunely let out the secret, which
had already been endangered more than once by the forgetfulness of the
servants: but Frances wished to prolong their diversion till she should
find some happy moment for the dénouement; added to which, she had
an extreme curiosity to know how Major Elliott intended to release
himself from the engagement formed by Colonel Seymour, in which he
had tacitly, if not avowedly, acquiesced. It was certainly very flattering
that her charms had proved sufficiently powerful to make him forget it;
but that he should have yielded to the temptation without the slightest
appearance of a struggle, did somewhat surprise her, as indeed, from
their knowledge of his character, it did Mr and Mrs Gaskoin. Not that
they would have expected him to adhere to the contract, if doing so

proved repugnant either to himself or the young lady; but under all the
circumstances of the case, they would have thought his conduct less
open to exception, if he had deferred entering into any other
engagement till he had seen Miss Seymour. It was true, that he had not
yet offered his hand to his friend Gaskoin's charming niece; but neither
she, nor any one else, entertained a doubt of his intention to do so; and
Frances never found herself alone with him, that her heart did not beat
high with the expectation of what might be coming.
The progress of love affairs is no measure of time: where the attrait, or
magnetic rapport (for perhaps magnetism has something to do with the
mystery), is very strong, one couple will make as much way in a
fortnight as another will do in a year. In