Nightmare Abbey | Page 8

'That is candid, at least; and she is in love with you.'
'I wish she were, sir.'
'You know she is, sir.'
'Indeed, sir, I do not.'
'But you hope she is.'
'I do, from my soul.'
'Now that is very provoking, Scythrop, and very disappointing: I could
not have supposed that you, Scythrop Glowry, of Nightmare Abbey,
would have been infatuated with such a dancing, laughing, singing,
thoughtless, careless, merry-hearted thing, as Marionetta--in all
respects the reverse of you and me. It is very disappointing, Scythrop.
And do you know, sir, that Marionetta has no fortune?'
'It is the more reason, sir, that her husband should have one.'

'The more reason for her; but not for you. My wife had no fortune, and
I had no consolation in my calamity. And do you reflect, sir, what an
enormous slice this lawsuit has cut out of our family estate? we who
used to be the greatest landed proprietors in Lincolnshire.'
'To be sure, sir, we had more acres of fen than any man on this coast:
but what are fens to love? What are dykes and windmills to
Marionetta?'
'And what, sir, is love to a windmill? Not grist, I am certain: besides, sir,
I have made a choice for you. I have made a choice for you, Scythrop.
Beauty, genius, accomplishments, and a great fortune into the bargain.
Such a lovely, serious creature, in a fine state of high dissatisfaction
with the world, and every thing in it. Such a delightful surprise I had
prepared for you. Sir, I have pledged my honour to the contract--the
honour of the Glowries of Nightmare Abbey: and now, sir, what is to
be done?'
'Indeed, sir, I cannot say. I claim, on this occasion, that liberty of action
which is the co-natal prerogative of every rational being.'
'Liberty of action, sir? there is no such thing as liberty of action. We are
all slaves and puppets of a blind and unpathetic necessity.'
'Very true, sir; but liberty of action, between individuals, consists in
their being differently influenced, or modified, by the same universal
necessity; so that the results are unconsentaneous, and their respective
necessitated volitions clash and fly off in a tangent.'
'Your logic is good, sir: but you are aware, too, that one individual may
be a medium of adhibiting to another a mode or form of necessity,
which may have more or less influence in the production of
consentaneity; and, therefore, sir, if you do not comply with my wishes
in this instance (you have had your own way in every thing else), I
shall be under the necessity of disinheriting you, though I shall do it
with tears in my eyes.' Having said these words, he vanished suddenly,
in the dread of Scythrop's logic.

Mr Glowry immediately sought Mrs Hilary, and communicated to her
his views of the case in point. Mrs Hilary, as the phrase is, was as fond
of Marionetta as if she had been her own child: but--there is always a
but on these occasions--she could do nothing for her in the way of
fortune, as she had two hopeful sons, who were finishing their
education at Brazen-nose, and who would not like to encounter any
diminution of their prospects, when they should be brought out of the
house of mental bondage--i.e. the university--to the land flowing with
milk and honey--i.e. the west end of London.
Mrs Hilary hinted to Marionetta, that propriety, and delicacy, and
decorum, and dignity, &c. &c. &c.,[3] would require them to leave the
Abbey immediately. Marionetta listened in silent submission, for she
knew that her inheritance was passive obedience; but, when Scythrop,
who had watched the opportunity of Mrs Hilary's departure, entered,
and, without speaking a word, threw himself at her feet in a paroxysm
of grief, the young lady, in equal silence and sorrow, threw her arms
round his neck and burst into tears. A very tender scene ensued, which
the sympathetic susceptibilities of the soft-hearted reader can more
accurately imagine than we can delineate. But when Marionetta hinted
that she was to leave the Abbey immediately, Scythrop snatched from
its repository his ancestor's skull, filled it with Madeira, and presenting
himself before Mr Glowry, threatened to drink off the contents if Mr
Glowry did not immediately promise that Marionetta should not be
taken from the Abbey without her own consent. Mr Glowry, who took
the Madeira to be some deadly brewage, gave the required promise in
dismal panic. Scythrop returned to Marionetta with a joyful heart, and
drank the Madeira by the way.
Mr Glowry, during his residence in London, had come to an agreement
with his friend Mr Toobad, that a match between Scythrop and Mr
Toobad's daughter would be a very desirable occurrence. She was
finishing her education in