Madame Cheron, whether she had seen a rival admired, had lost at play, or had witnessed an entertainment more splendid than her own, was returned from her visit with a temper more than usually discomposed; and Emily was glad, when the hour arrived, in which she could retire to the solitude of her own apartment.
On the following morning, she was summoned to Madame Cheron, whose countenance was inflamed with resentment, and, as Emily advanced, she held out a letter to her.
'Do you know this hand?' said she, in a severe tone, and with a look that was intended to search her heart, while Emily examined the letter attentively, and assured her, that she did not.
'Do not provoke me,' said her aunt; 'you do know it, confess the truth immediately.I insist upon your confessing the truth instantly.'
Emily was silent, and turned to leave the room, but Madame called her back.'O you are guilty, then,' said she, 'you do know the hand.'
'If you was before in doubt of this, madam,' replied Emily calmly, 'why did you accuse me of having told a falsehood.' Madame Cheron did not blush; but her niece did, a moment after, when she heard the name of Valancourt.It was not, however, with the consciousness of deserving reproof, for, if she ever had seen his hand-writing, the present characters did not bring it to her recollection.
'It is useless to deny it,' said Madame Cheron, 'I see in your countenance, that you are no stranger to this letter; and, I dare say, you have received many such from this impertinent young man, without my knowledge, in my own house.'
Emily, shocked at the indelicacy of this accusation, still more than by the vulgarity of the former, instantly forgot the pride, that had imposed silence, and endeavoured to vindicate herself from the aspersion, but Madame Cheron was not to be convinced.
'I cannot suppose,' she resumed, 'that this young man would have taken the liberty of writing to me, if you had not encouraged him to do so, and I must now'--'You will allow me to remind you, madam,'
said Emily timidly, 'of some particulars of a conversation we had at La Vallee.I then told you truly, that I had only not forbade Monsieur Valancourt from addressing my family.'
'I will not be interrupted,' said Madame Cheron, interrupting her niece, 'I was going to say--I--I-have forgot what I was going to say.
But how happened it that you did not forbid him?' Emily was silent.
'How happened it that you encouraged him to trouble me with this letter?--A young man that nobody knows;--an utter stranger in the place,--a young adventurer, no doubt, who is looking out for a good fortune.However, on that point he has mistaken his aim.'
'His family was known to my father,' said Emily modestly, and without appearing to be sensible of the last sentence.
'O! that is no recommendation at all,' replied her aunt, with her usual readiness upon this topic; 'he took such strange fancies to people! He was always judging persons by their countenances, and was continually deceived.' 'Yet it was but now, madam, that you judged me guilty by my countenance,' said Emily, with a design of reproving Madame Cheron, to which she was induced by this disrespectful mention of her father.
'I called you here,' resumed her aunt, colouring, 'to tell you, that I will not be disturbed in my own house by any letters, or visits from young men, who may take a fancy to flatter you.This M.de Valantine--I think you call him, has the impertinence to beg I will permit him to pay his respects to me! I shall send him a proper answer.And for you, Emily, I repeat it once for all--if you are not contented to conform to my directions, and to my way of live, I shall give up the task of overlooking your conduct--I shall no longer trouble myself with your education, but shall send you to board in a convent.'
'Dear madam,' said Emily, bursting into tears, and overcome by the rude suspicions her aunt had expressed, 'how have I deserved these reproofs?' She could say no more; and so very fearful was she of acting with any degree of impropriety in the affair itself, that, at the present moment, Madame Cheron might perhaps have prevailed with her to bind herself by a promise to renounce Valancourt for ever.
Her mind, weakened by her terrors, would no longer suffer her to view him as she had formerly done; she feared the error of her own judgment, not that of Madame Cheron, and feared also, that, in her former conversation with him, at La Vallee, she had not conducted herself with sufficient reserve.She knew, that she did not deserve the coarse suspicions, which her aunt had thrown out, but a thousand scruples rose to torment her, such as would never have disturbed the peace of Madame Cheron.Thus rendered anxious to avoid every opportunity of erring, and willing to submit to any restrictions, that her aunt should think proper, she expressed an obedience, to which Madame Cheron did not give much confidence, and which she seemed to consider as the consequence of either fear, or artifice.
'Well, then,' said she, 'promise me that you will neither see this young man, nor write to him without my consent.' 'Dear madam,'
replied Emily, 'can you suppose I would do either, unknown to you!'
'I don't know what to suppose; there is no knowing how young women will act.It is difficult to place any confidence in them, for they have seldom sense enough to wish for the respect of the world.'
'Alas, madam!' said Emily, 'I am anxious for my own respect; my father taught me the value of that; he said if I deserved my own esteem, that the world would follow of course.'
'My brother was a good kind of a man,' replied Madame Cheron, 'but he did not know the world.I am sure I have always felt a proper respect for myself, yet--' she stopped, but she might have added, that the world had not always shewn respect to her, and this without impeaching its judgment.
