Helen by Maria Edgeworth - A complete eBook in pages (411 / 460)

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Helen by Maria Edgeworth
Book, page 411 / 460

from abroad after his sister's divorce. He by some accident found out who
Carlos was, and whence he came, and full of his own views for his sister,
he cross-examined him as to every thing he knew about Miss Stanley; and
partly by bribes, partly by threats of betraying him to Lady Davenant, he
contrived to get from him the copied letters. Carlos soon after returned
with his master to Portugal, and was never more heard of. Lord Beltravers
took these purloined copies of the letters, thus surreptitiously obtained,
to the editor, into whose hands Sir Thomas D'Aubigny (who knew nothing of
books or book-making) had put his brother's memoirs. This editor, as has
been mentioned, had previously consulted Mr. Churchill, and in consequence
of his pepper and salt hint, Lord Beltravers himself made those
interpolations which he hoped would ruin his sister's rival in the eyes of
her lover.

Mr. Churchill, however, except this hint, and except his vanity in
furnishing a good title, and his coxcombry of literary patronage, and his
general hope that Helen's name being implicated in such a publication would
avenge her rejection of himself, had had nothing to do with the business.
This Lord Beltravers well knew, and yet when he found that the slander made
no impression upon Beauclerc, and that he was only intent upon discovering
the slanderer, he, with dexterous treachery, contrived to turn the tables
upon Churchill, and to direct all Beauclerc's suspicion towards him!
He took his friend home with him, and showed him all the newspaper
paragraphs--paragraphs which he himself had written! Yes, this man
of romantic friendship, this blaze, this hero oppressed with his own
sensibility, could condescend to write anonymous scandal, to league with
newsmongers, and to bribe waiting-women to supply him with information, for
Mademoiselle Felicie had, through Lady Katrine's maid, told all, and more
than all she knew, of what passed at General Clarendon's; and on this
foundation did he construct those paragraphs, which he hoped would blast
the character of the woman to whom his dearest friend was engaged. And now
he contrived to say all that could convince Beauclerc that Mr. Churchill
was the author of these very paragraphs. And hot and rash, Beauclerc rushed
on to that conclusion. He wrote, a challenge to Churchill, and as soon as
it was possible in the morning he sent it by Lord Beltravers. Mr. Churchill
named Sir John Luttrell as his friend: Lord Beltravers would enter into no
terms of accommodation; the challenge was accepted, Chalk Farm appointed as
the place of meeting, and the time fixed for eight o'clock next morning.
And thus, partly by his own warmth of temper, and partly by the falsehood
of others, was Beauclerc urged on to the action he detested, to be the

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