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Page 48
He explained to her that, though undoubtedly the proceeding against
the hospital had commenced solely with himself, many others were now
interested in the matter, some of whom were much more influential than
himself; that it was to him alone, however, that the lawyers looked
for instruction as to their doings, and, more important still, for
the payment of their bills; and he promised that he would at once
give them notice that it was his intention to abandon the cause. He
thought, he said, that it was not probable that any active steps would
be taken after he had seceded from the matter, though it was possible
that some passing allusion might still be made to the hospital in the
daily _Jupiter_. He promised, however, that he would use his best
influence to prevent any further personal allusion being made to Mr
Harding. He then suggested that he would on that afternoon ride over
himself to Dr Grantly, and inform him of his altered intentions on the
subject, and with this view, he postponed his immediate return to
London.
This was all very pleasant, and Eleanor did enjoy a sort of triumph in
the feeling that she had attained the object for which she had sought
this interview; but still the part of Iphigenia was to be played out.
The gods had heard her prayer, granted her request, and were they not
to have their promised sacrifice? Eleanor was not a girl to defraud
them wilfully; so, as soon as she decently could, she got up for her
bonnet.
"Are you going so soon?" said Bold, who half an hour since would
have given a hundred pounds that he was in London, and she still at
Barchester.
"Oh yes!" said she. "I am so much obliged to you; papa will feel
this to be so kind." She did not quite appreciate all her father's
feelings. "Of course I must tell him, and I will say that you will
see the archdeacon."
"But may I not say one word for myself?" said Bold.
"I'll fetch you your bonnet, Eleanor," said Mary, in the act of
leaving the room.
"Mary, Mary," said she, getting up and catching her by her dress;
"don't go, I'll get my bonnet myself." But Mary, the traitress, stood
fast by the door, and permitted no such retreat. Poor Iphigenia!
And with a volley of impassioned love, John Bold poured forth the
feelings of his heart, swearing, as men do, some truths and many
falsehoods; and Eleanor repeated with every shade of vehemence the
"No, no, no," which had had a short time since so much effect; but
now, alas! its strength was gone. Let her be never so vehement, her
vehemence was not respected; all her "No, no, no's" were met with
counter-asseverations, and at last were overpowered. The ground was
cut from under her on every side. She was pressed to say whether her
father would object; whether she herself had any aversion (aversion!
God help her, poor girl! the word nearly made her jump into his arms);
any other preference (this she loudly disclaimed); whether it was
impossible that she should love him (Eleanor could not say that it
was impossible): and so at last all her defences demolished, all her
maiden barriers swept away, she capitulated, or rather marched out
with the honours of war, vanquished evidently, palpably vanquished,
but still not reduced to the necessity of confessing it.
And so the altar on the shore of the modern Aulis reeked with no
sacrifice.
Chapter XII
MR BOLD'S VISIT TO PLUMSTEAD
Whether or no the ill-natured prediction made by certain ladies in
the beginning of the last chapter was or was not carried out to the
letter, I am not in a position to state. Eleanor, however, certainly
did feel herself to have been baffled as she returned home with all
her news to her father. Certainly she had been victorious, certainly
she had achieved her object, certainly she was not unhappy, and yet
she did not feel herself triumphant. Everything would run smooth now.
Eleanor was not at all addicted to the Lydian school of romance; she
by no means objected to her lover because he came in at the door under
the name of Absolute, instead of pulling her out of a window under the
name of Beverley; and yet she felt that she had been imposed upon, and
could hardly think of Mary Bold with sisterly charity. "I did think
I could have trusted Mary," she said to herself over and over again.
"Oh that she should have dared to keep me in the room when I tried to
get out!" Eleanor, however, felt that the game was up, and that she
had now nothing further to do but to add to the budget of news which
was prepared for her father, that John Bold was her accepted lover.
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