Mr and Mrs Musgrove, either from seeing little,or from an entire confidence in the discretion of both their daughters,and of all the young men who came near them,seemed to leave everything to take its chance.There was not the smallest appearance of solicitude or remark about them in the Mansion-house; but it was different at the Cottage: the young couple there were more disposed to speculate and wonder; and Captain Wentworth had not been above four or five times in the Miss Musgroves’ company, and Charles Hayter had but just reappeared, when Anne had to listen to the opinions of her brother and sister, as to _which_ was the one liked best. Charles gave it for Louisa, Mary for Henrietta, but quite agreeing that to have him marry either could be extremely delightful.
Charles “had never seen a pleasanter man in his life;and from what he had once heard Captain Wentworth himself say,was very sure that he had not made less than twenty thousand pounds by the war.Here was a fortune at once; besides which,there would be the chance of what might be done in any future war;and he was sure Captain Wentworth was as likely a man to distinguish himself as any officer in the navy. Oh!it would be a capital match for either of his sisters.”
“Upon my word it would,” replied Mary. “Dear me!If he should rise to any very great honours!If he should ever be made a baronet!‘Lady Wentworth’ sounds very well.That would be a noble thing, indeed, for Henrietta!She would take place of me then,and Henrietta would not dislike that.Sir Frederick and Lady Wentworth!It would be but a new creation, however,and I never think much of your new creations.”
It suited Mary best to think Henrietta the one preferred on the very account of Charles Hayter, whose pretensions she wished to see put an end to. She looked down very decidedly upon the Hayters, and thought it would be quite a misfortune to have the existing connection between the families renewed—very sad for herself and her children.
“You know,” said she,“I cannot think him at all a fit match for Henrietta;and considering the alliances which the Musgroves have made,she has no right to throw herself away.I do not think any young woman has a right to make a choice that may be disagreeable and inconvenient to the _principal_ part of her family, and be giving bad connections to those who have not been used to them. And, pray, who is Charles Hayter?Nothing but a country curate.A most improper match for Miss Musgrove of Uppercross.”
Her husband, however, would not agree with her here;for besides having a regard for his cousin,Charles Hayter was an eldest son,and he saw things as an eldest son himself.
“Now you are talking nonsense, Mary,” was therefore his answer.“It would not be a _great_ match for Henrietta,but Charles has a very fair chance,through the Spicers,of getting something from the Bishop in the course of a year or two;and you will please to remember,that he is the eldest son; whenever my uncle dies,he steps into very pretty property.The estate at Winthrop is not less than two hundred and fifty acres,besides the farm near Taunton,which is some of the best land in the country.I grant you, that any of them but Charles would be a very shocking match for Henrietta, and indeed it could not be; he is the only one that could be possible; but he is a very good-natured, good sort of a fellow; and whenever Winthrop comes into his hands, he will make a different sort of place of it, and live in a very different sort of way; and with that property, he will never be a contemptible man—good, freehold property. No, no; Henrietta might do worse than marry Charles Hayter; and if she has him, and Louisa can get Captain Wentworth, I shall be very well satisfied.”
“Charles may say what he pleases,” cried Mary to Anne,as soon as he was out of the room,“but it would be shocking to have Henrietta marry Charles Hayter;a very bad thing for _her_, and still worse for _me;_ and therefore it is very much to be wished that Captain Wentworth may soon put him quite out of her head, and I have very little doubt that he has. She took hardly any notice of Charles Hayter yesterday. I wish you had been there to see her behaviour. And as to Captain Wentworth’s liking Louisa as well as Henrietta, it is nonsense to say so; for he certainly _does_ like Henrietta a great deal the best. But Charles is so positive!I wish you had been with us yesterday,for then you might have decided between us;and I am sure you would have thought as I did,unless you had been determined to give it against me.”
A dinner at Mr Musgrove’s had been the occasion when all these things should have been seen by Anne; but she had staid at home, under the mixed plea of a headache of her own, and some return of indisposition in little Charles. She had thought only of avoiding Captain Wentworth; but an escape from being appealed to as umpire was now added to the advantages of a quiet evening.
As to Captain Wentworth’s views,she deemed it of more consequence that he should know his own mind early enough not to be endangering the happiness of either sister, or impeaching his own honour, than that he should prefer Henrietta to Louisa, or Louisa to Henrietta. Either of them would, in all probability, make him an affectionate, good-humoured wife. With regard to Charles Hayter, she had delicacy which must be pained by any lightness of conduct in a well-meaning young woman, and a heart to sympathize in any of the sufferings it occasioned; but if Henrietta found herself mistaken in the nature of her feelings, the alteration could not be understood too soon.
Charles Hayter had met with much to disquiet and mortify him in his cousin’s behaviour. She had too old a regard for him to be so wholly estranged as might in two meetings extinguish every past hope, and leave him nothing to do but to keep away from Uppercross: but there was such a change as became very alarming, when such a man as Captain Wentworth was to be regarded as the probable cause. He had been absent only two Sundays, and when they parted, had left her interested, even to the height of his wishes, in his prospect of soon quitting his present curacy, and obtaining that of Uppercross instead. It had then seemed the object nearest her heart, that Dr Shirley, the rector, who for more than forty years had been zealously discharging all the duties of his office, but was now growing too infirm for many of them, should be quite fixed on engaging a curate; should make his curacy quite as good as he could afford, and should give Charles Hayter the promise of it. The advantage of his having to come only to Uppercross, instead of going six miles another way; of his having, in every respect, a better curacy; of his belonging to their dear Dr Shirley, and of dear, good Dr Shirley’s being relieved from the duty which he could no longer get through without most injurious fatigue, had been a great deal, even to Louisa, but had been almost everything to Henrietta. When he came back, alas!the zeal of the business was gone by.Louisa could not listen at all to his account of a conversation which he had just held with Dr Shirley: she was at a window, looking out for Captain Wentworth; and even Henrietta had at best only a divided attention to give, and seemed to have forgotten all the former doubt and solicitude of the negotiation.
“Well, I am very glad indeed:but I always thought you would have it;I always thought you sure.It did not appear to me that—in short, you know,Dr Shirley _must_ have a curate,and you had secured his promise. Is he coming, Louisa?”
One morning, very soon after the dinner at the Musgroves,at which Anne had not been present,Captain Wentworth walked into the drawing-room at the Cottage,where were only herself and the little invalid Charles,who was lying on the sofa.