Lady Bell, Volume 1 by Sarah Tytler

All was utterly in vain, as futile as Lady Bell's dressing herself in / her dowdiest clothes with her shabbiest, least "setting" top-knots. If / Lady Bell had only known in her youthful inexperience, there was / something irresistibly piquant and provocative in her pouts and flouts, / her sulks and _déshabillés_, to most men who had her in their power. The / mere circumstance that her resistance, sincere to anguish as it was, in / its openness, was weak as her age, would have been enough to all, save a / generous man, in the conduct of such an attack, while to a man like / Squire Trevor, any opposition, however feeble, served but as tinder to / flame.

Lady Bell's next move was made in the utmost alarm on the arrival of a / pair of valuable buckles set with diamonds, and a necklace with an / emerald "bob," for which Squire Trevor had sent a messenger expressly, / and which were put by his direction, and with the connivance of others, / in their cases with the lids open, on the little table before the mirror / in Lady Bell's closet.

She ventured to seek her uncle when he was alone in the dining-room, and / to tell him plainly, "Uncle Godwin, I am sorry to plague you, but I will / not marry Squire Trevor."

For his answer, Mr. Godwin raised his eyebrows, and having nearly / demolished Lady Bell by this simple operation, and its supercilious / reception of her declaration of war, he proceeded further to annihilate / her.

"My Lady Bell, let me ask you, and forgive me for the indelicacy of the / question, have you any means of subsistence except what I grant you?"

"No, sir," answered Lady Bell, faint and low at the home-thrust; and she / was not able to tell her uncle, because in the annals of her rank she / had not yet heard of such an enterprise, and was ignorant how to set / about it, that she would no longer be indebted to his bounty-she would / go forth and earn her own bread, or perish without it, but she would not / barter herself, for the sake of his making a better bargain in the sale / of an unentailed fragment of his estate, or that he might be permanently / rid of the burden of her maintenance.

It would not have mattered although Lady Bell had done so, for Squire / Godwin would only have mocked her merrily and reminded her, that as she / was an old lady of not more than fifteen, he was her lawful guardian, / and could raise the country in pursuit of her, could drag her into a / public court in order to have her shamed, rebuked, and restored to his / natural keeping.

But all that Lady Bell said was, "No, sir," with bitter humiliation.

"Then I have the honour to tell you, madam," Squire Godwin continued / with the utmost calmness, "that I am a ruined man, and can no longer / afford to support you. On that and every other account I hasten to / accept so unexceptionable an establishment for you as a marriage with / Squire Trevor will secure. Therefore, my niece, I beg to hear no more / idle objections, unless you are prepared to show a better right to make / them."

The Squire turned on his heel and drummed with his fingers on the / chimney-piece. Lady Bell turned also, and ran tottering from the room.

She felt her confidence ebbing away; her sense of right and wrong grew / hopelessly confused; her perplexity, despondency, and despair of escape / became more than she could bear. At last an accident and Lady Bell's own / lively impulse put an end to the struggle.

One of the executions of which Mrs. Die had spoken to Lady Bell on her / first day at St. Bevis's, was put into the house. Bailiffs with writs / turning up unexpectedly one morning, and not doing their spiriting / gently, did not compose Lady Bell's shaken nerves, though it must be / owned that Mr. Godwin and Mrs. Die took the visitation with great / equanimity, and did not even disturb themselves on account of the / presence of Mr. Trevor, but left it to his swagger to be exceedingly / aggrieved by the disagreeable interruption to his wooing.

Within twelve hours the rough men walking about the house at their / pleasure, in muddy shoes, with hats on their heads, and smelling of beer / and gin, stripped from St. Bevis's, as bailiffs had done more than once / already, every article that would lift. They even put profane hands on / some of Lady Bell's fragile performances of fan-handles and card-boxes. / The men included in their sweep, as they had not included on former / occasions, the very wearing apparel of the heads of the family.

Furniture and clothing were piled and stuffed into waggons brought round / for the purpose under the portico, to be driven off and have their / contents sold in the market-place of Cleveburgh.

Squire Godwin, who was not liable to personal arrest because of the seat / in Parliament which he, his father, and grandfather had held since the / Long Parliament and the Charleses, and Mrs. Die, were left like one of / Hogarth's couples-only this couple were used to the extremity, and it / did not discompose them-sitting desolate among a few heirlooms of old / pictures, plate, and jewels.

The brother and sister and their household were without changes of / clothes, without beds to lie down upon, without vessels out of which to / eat such victuals as they could procure; while Mrs. Kitty, Mr. Sneyd, / and Mr. Greenwood, were hurrying here and there, on foot and on / horseback, exerting themselves frantically to collect fresh necessaries.

Squire Trevor pulled out a bundle of bank-notes from his pocket-book, / and put them uncounted into Mrs. Kitty's hand.

Lady Bell saw the deed from the windowrecess in which she was standing, / shivering with agitation. She came out and instantly acted on it.

"Squire Trevor," she declared, "I for one cannot consent that my friends / and I shall live on your charity, while I will not marry you. I will / marry you, sir, now, when you please."

He turned briskly. "So, you've come to your senses, my lady," he / remarked drily; "I am glad to hear it; " and he took her at her word.