Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

HARLEY-STREET

O f such a perplexing scene as had passed before her eyes on the afternoon she had been with Mrs Jennings, Margaret could fathom nothing that made any sense. She presumed that Mr Ambrose must have returned to town full earlier than expected, and perhaps he had met with his cousin, Captain Edwin, unexpectedly and they had shared a carriage. But this did not explain the deep anger she had seen in his face, nor the grave looks of Captain Edwin.

Then, too, she was disturbed by something else—that her astonishment at seeing the Captain had given rise to feelings most unexpected—feelings of shame, and of something even worse—which disturbed her greatly. When he had alighted from the carriage, at first she had been in shock. But very quickly she had recognised a desire to conceal herself—and her engagement—from Captain Edwin. Of course, he must know of her attachment to Mr Ambrose for she had written to his daughter, and she would have shared the news. Margaret had not felt at all shamed or embarrassed then, but now that she had seen him, so suddenly, so near—side by side with Mr Ambrose—she somehow felt that she had become just like the other ladies who go to town to find themselves a husband, and although she harboured a not insincere sentiment toward Mr Ambrose, who had been very kind, and was so very interesting and so very handsome, she felt she could not look Captain Edwin in the eye just at this time. She had remained frozen in place and had made no attempt to run out and greet either gentleman.

Feelings oppressed her in the hours after she returned home, feelings of confusion and guilt. She was to marry Mr Ambrose—and while she was not sure that she loved him, she was very fond of Mr Ambrose! He loved her —he had told her so—and yet, why did the sight of Captain Edwin unnerve her so—why did it make her wish she was not engaged to Mr Ambrose? After all, she did not want to marry Captain Edwin—she had turned him down! But to see them both—her Mr Ambrose, beside the gentleman who had become her friend in the weeks she had been at Norland—she realized that in some way, her charming, urbane-mannered Mr Ambrose somehow compared rather poorly next to a Captain Edwin, with his quiet ways, open manner, and keen intellect. And she had been astonished at herself for only just now seeing the difference, and at the strange feeling inside herself, a feeling of melancholy, when she thought too much on it.

However, she was distracted very much by matters at hand, for she still had found no explanation for seeing either gentleman in town! Hoping to see Mr Ambrose at Harley-street by evening, and ready to hear his very reasonable explanation of what she had seen, she read after dinner with listless impatience, so that even Fanny, at her needlework in the other chair, noticed her restlessness.

‘What is the matter, Margaret, that you sigh and fidget so? '

‘I was—I was only wondering if we might see Mr Ambrose this evening, Fanny. I—to tell truth, I happened to see him in town today—he must have returned from Ramsgate early—and I had half expected that he would come to see me tonight!'

‘Nonsense, you could not have seen him, for he would have called at once he arrived in town, you know how attentive he is to these things,' replied Fanny in disbelieving tones.

‘Indeed, Fanny, it was Mr Ambrose,' insisted Margaret. ‘I am sure he must be tired from the journey and will call tomorrow.'

But the next day, when no note was sent to either her or Fanny, and no calling card left when they all came in from their walk, Margaret had become a little anxious. ‘What delays him? Why will he not come straight away to see me? It is very strange, John!'

‘I would not be anxious, my dear,' said her brother. ‘Ambrose is a man of pressing engagements and constant business. He will call, I will vouch for it, before the day is over, if he is returned already. But perhaps you might have been mistaken after all.'

‘No indeed, for I saw them all together!' she cried without thinking.

‘What do you mean? Whom did you see together?' questioned Fanny, her eyes narrowing.

‘I—I was with Mrs Jennings and Mrs Palmer in Gunter's teashop when I saw Mr Claymore's carriage pull up outside, and Mr Claymore, Mr Ambrose, and—' She stopped short, unwilling to mention that she had seen Captain Edwin with Mr Ambrose. ‘I know I am not mistaken,' she explained, a little embarrassed to be gossiping.

‘I am sure I have no idea why Ambrose would be in town so soon after going away to Kent,' replied John, ‘but I think you are worrying over nothing, my dear sister—Mr Ambrose may do as he chooses, you know, and if he chooses to return early from an engagement elsewhere, we ought not question him over it,' he admonished .

Margaret, feeling quite vexed and confused, went up to bed after ten ‘o clock, still very sure that her fiancé would call the following day. She was almost as sure too, that Captain Edwin would call on his friends in Harley-street very soon. Duty and manners, of which he was not deficient, demanded it, and she was not sure how she would stand to look him in the eye as Mr Charles Ambrose's intended. Surely it would hurt him to know she had so quickly given her allegiance to his cousin, and she of all things would wish to avoid causing pain to someone whom she considered a dear friend.

She needn't have worried, however, for no call, from either gentleman, was paid the following morning. Although anxious every moment to hear a knock at the door, she was much disappointed, and by noon she found that she was too restless to read in her room. Going to the window, she looked out over Harley-street and scanned the road for a dark-coated gentleman, but just at that moment her eye met instead with the figure of Mrs Jennings who had mounted the doorstep. What was Mrs Jennings doing calling in Harley-street? Margaret knew very well that there was a patent dislike between the two women, Mrs Jennings disliking the cold reserve of Mrs Dashwood and Fanny disliking the vulgarity of breeding of Margaret's friend.

Going downstairs with a sigh, she met Mrs Jennings in the drawing room talking to Fanny, her large figure almost overpowering Fanny's best sofa and she seemed in some state of flustering urgency.

‘I am very glad to find you at home, Mrs Dashwood, for I have a great passion to see both yourself and dear Miss Maragret—ah, here she is! My dear, I have come all of a dither to see you, for I know that you are both acquainted with Miss Henrietta Rush?'

‘Yes,' replied Margaret, somewhat mystified as to why Heniretta Rush or her sister should be a topic for conversation by Mrs Jennings. ‘We are somewhat acquainted with the family. They live near Norland, you know.'

‘They are very agreeable neighbours,' elaborated Fanny in chilly tones, ‘Of excellent breeding and manners. Never call unannounced,' she added blandly. ‘I believe they are in town presently with their daughters.'

‘Indeed, Mrs Dashwood,' said Mrs Jennings with equal coldness, the intended slight not lost on her. ‘So I understand.' She turned to Margaret. ‘My dear, I am come to relate you the most dreadful news! Oh I am in quite a dither of it all, I can tell you—but my daughter Charlotte—that is my daughter Palmer, Mrs Dashwood—I believe you are a very little acquainted—well, she has just related to me some very ill news indeed, very ill—and knowing that Miss Dashwood here will be dreadfully affected by it all, I bethought to call first, so that you should hear of it first hand, you know,'

‘Mrs Jennings!' cried Margaret in great alarm of some terrible accident or tragic death, ‘what is it you have to tell? Something has happened to Miss Henrietta Rush or her sister?'

‘Why, Miss Margaret, I dearly wish I could spare you the news—but it is indeed Miss Henrietta, of whom I speak. She has been completely ruined ! Yes, her reputation, her standing, it is all gone! She will never get herself a husband now, and must go to live permanently with her married sister and be a spinster aunt—it is very bad, Mrs Dashwood, very bad! I always said to my Charlotte, beware when you go to town—take care that you are not taken in, I told her, and thank the lord, she was never more lucky to get her Mr Palmer, but none of that now for Miss Henrietta!'

Fanny, somewhat affronted that a personage with whom she was not terribly acquainted had taken it upon herself to call without first leaving a card and being invited to call again, had tolerated this visit for the sake of Margaret, but now she was pale. ‘Mrs Jennings, Ma'am, kindly explain yourself—Miss Henrietta Rush is here with her mother and father, and was perfectly well only last week.'

‘Oh, never mind that,' cried Mrs Jennings, ‘for I heard it only a half-hour ago from my own daughter, that Miss Henrietta was with her friends, but three days ago they discovered that she was missing from her room, and after pressing the maid, found that she had gone away without a note to anyone—gone away to the sea, to Brighton, or some such place—and that she had run away to meet with a gentleman! Well! Such a to do as was, and the maid giving all the details with only a little pressing her since she was so fraught with worry over it, and so the girl was pursued to a hotel in which she was discovered along with the gentleman whom had coaxed her there! Well, the scoundrel of a gentleman was found out by Miss Rush's father, whom chased him out from the place, and took to his carriage and made off for London again, but for the young lady, it was too late, too late, poor thing, she was ruined already, and now what will become of her I can hardly say, excepting that she will be obliged to live with her married sister, and make the best of it—no gentleman shall want her now! A very bad business it is, and in this day and age!'

Fanny however, still exceedingly pale of countenance, spoke rather haughtily to her unwanted visitor. ‘Yes, Mrs Jennings, that is all very well, and it is certainly a shocking business, but pray enlighten us as to what this can have to do with us—with Miss Margaret Dashwood?'

‘Why,' cried Mrs Jennings, ‘I thought I had said it clear enough! The gentleman whom Miss Henrietta Rush was discovered with, was your intimate acquaintance—it is the very Mr Ambrose that Miss Margaret is set to marry!'