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“ Ah! mamma! so you find cause of complaint in poor Miss
Janet, too, one of the best of human creatures.”
“ Yes, indeed; if they could visit one house, they might well
visit another; and there were reasons why they should have been
here, if only to explain.”
“ Explain!”
Tes, explain ! You can't, at present, understand; but I mean
it when I say explain ! There’s another thing, Beatrice. Mrs.
Girardin and Paula Bonneau have both been invited to the Christ
mas party at Major Bulmer’s. I have it from Sally, the cook. Her
husband, Ben, belonging to Paula, told Sally of the invitation, and
of the very day when it was given.”
“TV hat more natural. The Major and Miss Buhner could not
surely have omitted them.”
“ TVhat! after the long quarrel between the families ?”
” For that very reason, mother. A quarrel is not to be kept up
for ever in a Christian country; and what better occasion for re
conciliation than when one of the parties assists the other in a case
of extremity; and what better season than this, when God himself
despatches his only Son on a mission of Love, Forgiveness, and
final reconciliation between himself and his offending people.
Really, mamma, if you were to say to others what you have said
to me, people would begin to suspect you of Paganism.”
“ Better call me a Pagan, at once, Miss Mazyck!” growled
mamma, gathering herself up in the attitude of one about to spring.
“ But, it is not that Mrs. Girardin and her grand-daughter have
been invited, that I complain. But when I know that the invita
tion was sent to them , a whole day and night before anv was sent
to us, that , Miss Mazyck ”
“ That, mamma, is one of those offences that cannot but be com
mitted, and which there is no helping. It is done every day. All
cannot be served at the same moment. While one’s soup is
scalding him, another, at the extremity of the table, finds his a
little cooler than soup ought to be. Somebody must always be
last.”
“ But I am not pleased to be that somebody, Miss Mazyck.”
u -Amd, in this case, mamma, I am very sure you are not. I
would wager something that if Mrs. Girardin received the first,
you had the second invitation.”
Perhaps, but that does not altogether satisfy me, considering
the terms on which Major Bulmer and myself stood together.”
“Ah ! those terms, mamma,” said Beatrice archly and with a
smile. The mother did not attend to the remark, but proceeded
as if she had not heard it:
“ But, I see the whole secret. The fact is, that Mrs. Girardin
has a good deal of foresight and a grand-daughter, and Major Bul
mer has a handsome fortune and a son ; and charity by the way
side, may bring its benefits into the parlour; and they do say that
Miss Paula is not insensible to the wealth and person of Mr. Ed
ward Bulmer, and so ”
•* Mother, mother 1” cried Beatrice reproachfully ; “ do not suffer
yourself to speak such things. Mrs. Girardin, lam sure, would
have done for the blind beggar, by the highway, all that she did
for Major Bulmer
“ What 1 with her pride ?”
“ Her pride is ridiculous enough, I grant you, but so far as I
have ever seen, it has never been indulged at the expense of her
| humanity. lam sure, at least, that her pride would have been
SUPPLEMENT TO SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE.
enough to keep her from any calculations in respect to the Bulmer
family, its son and wealth. She is certainly too proud for any
scheming to obtain any thing from that or any other family. \ s
for Paula Bonneau, 1 know no woman who better deserves the best
favour of fortune in a husband; but she is to be sought, mother
and she will not herself be found on the search for a lover. Let
me so far correct your opinion as to tell you what the world reports
in respect to Paula Bonneau. It says that Edward Bulmer has
long been her devoted, if not her accepted lover, and that she is
truly attached to him, in spite of the hostility of her grandmother
so that most of your suspicions are wrong, if those of the world
be right.”
“It is impossible, Beatrice, —it is impossible !” said the mother
pushing away the stool beneath her feet, and rising with an air
of outraged dignity. “The terms between Major Bulmer and my
self —”
“All! those terms again, mother. Pray, what is the mysterious
nature of this affair between you and Major Bulmer. Really, un
less you tell me plainly the state of the case, I shall have to fall
back upon my old suspicions. My powers of divination yield me
no other conjectures.”
The mother quickened her movements across the room, then
wheeling about, confronted the daughter with a somewhat imperi
ous manner, as she said, —
“ Well, if you must know, —and, under present appearances, I
see no reason to maintain a useless secrecy, —you must know that
Major Bulmer has proposed for you, and that I consented ”
“ Major Bulmer, for me, —why, mamma, he is old enough for
my grandfather!” cried the girl in unaffected astonishment.
“ Pshaw, Beatrice, you surely know r what I mean. He pro
posed far you on behalf of his son,”
“ And you consented ?”
V
“ T es, —I consented. I thought the match a very eligible one.”
“ But how could you consent, mother, to any thing of the sort?
Did you mean that I was to have no voice in the matter?”
“ No, by no means; but I took it for granted, my daughter, that
you would see the thing in its proper light, —see the advantages of
such a match—and I consented that the Major should open the
matter to his son ”
“ Heavens! mother ! w hat have you done !” exclaimed Beatrice,
the rich red suffusing cheeks and neck, while a singular brightness
flashed freely out from her dilating eyes. It was her turn to rise
and pace the apartment. “ What have you done! llow have
you shamed me ! So, Edward Bulmer is to be persuaded, under
an arrangement with my own mother, to behold in me the proper
handmaid upon whom it is only necessary that he should bestow
his smiles, in order to obtain submission. lamto be made happy
by the bounty of his love. Oh ! mother ! mother! how could you
do this thing ?”
But, my dear, you see it in a very peculiar and improper light.
I ”
“ I see it in the only light. It appears by your own showing,—
and, indeed, I know the fact, —that Mr. Bulmer has had no part in
this beautiful arrangement. He must be argued into it; and his
father must provide him with the proper spectacles —his or yours,
mother, —looking through which, he is to discover what he never
of himself could see, that I am the proper young woman whom he
