The Young Duchess; or, Memoirs of a Lady of Quality — page 81: what you’re looking at

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THE YOUNG DUCHESS; OR, MEMOIRS OF A LADY OF QUALITY. 67 threat of transportation before his eyes. He there- fore vowed that he had seen nothing of the lady or her servant—that he had driven Mr. Trevor to the door of the coach-office, where that gentleman had alighted—and that there was an end of the business. The constable returned with this infor- mation to Southdale, which pleasant little village was accordingly more mystified and bewildered than ever it had been since its name first appeared in Doomsday Book, where the archzxologists of the place declared that it was to be duly found. Tim Gaffney and Jack Peppercorn spent the greater part of the day at the inn, where they feasted upon the best which the house could fur- nish, and finally paid their bill with such liberality that Goodman, the worthy landlord, almost re- gretted he had not begged to be permitted to stake a little money on the prize-fight, under their auspices, that he might have reaped proportionate gains. Thus firmly believing in the fiction of that prize-fight, he continued unsuspicious that his two liberal customers were of a character at all dif- ferent from what they represented themselves to be. They took their departure at about five o clock in the evening, by a coach which passed through the village ; and the landlord regretted the loss of such good customers. These two indi- viduals alighted from the coach at a neighbouring hamlet ; and when it was dusk, they began to re- trace their way—or at least to return by a cir- cuitous route through the woods and fields, into the neighbourhood of Southdale. But taking leave of Tim Gaffney and Jack Pep- percorn for the present, let us proceed to introduce the reader somewhat more intimately to Squire Ponsford and his daughter than we have yet done. ‘We have already stated that Mr. Ponsford was about sixty years of age, of very gentlemanly appearance, with a pale and severe expression of countenance. In respect to his daughter, we merely alluded to her as a beautiful girl of about eighteen : but we should not be in error if we were to add that a more lovely creature than Pamela Ponsford was not to be seen throughout Dorsetshire. She was short and slightly formed, of the most exquisite symmetry, and with an aerial fairy-like appearance. Her complexion was dazzlingly fair and transparent, the most delicate hues of the carnation softly blending with the pure whiteness of the lily. Her hair was of a very light chesnut; and it showered in myriads of ringlets upon her shoulders. Her _ eyes were of violet-blue, and replete with the ' most amiable expression. Nothing conld exceed the beauty of the classically cut lips nor the purity and regularity of the rows of pearly teeth. Though she had numbered: eighteen years, yet there was something of girlish artlessness about ; her—something even of childish gaiety and inno- ' cence—as if she were completely unacquainted ' with the cares of the world and had never expe- rienced anything to impair the equanimity of her thoughts. Pamela had lost her mother when she was in her infancy ; and thus having never known a ma- ternal parent’s care, she had not been doomed to sorrow for its absence. She had been feared under | the care of trustworthy and competent govern- esses ; and thus she had never incurred the risk of acquiring the taint which the minds of young girls are sometimes too apt to derive from the at- mosphere of boarding-schools. In short, she had been carefully but tenderly and indulgently brought up; she was good and she was beautiful —accomplished and well-mannered—bashful and retiring before strangers, but affable and ofa charming good-nature amongst friends and ac- quaintances. Squire Ponsford had no near relations of either sex; and thus there were no kinswomen to dwelJ beneath the same roof and become guides or com- panions for Pamela. The governesses who reared her, had supplied the place of the mother whom she had lost in her infancy : but these ladies had gone to settle elsewhere when their services were no longer required; and thus Pamela now resided alone with her father at the Firs. She however frequently had some of the young ladies of the neighbourhood to stay with her—the Squire gave frequent evening parties on his daughter’s ac- count (for he himself secretly detested them) ; and thus Pamela was never dull at that secluded country-seat, nor did the time ever hang heavy upon her hands. Squire Ponsford was reputed to be very well off: he had a good estate—and it was believed that he had a considerable sum of money in the funds. Pamela was his only child ;- and she was looked upon as an heiress. Thus, beautiful and accomplished as she was, and with the prospect of inheriting a fine fortune, she naturally became the object of attention on the part of several of the scions of the principal families in the county: but she never seemed to understand their atten- tions—it never appeared, as if she noticed that one young gentleman was more assiduous to her than another ; and thus no one received any en- couragement to attach himself deliberately and studiously to her as a suitor. She was not vola- tile—much less was she a flirt or a coquette : but she seemed to receive with the same good- tempered affability the attentions of all who ap- proached her, just as readily giving her hand for @ quadrille to one as to another, and appearing to be completely indifferent whose arm she took when being escorted from the drawing-room to the dining-room, or who became her cavalier at a pic-nic or rural excursion. In short, at eighteen Miss Ponsford was still completely unacquainted with the sentiment of love ; and every one mar- velled who the happy individual would be that was destined to win her heart and lead her to the altar. Before we continue the thread of our narrative, we must place on record a few particulars rela- tive to the estate possessed by Squire Ponsford. This was double the size of the domain which he had inherited from his father. At that time— looking back for a period of about five-and-twenty years—the estate called ‘“ The Firs,” the property of the Ponsford family, was joined by another property called “ The Southdale Farm.” This belonged to a young man of the name of Pringle: he was a wild reckless fellow, who thought more of hunting and shooting over his lands than at- tending to their culture, and who kept open house with a hospitality that could not fail to be ruinous. John Ponsford—at that time unmarried—was very intimate with Rupert Pringle: but there was a difference of ten years in their ages, and Squire Ponsford was proportionately more experienced in the world than his friend Pringle. The conse- quence was that while the former carefully lived conniclooolk Colin